Learn about autism and organizational skills with teaching tips and helpful resources to help autistic teens become more organized.
*Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using this link.
* On this site I am working on using language that represents the autistic community and what I have learned is that they prefer to use the term autistic instead of person with autism. I am working on making those changes on the site and there may be differences based on what I have been able to update.
Information about Autism and Organizational Skills
How to Help Autistic Teens Become More Organized
This is a question I hear from my readers and on the internet a lot. Do you have any tips on how I can help my teen become more organized? He is constantly losing his homework and his room is so messy. He doesn’t know how to find things in his bedroom and always needs my help. Is there any way that I can help him become more organized to find things on his own??
I decided I wanted to look more into these questions and see what information I could find as it relates to autism and organizational strategies. I am not an expert in this area, but I wanted to share with you resources and information I found while looking up information about organization and executive function skills. I know these skills have a huge impact on their everyday life skills. I did my best to find helpful tips and strategies as well as include tips and advice from autistic adults.
Why Organization can be Difficult to Learn for Autistic Teens
Some autistic individuals may have difficulty with cognitive function skills. They may have difficulty with processing information, problem-solving, coming up with solutions, and predicting consequences of an action. They can have difficulty thinking ahead to the future, so if you tell them a date or time to remember in the future, they may have difficulty remembering it. They may also have difficulty understanding the concept of time. If your teen is struggling with any of these areas, they may also have difficulty with organizational skills.
It is important to note, that not all autistic individuals will struggle with executive function and organizational skills.
What is Executive Function?
Executive Functions are a set of cognitive processes that help all of us to:
Plan and organize daily tasks
Be flexible between focusing on a task and then shifting our attention to performing another task
Multitasking
Manage time-constrained activities
Remember things in our mind for a short duration (working memory)
Control our impulses
Prioritize what is important in our day
Monitor ourselves with self-awareness
Initiate a plan (knowing when to start an activity)
Autistic teens may mature at a slower pace in executive function skills
“Teens with autism mature at a slower pace in executive skills. They may have particular trouble with flexibility, organization, initiating activities and working memory. In kids with an autism spectrum disorder, cognitive flexibility is the standout problem for them and seems to remain a problem as they get older,” (Rosenthal, et.al 2013).
So how can we help them improve with their executive function skills and organization skills?
Tips for Success with Teaching Organization Skills to Autistic Teens
Now that we know what executive function skills are, what strategies can we use to help them with these skills? These are tips I have learned through personal experiences with my family or with clients and then additional strategies I have found through research.
Figure out if these skills are important to them: Figure out if them being unorganized is a priority for them. If losing their homework or having a dirty room is not a priority to them, then they will most likely not want to work with you to improve in this area. If this is the case, then you may need to wait until they are ready to work on this skill or figure out a way to talk to them about why these skills are important.
Get an understanding of their needs and work with them together: Before starting any plan of how to help, you need to have a clear picture of what their needs are in order to help them. What specific thing are they having a hard time figuring out?
Make a plan: Start with one specific task and make a plan. Write out the plan on paper or on your phone to keep track of what you did and how it worked. That way you have a way to reflect on what is working well and not so well.
Make Lists: Find a visual way to help remember things: You could use written lists or checklists, or use sticky notes to place on mirrors or outside of doors to help give reminders.
Find ways to use reminders that work for your teen: this could be alarm reminders set on their phone or iPad or a clock. You could use a watch that goes off at specific times for reminders. Or you could also use a planner or calendar.
Visual Supports: We kind of already talked about this above, but setting up visual supports can really help. These can include a to-do list, calendars, planners, real objects, step by step instructions, or labels to help organize.
Set up the environment for success: If there is a specific area of the home or a specific area at school you are wanting to help them organize think about how you can set up that space to make things as simple and easy for them to organize or put things away. Work with the teen in this process though, because you need to use a system that works for them. Everyone is different and has different ideas on what works for them. When we organized the laundry room area for my brother to allow him more independence to help put towels and certain clothes away, we used baskets where he could see into them so he could easily sort and figure out what goes where.
