The autistic student must master some self-help skills in order to become less reliant on others and in order to function in the mainstream of everyday life. These skills should begin with tasks that are small and fairly easy to carry out quickly. Instructions need to be given in short, direct sentences, and the instructor should give immediate feedback after each attempt that has been successful. Vocabulary needs to be limited to only the necessary words needed to carry out instructions.

Follow up:

Teaching the proper process of eating is a definite challenge to many autistic children. They may have the capabilities of sitting and will run, walk, dart in a constant fashion instead of sitting.  Their food choices may be limited to salty, spicy, or crunchy foods. Frustrated parents may have adopted the attitude of "least resistant" and allowed the student to run while eating a bag of chips. In the school situation, this activity must be changed for the protection of himself and others. To change the student is going to be a long, difficult process involving both skill and patience. Begin by asking the student to sit while doing their favorite activity. Try to avoid distractions to keep the student from becoming either over or under stimulated. Encourage the child to help with setting the table. Use unbreakable tableware. Allow usage of either spoon or fork by the student's choice. If necessary, break food apart for easier handling. Teach associated skills such as clean up, wiping the table, and sweeping. Name items as the student uses them for name recognition.

Limiting the amount of food consumed by the student will increase the opportunities for non-verbal communication. Eating times should be closely monitored with the student's assistant sitting either beside or across from them. The assistant may give verbal clues such as saying "Open" or "Close" when feeding the student or allowing him to feed himself. Many autistic children will exhibit peculiar eating habits such as licking their food, placing food in their hair, spitting, and throwing food. When the student seems more interested in playing with the food than eating it, remove the food. It can be offered again at another time. One may selectively ignore any negative behavior. Constant verbal opposition may simply cause the student to react more violently.

For an autistic student to remain incontinent for years is not unusual despite the patience and persistence of parents and teachers. Daily toilet activities should be scheduled shortly after snacks, lunch, running, or outdoor activities for a higher probability of success. Familiarize the child with the toilet, voiding and wiping and other associated skills such as flushing the toilet, dressing, and hand washing. The assistant should remain with the student at all times. You can provide a foot stool if the child is too small to sit comfortably on the toilet. Washing their hands and faces, brushing their hair and teeth and wiping their nose are taught and reinforced at school.  Reinforcement on a daily basis will cause their level of functioning to succeed from very passive to slowly beginning to participate in them

This is a myriad of tasks for an autistic student to learn. Many will not learn all of them. Most will be able to accomplish these necessities required by society. Patience and perseverance are the two keys that the instructor holds. The autistic child has his rights to enjoy all of the capacities of the other children around him.