Prevention of absenteeism and school failure in students with ASD: Improving the transition from primary to secondary school

In ASD socio-emotional regulation is affected by the difficulties to lead with hypersensitivity and context blindness, also executive functioning that leads the reactions and response to social and environmental context has been compromised in ASD. Reading and understanding themselves, and others' emotions has also specific difficulties for these students. 

Anxiety is one of the specific factors that influence school failure and is very present in students with autism, due to the difficulty they have to integrate the context, relate socially or deal with sensory demands.

Self-regulation needs different toolkit box for different moments, and when a student with ASD is at the school it is important to share with the teachers some codes or permissions that help them to put on practice with success their calm down strategies.

• Calm bottles or calming glitter jars provide healthy and effective ways for little ones to help soothe themselves, calm down, take deep breaths, and work through their emotions. 
• Offer an escape plan or a calming corner: sometimes they need to leave the place in order to regain their control and reduce stimulation.
• Calming corner or sensory box: comfortable and calming space to go when they need some space, to calm down their bodies and to take a time-in to process their feelings when they notice their motions are starting to spiral out of control.
• Develop some simple exercises or routines that are calming: squeeze a stress ball, focus attention in deep breathes, imagine a safety place or think about a pleasant memory, count to 10.
• Take 5 minutes each day to practice: relaxation, meditation, stretching or listening to music.
• Reflection zone: provide a writing or drawing space for students to reflect on their emotion’s behaviour. Teachers can provide guided questions or have the student engage in their own free write.
• Volcano technique: individualized graduation for each student specifies things that make them feel anxious and specific strategies for each situation.