Social Stories: Social stories can be used to help talk about different social situations when it comes to being organized. Such as remembering your homework, cleaning your room, keeping a clean desk and locker at school.
Start Thinking in Questions: I learned this technique from myaspergerschild.com after learning her strategies for organization. This technique makes sense to me because I personally do this myself. I am always asking myself questions throughout the day so that I don’t forget things. This is something that you may need to teach to others as this may not come easy to them. She suggested you start by practicing by saying the questions out loud as they come up and you think about them.
Be clear about expectations: This one is huge for me personally, when we are trying to learn something new and doing something that is hard for us we need to really be clear about our expectations. Don’t try to do too much at once. Think about one specific change that you can make to help with organization. The more you change the more you can start to feel overwhelmed and then you will be more likely to go back to your old habits or feel bad about yourself. You may get upset that you didn’t figure out a good technique to work on organization and executive function skills.
Some Helpful Tips and Resources from Autistic Adults on Organizational Strategies.
I have always wanted to have a better understanding of what it is like to have autism in order to better help my brother and the clients I was serving. As professionals and as parents we have a lot to learn about autism and now with the internet, there are so many more ways to learn and hear about autism through autistic adults. I am going to do my best to help provide you with opportunities to learn from autistic adults.
Below you will find either blog posts or videos from autistic adults with information about organization strategies.
The Aspie World has a YouTube Channel where he explains a lot of topics about his life with Aspergers. He has a great video about Time Management. You can check out the YouTube Video Here.
He has another video with 7 Time Management Tips you can check that out here!
Autistic Not Weird has a great post about Growing Up Autistic. It is not specifically geared towards organization skills, but it has great advice for teenagers with autism. Check it out here!
Some Helpful Products to Teach Executive Functioning and Organization Skills
Your Therapy Source has created an Executive Functioning Resource that is a digital workbook that is a step by step guide to help boost your student’s working memory, impulse control, focus, emotional control, organization, planning, and self-monitoring!
Smart but Scattered Teens: The Executive Skills Program for Helping Teens Reach Their Potential by Richard Guare, Peg Dawson, and Colin Guare created an awesome resource! This positive guide provides a science-based program for promoting teens’ independence by building their executive skills–the fundamental brain-based abilities needed to get organized, stay focused, and control impulses and emotions.
Final Thoughts on Autism and Organization Skills
Organization skills are a higher level skill and it will take time to learn these skills and find a process that works for the teen you are working with. Have patience and understanding as they are trying to find a strategy that works for them. Things will hopefully go better when you can stay calm when working with them to find strategies that work for them.
One final thought, there is no specific timeline for teens to learn specific skills and understand that it is a process and everyone learns different skills at different rates and times. Autistic Mama has a great article explaining how no one knows your autistic child’s future.
Additional Resources for Organizational Skills and Tips for Autistic Teens
Here is an amazing list of Actually Autistic blogs that you can check out if you would like to learn more about autism through their point of view. https://anautismobserver.wordpress.com
Rosenthal, M., Wallace, G.L., Lawson, R., Wills, M.C., Dixon, E., Yerys, B.E. & Kenworthy, L. (2013) Impairments in real-world executive function increase from childhood to adolescence in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychology. 2013 Jan;27(1):13-8. View abstract
Free Resources for Teaching Personal Hygiene Cares
I get so many questions about how to help with personal hygiene cares and I wanted to put together a list of FREE resources available for you to look at and use. Below you will find a list of FREE Resources and Videos available for you to help teach these skills for individuals with autism.
Free Sensory Strategies Personal Hygiene Cares ToolkitÂ
Before you check out the other free resources below you should check out our FREE Sensory Strategies for Personal Hygiene Cares Toolkit!
Are you looking for additional help and strategies to help teach life skills to individuals with autism? Check out our new online course Learning Life Skills for a Purpose! We will teach you the step by step process of how to use task analysis and visual supports to help teach life skills to children, teens, and adults with autism. Plus we give you step by step resources to help get you started with specific skills!
Learn about Functional Life Skills Resources to add to your toolbox.
Teaching functional life skills can feel very overwhelming at times because there are so many different skills.
You may not feel like you know where to start or what teaching strategies to use?
Check out all of these amazing resources below to help you gain confidence knowing what functional life skills to teach.
*This post contains affiliate links. When you use this link to make a purchase we get a portion of the fee, at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure statement for further details.Â
What are functional life skills?
Functional life skills are the skills a person needs in order to live and work as independently as possible. Skills are defined as ‘functional’ when the skill supports and improves the person’s level of independence. For some, those skills may be learning to care for personal needs. For others, it may be learning to use a bus. And still for others it includes learning how to work as part of a team.
Functional Life Skills for Individuals with Autism
We are working on a lot of these skills with my teenage brother right now to help him as he transitions into adulthood. I wanted to put together a more comprehensive post about various life skills and strategies you can use to help teach those life skills.
Functional life skills are essential for all individuals to learn and develop as they get older to learn to be more independent with their everyday life. It can feel overwhelming when you think about all the different areas of life skills you can teach and that someone has to try to learn.
Below you will find a large list of life skills you can help teach and some helpful links to resources on how to help teach those skills. You can also check out The Mega Bundle of Functional Life Skills Resources for Teens and Adults to help you teach a variety of functional life skills resources.
We have created a Free Life Skills Checklist for you! Click Here to get your Free Life Skills Checklist or enter your email address below to get your free life skills checklist to help you know what skills to teach your teenager.
Self-Care Skills
Dressing
Taking shirt on and off
Taking pants on and off
Taking underwear on and off
Taking bra on and off
Taking socks on and off
Taking shoes on and off
Tying shoes
Completing buttons and zippers on clothing
Tie a tie
Pick out appropriate clothes for the day/weather
Mend tears in clothing/sew a button
Picking out the right sized clothing
Read and understand fabric labels
Folding clothes and putting them away in the appropriate location
Are you looking for additional help and strategies to help teach life skills to individuals with autism?
Check out our new online course Learning Life Skills for a Purpose! We will teach you the step by step process of how to use task analysis and visual supports to help teach life skills to children, teens, and adults with autism. Plus we give you step by step resources to help get you started with specific skills!
Learn about teaching life skills autism with these great books to add to your toolbox.
*This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclosure statement for further details.
Teaching Life Skills Autism
Teaching life skills can feel very overwhelming because there are so many different skills. I want to give you the confidence that you can teach these skills because I will break the skills down for you in easy steps. I will also provide you with visuals and checklists to help you teach a variety of life skills. You can learn more about the life skills resources with the Mega Bundle of Functional Life Skills Resources Here.
Books for Teaching Life Skills
Below is a list of books and resources I have come across when researching ways to help teach life skills to autistic children, teens, or adults. I have personally read these books and found them all to be helpful in their own unique ways. Check them out for yourself and see if they can help you think of new ways to help teach life skills.
How to Teach Life Skills to Kids with Autism or Asperger’s
The first book to add to your toolbox is How to Teach Life Skills to Kids with Autism or Asperger’s.
I have enjoyed reading and getting to understand Jennifer’s perspective. I always want to take the time to learn from adults with Autism or Asperger’s. Jennifer’s personal experience with Asperger’s Syndrome and having a brother with autism makes her perspective doubly insightful. Jennifer can show you how to:
Create opportunities for children to learn in natural settings and situations
Teach vital skills such as everyday domestic tasks, choosing appropriate attire, and being polite
Help individuals on the spectrum develop good habits that will help them be more fit and healthy
Improve time management skills such as punctuality and task-switching and much more!
Jennifer’s straightforward and humorous delivery will keep you eagerly turning the page for her next creative solution!
Steps to Independence: Teaching Everyday Skills to Children with Special Needs
The next book to add to your toolbox is Steps to Independence: Teaching Everyday Skills to Children with Special Needs.
