Rules and Routines

Definition

Many students with autism (AU) rely on rules and routines to keep their environment predictable and, therefore, feel safer. Educational professionals and parents must understand the importance of rules and routines for individuals with autism and apply them in various settings and situations. Application of rules and routines in school and home helps students with autism engage more successfully in activities and prevents problem behavior. Routines help create an efficient environment – they save time. When students know routines, they can perform daily activities more quickly.

How to Use

Generally, students with autism have rigid patterns of thinking. Their tendency to follow rules and routines often causes problems for adaptive functioning, including daily living skills, communication, and social interactions. Students may insist upon the same routine or environment and be upset or even have an emotional meltdown if the sameness is broken by unexpected changes or people.

However, this characteristic of autism can be applied in a positive way. For example, it is widely known that many individuals with autism benefit from structured environments in which they understand the rules and routines. Students with autism are more likely to engage in activities in those situations. For example, highly structured programs, such as the TEACCH model, the LEAP model, or Pivotal Response Training, show how consistent application of rules and routines facilitates student learning. Rules and 

routines must be established for a student to follow in class or other places in school,including transitions. It is suggested that the rules and routines be explained and stated using positive words (i.e. saying “Walk quietly in the hallway” instead of saying, “Do not run in the hallway”). The teacher may set up a time for the student to read and repeat the rules in a daily routine. It is also suggested that rules and routines be posted and presented to the student in a visual format.

Rule and Routine Examples:

Classroom Rules

• Raise hand when you have a question

• Stay in seat for individual work

• Work quietly

• Walk in line to the cafeteria

Home Rules

• Do homework before play

• Make bed before eating breakfast

• Change underwear everyday

School Routines

• Steps for taking lunch count

• Steps for handing in work

• Steps for handing out work

• Steps for getting ready to leave at the end of the day

• Steps for lining up for recess

• Steps for walking down the hall

When to Use

Rules and routines can be used at home and school

Variations

For most students with autism, especially students who have limited skills in communication and other adaptive functioning, rules and routines must be directly taught. For instance, an activity  schedule consisting of a set of pictures or words provides visual cues and helps the students know the sequence of activities. Social StoriesTM are also useful to introduce the rules and routines.

Downloads

Implementation Checklist

Resource List

Example

Summary

Rules and routines can prevent problem behavior by providing information about what to do in a certain environment. Students can benefit from rules and routines as structure alleviates their confusion across settings and activities throughout the day.

Research

STUDIES CITED IN RESEARCH TABLE

Miltenberger, C., & Charlop, M. (2014). Increasing the athletic group play of children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(1), 41-54.This study was a multiple-baseline design study of three students with autism. Students were taught the rules and skills needed for two common group games. After training all three children showed increases in group play and increases in speech. However, these increases did not generalize to the recess setting.

Watts, A., Wilder, D., Gregory, M., Leon, Y., & Ditzian, K. (2013). The effect of rules on differential reinforcement of other behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 46(3), 680-684.In the study, four children with autism were reinforced using Differential Reinforcement of Other behaviors (DRO). Sessions where a “rule” for reinforcement was stated and not statedwere compared. For one student, DRO alone was most effective. For two others, the DRO sessions with the rule in place were more effective.

Bergstrom, R., Najdowski, A. C., & Tarbox, J. (2012). Teaching Children with Autism to Seek Help When Lost in Public. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 45(1), 191-195.

In this study, three boys with autism were taught to seek help from store employees if lost in public places. The intervention package included rules, role-play and delivery of praise upon correct responding. All three participants generalized to other stores and met mastery criteria.

Ökcün, M., & Akçin, N. (2012). A description of a mother's play guidance for her child with autism in the process of playing by the rules. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 12(2), 96-106.The purpose of this study is to describe the strategies used by a mother with a child with autism during games activities with peers to provide the child with social skills. According to the research data, it was found that the mother with a child with autism made extensive use of 13 different verbal strategies and seven different non-verbal strategies. It was observed that the mother guided her child and the group during the hide-and-seek game, arranged the environment of the games, carried out routine activities both at the beginning and at the end of the games and arranged the games in accordance with the abilities and preferences of the child. As a result, the data from the present research reveal that a mother having a child with autism acts as a guide during the games and uses verbal and non-verbal interaction strategies in this guidance process and by doing so contributes to the process of participation in the games by the child with autism and in the child's social interaction with his peers.

Credits

Amanda Arnold Elementary, Manhattan KS