His parents should know from the evaluation that was done as to where he falls on the spectrum. If the school he attended before did the evaluation the parents should get that information from that school psychologist or from whomever did the evaulation. The school/ parents should also be able to provide what techniques worked with this student.The school where he is now should have an interpreter. If they don’t, he should be eligible for one under IDEA and then be included in his IEP. Depending on his communication level he should also be getting services from a Language or Speech therapist which should also be included in his IEP.

May want to look into a local Center for Autism and Related Diseases (CARD). They will come to the school and help with training in teaching techniques and handling behavioral issues with any staff member that works with this child. They will also work with his fellow classmates. If the parents want to get into their database, they will come to the home as well to help parents, siblings, and any other family members with techniques for this child. They do provide the services for free.

To learn about autism such as what it is, characteristics of, diagnosis, treatments, education, etc.; I would visit the Autism Society. They provide great information.

I also suggest reading these books entitled Ten Things Your Student With Autism Wishes You Knew & Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew from author Ellen Notbahm. It’s gives you a perspective from their point of view..dislikes/likes..behavior issuses, etc. It’s an eye opener and very helpful.

Bottom line the best way to help him is to learn as much as you can about Autism. The more you know about it and the issues it can produce, the more you can help him or any other child with autism. Each person is different regardless of what similarities they have in characteristics. What may work with one child may not work with another. Main thing: never ever give up. =) Good Luck

Hello! The first thing I would suggest is gather the team and start to problem solve some the area of concerns that the whole team has.

1) Communication – does he understand English? Does he understand only Spanish? Does he have picture identification? If the answer is yes to picture identification you can use picture based to assist with the communication needs until you have a better understand of his language needs.

2) I would see if you can get a Spanish speaking educational aide. She should help the student with translations of what is going on and spoken.

3) To help the student understand language – I would look into ELL activities that does English – Spanish – English so that you have some activities that he can participate in.

You have a double whammy…a child who may have communication issues in a school where he does not speak or understand the language being used. The first thing to do is arrange for the child to get help with the ESL issue. I would suggest a bilingual aide. Next you have to figure out how well he communicates in Spainish to get a base line of where to start. I would immediately request (and it should be happening anyway if the child has an IEP from another district or state) a full evaluation done for a new IEP that will meet both needs…ESL and autism. Until that is done, it is going to be a lot of trial and error.

find a spanish school teacher from the high schol in your town, talk to the childs parents, docter, and school special needs teachers to get him evaluated. he may need to work with an english speaking teacher in your school district.

As a mom who has a kid with autism i give you credit for trying to get all the help you can for this child quickly. thank you for being concerned and caring.

autism is a serious debilitating syndrome needing specialist care