Mathematics and autism spectrum disorder at P level 4

These sections refer to high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Begin by reading about the main challenges for children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome across subject areas:

At P level 4 the challenges that have most impact are in the area of communication - understanding concepts and responding to and empathising with others.

In maths a child with Asperger’s may show a great aptitude for recognising the written number, and therefore appear to be very competent, but may have a lack of understanding of basic mathematical vocabulary, such as before and after.

At P level 4 the pupil needs support to grasp this new vocabulary, make links from practical to abstract concepts and in focus on the task.

You can:

• Try to tap into the child’s particular interest and use that to develop maths concepts such as position, the relationship between objects and matching.
• Keep instructions short and simple.
• Use as much visual input as possible, so that the child can be involved in physically working with things.