If you are a parent, teacher, or clinician to a child with autism, every single day of your life is autism awareness and acceptance day. However, since April has a more formal recognition as autism acceptance month – I like to use this opportunity work on building education and acceptance of autism in the entire school community this month. As special ed teachers, we are super busy especially at this time of year so sometimes taking on another big project is daunting. But this project may be the most meaningful thing you do all year. The past few years of incorporating this unit into my school community was honestly amazing. And I am not using that amazing word as a synonym for good. I mean I was amazed. I was amazed at hearing a second grader say that she would make sure to ask her classmate with autism if he needs a break in gym class, because sometimes she feels annoyed in gym class too. I was amazed at watch seventh grade boys make a plan to invite their classmates with autism to sit with them at lunch. I was amazed at watching my students receive warm hellos throughout every hallway of the school. I was amazed when I was at the playground with a student having a hard day and in mid-meltdown mode and a sweet little 5th grader came over and tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I have bad days too so I understand why he is mad.” A little education and open discussion can go such an amazingly long way.

I created this unit based on a lot of the materials that I used to do class lessons in the general education classrooms on autism. I recently updated this unit so if you purchased it in the past – make sure to redownload because there are a bunch of new goodies included! Allowing children the opportunity to ask questions and explaining autism in language they understand is imperative to creating an open environment where everyone is accepted! I highly encourage you to try this at your school! I created this Autism Awareness Unit to guide you in this important endeavor!

My favorite component of this unit is the true/false boards. I put them up all over the school and students put the right answers up as they walk by. I love how it keeps everyone thinking about the topic all month long beyond just the class lesson!

Check out everything that is included: