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Understanding the diversity of your students and finding ways to support their unique needs is the foundation for building a positive learning environment where all students can thrive. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching any individual student or group of students, having a wide variety of classroom resources to ready can help you better accommodate neurodiverse students and ultimately build more inclusive classrooms.
Classroom Resources for Autistic Students in Elementary School
Adjusting your learning materials and processes for autistic students in grades PreK-5 can be as simple as including more visual cues and implementing standard routines.
“One strategy that’s been a game changer for me is using a simple First–Then visual (and sometimes a First–Then–Next) along with a timer. It works really well for a lot of my students with autism because it makes the day feel predictable and reduces anxiety—there’s no guessing what’s coming next or how long something is going to last.”
-Jenn from Teach Love Autism
Getting to know the specific interests of your students is another great way to get them invested in what you’re teaching.
“I build engagement through choice, visuals, and meaningful communication opportunities. Embedding student interests into lessons, offering structured choices, and providing access to AAC or visual supports help students feel capable and heard.”
-Dawn from Cultivating Exceptional Minds
Autistic Leaders Coloring Pages | Autism Acceptance Month
By Autism Grown Up Resource Center
Grade: Any
Subject: SEL
This pack is all about the autistic people who are leaders in making a difference and who seek representation for autistic people. It includes images, bios, and quotes from 10 influential figures.
Reading Community Schedules Worksheets Distance Learning
By Adulting Made Easy aka SpedAdulting
Grade: Not Grade Specific
Subject: Life Skills, Basic Reading
Enhance functional reading comprehension with over 80 engaging, differentiated worksheets designed for special education, autism, and English language learner (ELL) classrooms. Students will practice reading about common life skills through fun, visual activities.
Preschool Math Worksheets (0-20) Adapted for Autism, Special Education
By Educarebrusa
Grades: PreK-K
Subject: Math
This adapted daily set of math worksheets covers several skills based on CCSS for math. It includes four no-prep activities and one low-prep activity covering patterns, number recognition, and estimating.
Donut Emotions Matching File Folder Game
By Limars Stars
Grades: PreK-K
Subject: ELA, SEL
Fun donut faces and bright colors help engage students with this sweet matching game. Students match up emotions with donut face expressions.
Same & Different Animal Shapes – Sorting Activities & Graphing – MegaBUNDLE
By Primarily Learning
Grades: PreK-1st
Subject: Math, Reading
Use these simple sorting shapes to match outlines or classify animals. The resource includes over 100 pages of activities featuring farm animals, woodland animals, cats, dogs, sea creatures, and more.
Writing Sentences 1st Grade – Sentence Writing Practice how to write sentences
By Totally Autism
Grades: K-3rd
Subject: Writing
Standard: CCSS CCRA.W.4
This sentence writing practice resource breaks the process down into clear, visual, and manageable steps, so students can experience success right away. Instead of staring at a blank page, students look at a picture and practice writing a simple, complete sentence — no guessing, no frustration.
Social Skills for Autism: Shape Up Your Friendships!
By Katrina Bevan
Grades: 1st-3rd
Subject: Life Skills, Speech Therapy
All of these no prep black and white worksheet activities are designed to help students think about the way they make friends. The worksheets allow students to identify areas they need to improve on or a chance to practice and learn how to make or keep friends.
Classroom Resources for Autistic Students in Middle & High School
For older autistic students, focus on executive functioning and practical life skills.
“One of my top tips is to write instructions down. When instructions are written, the student can review them at their own pace and can ask more targeted questions. This may seem like a simple strategy, but we teachers often give a long run-down of what to do, which can be overwhelming for many students.”
-Sarah from Mme Miller
Offering options also helps build a sense of independence.
“I love to offer choices and options to encourage student independence in class. I keep the number of choices manageable, so students don’t become overwhelmed or confused.”
-Anne from Real World Resources by Anne Vize Writing
I am Autistic PRINTABLE | Social Narrative & Activity | Autism Acceptance Story
By Transition Abilities
Grade: Not Grade Specific
Subject: SEL
Teach students all about autism in a neurodiversity-affirming printable, editable social narrative format, on what it means to be autistic or have autism. Four differentiated levels are included (with picture supports), along with hands-on activities.
Executive Functioning Skills Lessons & Activities
By Pathway 2 Success
Grades: 5th-8th
Subject: School Psychology
These lessons teach executive functioning skills, including planning, organization, time management, task initiation, working memory, metacognition, self-control, attention and focus, flexible thinking, and perseverance. Each lesson includes a description of the skill, a pre-assessment, and activities to practice the skill.
Grocery Store Life Skills Worksheets – Special Education and Autism Resource
By Adapting for Autism
Grades: 6-12
Subject: Life Skills
These fun and engaging activities will help equip students with the basic knowledge for future independence in their community. Put these no-prep worksheets in your independent work stations before a community trip to the grocery store to practice skills like dollar up strategies, more or less, recognizing signs, reading a receipt, shopping from a list, finding the correct aisles, and much more.
Next Dollar Up Worksheets: Distance Learning Compatible
By Autism Classroom Resources – Christine Reeve
Grades: 7th-10th
Subject: Math, Life Skills
Standards: CCSS K.CC.A.3, B.4, C.6
These 10 worksheets are designed so that the students use the Next Dollar Up strategy to determine how many dollar bills are needed to buy a product.
Self Advocacy Scenarios Activities for Neurodiverse Learners | Neurodiversity
By The Gift of Gab
Grades: 9th-12th
Subject: School Counseling, SEL
The activities in this resource were strategically created to help neurodiverse learners with what self-advocacy is, how to self-advocate, and areas where students would like to self-advocate more.
Neurodiversity Affirming “Social Language” Workbook
By The Communication Classroom
Grades: 9th-12th
Subject: SEL
This workbook is designed for neurodivergent teens to explore neurodiversity, communication, social preferences, and learning styles. It’s meant to serve as a starting point for conversations about neurodiversity, embracing neurodivergent characteristics, and more.
Use specific resources to target specific student needs
You already know that each student in your class is a unique individual with a specific learning style and needs. But teaching to a room full of individuals and meeting them all where they’re at is hard. Use teacher-created special education resources for all ages to take some of the prep work out of differentiating your lessons and activities. And, this Autism Acceptance Month in April, you might even try out some of these resources with your entire class, to help them better understand their autistic classmates.