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Behavior & Sensory

26 articles

Behavior support, sensory needs, and self-regulation.

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All Behavior & Sensory

26 articles
Optimizing K-12 Classrooms for Autistic Learners: 6 Design Strategies that Benefit All Students Behavior & Sensory

Optimizing K-12 Classrooms for Autistic Learners: 6 Design Strategies that Benefit All Students

The link between classroom design and learning outcomes is clear. In the past two decades much has been learned about ways to structure classrooms to reduce behavioral challenges and improve learning outcomes for students with autism. We now know that designing classrooms for au

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L.F. Stebbins

Aug 20, 2025 · 5 min read
Building Fall Transition Routines: Task Analysis Strategies for Behavior Therapists Behavior & Sensory

Building Fall Transition Routines: Task Analysis Strategies for Behavior Therapists

Why Fall Transitions Matter

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Angela Nelson, J.D., Ed.M.

Jul 25, 2025 · 4 min read
Addressing Executive Functioning Challenges as a Root Cause of Disruptive Behaviors Behavior & Sensory

Addressing Executive Functioning Challenges as a Root Cause of Disruptive Behaviors

This article is the final one in our series on Key Root Causes of Disruptive Classroom Behaviors and How to Help

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Stages Learning

Sep 25, 2024 · 3 min read
Sensory Breaks for Your Autistic Child Behavior & Sensory

Sensory Breaks for Your Autistic Child

Strategies for Homeschooling Are there moments during your homeschooling day when you find your autistic child is seeking a sensory break to organize their body and mind? You’re not alone. According to the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, up to 95% of autistic children

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Samantha Russell

Oct 21, 2023 · 6 min read
Nurturing Autistic Children: Managing Challenging Behaviors Behavior & Sensory

Nurturing Autistic Children: Managing Challenging Behaviors

Parenting is a complex journey filled with both joys and difficulties. When caring for an autistic child, parents often face the task of navigating through various behaviors and searching for effective strategies to meet their child's needs. Autism presents a distinctive set of

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Nicole Knicely

Aug 12, 2023 · 4 min read
Unified Sports: Getting Autistic Children Back in the Game Behavior & Sensory

Unified Sports: Getting Autistic Children Back in the Game

How can unified sports help autistic children, parents, and communities, given the lingering developmental effects of the pandemic?

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Amairani Asmad

Mar 10, 2023 · 6 min read
What Is MTSS and How Does It Help Struggling Students? Behavior & Sensory

What Is MTSS and How Does It Help Struggling Students?

MTSS stands for a multi-tiered system of supports. It is a data-driven, tiered framework, also referred to as a multi-tiered process or model of supports, that is designed to help schools identify struggling students early and intervene quickly. Besides focusing on giving studen

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Ymkje Wideman-van der Laan

Nov 5, 2022 · 6 min read
Ask an Autistic*: What Do Meltdowns Feel Like? Behavior & Sensory

Ask an Autistic*: What Do Meltdowns Feel Like?

And How Can I Help? When I was young I would lose all control if I accidentally touched a seat belt strap, if I heard certain sounds, if someone entered my room, or if my mom put sweaters on me. And tights? Completely out of the question. Meltdowns are not tantrums. An autistic

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Tori Lehinger

Sep 5, 2022 · 6 min read
Safety Considerations for Caregivers of Autistic Children Behavior & Sensory

Safety Considerations for Caregivers of Autistic Children

Safety is an important topic when caring for autistic children. We covered how to keep autistic children out of harm’s way in Safety First! 8 Ways to Keep Autistic Children Safe , but there is another side to the story. Safety can also be an issue for the parents and caregivers

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Ymkje Wideman-van der Laan

Jul 17, 2022 · 6 min read
Celebrating the Failures (and Successes) on the Autism Journey Behavior & Sensory

Celebrating the Failures (and Successes) on the Autism Journey

Setback. Failure. Mishap .

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Sara Bailey

Jun 25, 2022 · 6 min read
Autism and Aggression: A Four-Step Approach Behavior & Sensory

Autism and Aggression: A Four-Step Approach

How to deal with aggressive behavior remains one of the main and most urgent questions teachers and caregivers of autistic children ask, and aggression is also among the most common challenges conveyed by parents and primary carers of children and adolescents with autism.

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Ymkje Wideman-van der Laan

May 5, 2022 · 7 min read
Top Ten Outdoor Learning Strategies for Students With Autism Behavior & Sensory

Top Ten Outdoor Learning Strategies for Students With Autism

Outdoor learning can be a powerful and valuable aspect of the educational experience for all children–especially those with autism. Given adequate opportunities to explore, develop an imagination, acquire fine motor skills, and engage in sensory play, children can achieve physic

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Kenna McEvoy

Apr 28, 2022 · 6 min read
How to Shape Homework Behavior With Autistic Children Behavior & Sensory

How to Shape Homework Behavior With Autistic Children

Let’s talk homework! If you are a parent to a school-aged autistic child, you may find it challenging to encourage your child to complete homework assignments. Autistic children will often engage in undesired behaviors, such as noncompliance, aggression, or full-blown tantrums.