This book gives parents of children from age 3 through young adulthood proven strategies for teaching children the life skills they’ll need to live as independently as possible. Parents will start with a reader-friendly overview of the basics of teaching and then go deeper with a step-by-step guide to teaching seven different types of skills: get-ready, self-help, toilet training, play, self-care, home-care, and information gathering skills. In this fourth edition, they’ll also find helpful updates and additions, such as
an expanded section on managing behavior problems, including guidance on identifying the problems, examining behavior, initiating a behavior management program, and encouraging alternative behaviors
a chapter on technology that reflects recent advances and shows how to benefit from using email, instant messaging, Internet communities, search engines, and software
a chapter on strengthening partnerships with other teachers in the child’s life during IEP meetings, through classroom volunteer work, and in everyday communication with them
Get your Free Autism Life Skills Checklist
Below you can get your free life skills checklist that you can use to help your autistic teen or young adult learn these life skills to increase their independence and quality of life. Just enter your email address below to get your free life skills checklist.
Autism Life Skills: From Communication and Safety to Self-Esteem and More
Another book that is great to add to your toolbox is Autism Life Skills: From Communication and Safety to Self-Esteem and More.
This book provides advice and reflections from autistic adults across the spectrum, as well as Sicile-Kira’s own experience as an advocate and parent of an autistic teen, the book covers these ten essential life skills:
Making Sense of the World * Communication * Safety * Self-Esteem * Pursuing Interests * Self-Regulation * Independence * Social Relationships * Self- Advocacy *Earning a Living
Taking Care of Myself 2: For Teenagers and Young Adults with ASD
If your teen is struggling with personal hygiene care skills this is a great book to add to your toolbox.
This book was written for teenagers and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), this instructional book is also for parents, instructors, and therapists to help teens on the autism spectrum. The information is written in an easy-to-understand manner with simple how-to lists. This book is geared for use in an instructional or home setting for any teenager or young adult with ASD. Topics covered include: dressing for different events, feeling anxious in social situations, public versus private behaviors, staying healthy, anxiety, depression, and feeling suicidal, social media issues, sexual harassment, finding and keeping friends (including a boyfriend or girlfriend), safe and responsible sex, and deciding to have sex with a partner, and more.
I hope you find these additional resources helpful on your journey to teaching life skills. Let me know in the comments if you have any other books or resources you have found helpful!
Get your Free Autism Life Skills Checklist
Below you can get your free life skills checklist that you can use to help your autistic teen or young adult learn these life skills to increase their independence and quality of life. Just enter your email address below to get your free life skills checklist.
How to Teach Teens with Autism How to Use the Microwave
*This post may contain affiliate links. There is no extra cost to you, but if you purchase something through our link, we will receive a commission.Â
Teaching how to use the microwave is an important cooking skill to help increase independence when cooking meals. The microwave can be a great tool to make some simple meals or a great tool to use to reheat up leftovers.
How do I teach how to use the Microwave?
The first steps are to make sure you explain the safety issues when using the microwave. Make sure the individual understands how to use the microwave safely.
Teach them about how to handle hot foods when taking foods out of the microwave.
what types of containers can go in the microwave to heat up foods
what types of items cannot go in the microwave
Next, you can teach them the steps of how to use the microwave.
You will want to go over the buttons on your microwave such as how to open the door on the microwave.
what buttons are start and stop/cancel
how to set the time on the microwave
as they understand the basic buttons, you can teach some of the more complex buttons as you see fit.
Once they understand the buttons on the microwave and how to open the door, you can go through the steps of using the microwave with them. You can model the steps for them and go through each step and talk through it with them. Make sure to point out some important steps with safety such as touching hot things after they are heated up or taking off foil before putting the food in the microwave.
You can use simple recipes to go through the steps of using the microwave such as some instant mac and cheese or oatmeal, or you could reheat some leftover dinner with them.
List out the steps
You can list out the steps of how to use the microwave for them in a checklist format or with pictures and words to help them visually see how to complete each step. You could also take real-life photos of them in action when using the microwave and use those photos to make a visual checklist for them! We love using our iPhone to take photos of each step on how to complete something. You could also use this idea for when you want to teach a new recipe. If they have a hard time reading the instructions of a new recipe, you could try taking pictures of them completing each step with you so that they can go through the pictures to remember each step.
