Science at KS3 and autism spectrum disorder

The focus on discussing and developing arguments using creativity and innovation, exploring contemporary and historical scientific developments, and linking the knowledge and understanding of science to personal and collective decisions may all pose challenges.

Pupils with Asperger’s syndrome may find it difficult to generalise and apply ideas or knowledge in a different context, so this will need structuring in hand-outs and vocabulary.

The pupil may be very sensitive to implied criticism of their arguments in peer discussions, which will need handling carefully.

You can:

• Establish ground rules for discussion, which include respecting others’ views
• Support creativity with searching questions and lots of examples. Try the ‘What if?’ approach, where pupils can be really creative in their responses.
• Try challenges such as "Who can come up with the most ideas for using a brick?" Pool the responses to encourage an open-minded and creative approach.
• Use examples of scientific breakthroughs where results were unexpected. Show how, by being creative, the scientist made a significant discovery, such as Alexander Fleming and antibiotics.
• Use a timeline to look at historical scientific events in context. Pupils with Asperger’s syndrome tend to find historical concepts difficult because of the imagination required to think about a world that was very different.