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Marianne Coppola

Sep 6, 2021 · 4 min read
“Opportunities to Respond” in the Classroom for Autistic Students Behavior & Sensory

“Opportunities to Respond” in the Classroom for Autistic Students

Strategies for Active Engagement in the Classroom and on Zoom f or Autistic Children You’ve likely heard the phrase “Busy hands are happy hands,” but the same is true for our brains. One of the hardest skills for autistic students is what to do in the classroom when they’re expe

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Frankie Kietzman, Ed.S.

Aug 14, 2021 · 6 min read
Autism Fidget Toys Are More Than Just Fun: Strong Research Supports Their Use Behavior & Sensory

Autism Fidget Toys Are More Than Just Fun: Strong Research Supports Their Use

In recent years the toy industry has exploded with options for toys focused on the fidgeting sensory needs of autistic people and those with ADHD and other disabilities to have their fine motor needs met. Pop-fidgets, Push-pop fidgets, Infinity Cubes, Pop Tubes, Fidget Spinners,

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Erin Beach

Aug 14, 2021 · 5 min read
Twice Exceptional: Untangling the Paradox of Giftedness and Autism Behavior & Sensory

Twice Exceptional: Untangling the Paradox of Giftedness and Autism

Parents and teachers may wonder if their student is autistic, or is intellectually gifted, or both. “Twice Exceptional”, or “2e,” are the current descriptors for students who have both a disability and intellectual giftedness. The signs and symptoms, however, are often confusing

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Signe M. Kastberg

Jul 31, 2021 · 9 min read
8 Tantrum Taming Skills for Helping Autistic Children Behavior & Sensory

8 Tantrum Taming Skills for Helping Autistic Children

As I enter the house, she’s screaming. A 3-year-old with a full-blown meltdown meets me at the door. Well, her mom meets me with the I’m-going-to-pull-my-hair-out look with her sweet, beautiful, screaming child rolling on the floor behind her. A little background. We had ordered

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Ilana Danneman, PT

Jun 14, 2021 · 7 min read
The 7 Benefits of Using Sensory Bins for Autistic Children Behavior & Sensory

The 7 Benefits of Using Sensory Bins for Autistic Children

Has your family been introduced to sensory bins yet? They are all the rage at our house, and sometimes they keep us busy for hours! If you have not heard of sensory bins, or have not started using them yet, you may want to jump on the bandwagon, and I will tell you why!

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Marianne Coppola

Apr 18, 2021 · 5 min read
Keeping Fit at Home: Exercise and Autistic Children Behavior & Sensory

Keeping Fit at Home: Exercise and Autistic Children

Benefits, Best Practices, Home Equipment Choices, and the Top Online Exercise Videos and Gaming Resources for Your Autistic Child Exercise for autistic children can have both physical and psychological benefits. For many autistic children who have sensory integration issues, gym

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Chloe Fay

Dec 29, 2020 · 7 min read
Social Camouflaging in Autistic Girls and Women Behavior & Sensory

Social Camouflaging in Autistic Girls and Women

Social camouflaging means hiding behavior that may be less socially acceptable and putting extra effort into appearing neurotypical: It has negative consequences in terms of recognizing and diagnosing autistic girls. It is not uncommon for adolescents to want to fit in with thei

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Madeline Burroughs

Dec 20, 2020 · 5 min read
What Is Stimming? Behavior & Sensory

What Is Stimming?

What is stimming?

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Chloe Fay

Aug 30, 2020 · 5 min read
Tips and Strategies for Helping Children with Autism Develop New Routines Behavior & Sensory

Tips and Strategies for Helping Children with Autism Develop New Routines

With difficulty making sense of their surroundings and feelings of anxiety, children with autism often develop routines and rituals to have some form of order and structure to their lives. Everyday routines such as washing and teeth brushing are generally consistent. There are t

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Grace Chen

Oct 1, 2017 · 3 min read
How to Help Young Children with Autism Avoid Behavior Problems Behavior & Sensory

How to Help Young Children with Autism Avoid Behavior Problems

Linda Hodgdon has been a long-time friend of Stages Learning and is author of the best-selling book, " Visual Strategies for Improving Communication ." We have invited her to impart some of her wisdom and experience in a guest blog and she discusses an important topic that comes

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Linda Hodgdon, CCC-SLP

Mar 17, 2017 · 3 min read
Leveraging Special Interests to Help Children with Autism: An Autistic Person* Shares Her Experiences Behavior & Sensory

Leveraging Special Interests to Help Children with Autism: An Autistic Person* Shares Her Experiences

Having a special interest in something is a major part of the repetitive behavior that comes with autism. In fact, researcher Tony Attwood (2003) found that special interests seem “to be a dominant characteristic, occurring in over 90% of children and adults with Asperger’s synd

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Catlaina Vrana

Jan 23, 2017 · 6 min read

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