We have created a FREE Printable just for you that makes this easy for you! We made a list of the steps of how to use the microwave and then we used pictures and words to create a step by step visual for them to better understand the steps to complete.
You can download your FREE copy of the Printable down below when you provide us your name and email.
We hope you find these tips helpful and we always love hearing back from you! Let us know in the comments below if you found these tips and our FREEBIE to be helpful for you! We are here for you each step of the way as you help teach life skills!
Use this free kitchen safety worksheet to help teach kitchen safety skills with using visuals and checklists to help teach the kitchen safety skills.
*This post contains affiliate links. There is no extra cost to you, but if you purchase something through our link we will recieve a commission. Please see the disclosure statement for further details.
How to Teach Kitchen Safety Skills to Autistic Teens and Young Adults
Kitchen Safety Skills can be a tricky area to figure out how to teach because there can be so many different scenerios when cooking. There could be different outcomes based on different situations.
One area to start with when thinking about kitchen safety is setting up the kitchen environment, especially to keep them safe or if they don’t understand what is safe to touch or use.
Setting up the Kitchen Environment
Put knives away in an area they cannot reach.
Try using stove locks to keep them from turning on the stove.
Try using locks on the fridge or on the cupboards if they cannot be trusted to get food out on their own.
Keep glass wear or breakable items in a locked cupboard or up high out of reach.
Unplug appliances so that they cannot accidently be turned on.
Place Stop Signs or visuals on items or surfaces where you don’t want them to go or reach towards.
Get your Free Kitchen Safety Worksheet Here
You can download our free visuals for kitchen safety below and we provide you with some options of stop signs that you can print out and laminate to put around the kitchen if needed. Just enter your email address below to get the free kitchen safety worksheet.
Download the FREE Visuals Printable below by subscribing to our email list!
Teaching Kitchen Safety Skills
If the individual is wanting to do more in teh kitchen or has shown some interest in being in the kitchen with you, that can be a great time to work on teaching kitchen safety skills and awareness.
You could start by teaching what items in the kitchen are dangerous and how they could hurt them.
Show them pictures or get the real objects and model for them appropriate behavior to use when around those items.
Teach them how to ask for help so if they do get into trouble in the kitchen they will know how to get you for help.
You could try using You Tube Videos to show demonstrations on how to use specific items such as knife skills or how to use the blender.
Be with them every time they want to be in the kitchen cooking so that you can help model appropriate behaivors and show them how to do specific steps.
Use visuals around the ktichen such as step by step instructions for specific skills they are working on.
You could use checklists as reminders on things such as what to do after cooking food or rules to follow so they don’t get hurt.
Free Resources to help Teach Kitchen Safety Skills
We also looked on the internet for more additional free resources you could use to help teach kitchen safety skills.
Please take a look at these free resources we found on Teachers Pay Teachers to help find additional ways to teach kitchen safety skills.
We hope you find our free visuals along with these other free resources on Teachers Pay Teachers to be helpful for you when teaching Kitchen Safety Skills. We understand the importantance of teaching kitchen safety before learning how to cook and to help keep our loved ones safe.
Please let me know if you have any questions and let me know in the comments below if these resources are helpful for you!
Wait don’t forget to grab the FREE Kitchen Safety Visuals!!
This is an educational blog designed to help families how to teach children with autism life skills to help them learn to be independent as they transition into adulthood.
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This book was written for teenagers and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), this instructional book is also for parents, instructors, and therapists to help teens on the autism spectrum. The information is written in an easy-to-understand manner with simple how-to lists. This book is geared for use in an instructional or home setting for any teenager or young adult with ASD. Topics covered include: dressing for different events, feeling anxious in social situations, public versus private behaviors, staying healthy, anxiety, depression, and feeling suicidal, social media issues, sexual harassment, finding and keeping friends (including a boyfriend or girlfriend), safe and responsible sex, and deciding to have sex with a partner, and more.
