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• This next website is for you to download a totally free software package called ZAC (Zone for Autistic Children) Browser: [http://www.zacbrowser.com] which includes the first Internet browser specifically developed for children living with variants of Autism! The browser was created by Grandparents who wanted to help implement the use of a computer into the life of their Grandson, Zackary. They tried using a formal approach to teaching a child how to work a computer, but Zackary became frustrated. With the creation of the ZAC browser, Zackary was able to take advantage of what technology has to offer without any more frustrations. The browser is a great tool for when computers are part of the education setting in your Autistic classroom! Autistic students can even be rewarded with playtime on the computers by playing games on the ZAC browser!

• On [http://www.slatersoftware.com/autism.html] you will be able to find plenty of Autism software, activities, and resources! Here is an example of what Slater Software provides for an Educator of Autistic students to print out and bring into class: [http://www.slatersoftware.com/back%20to%20school%20social%20story.pdf]

• NASET (or National Association of Special Education Teachers) is an organization dedicated solely to meeting the needs of special education teachers and those preparing for the field of special education teaching. This link: [http://www.naset.org/2561.0.html] will bring you to NASET's Autism Spectrum Disorders Series page which includes Overview, Assessment, Interventions and Strategies for Success in the Classroom. There is a fee to become a member of this website, but as a NASET member, you get everything you need as a special education teacher to promote your knowledge and competence in the field, as well as enhancing your professional development through networking, research, publications, and membership benefits. It's well worth it!

• This is a great printable website/booklet for students to adapt to their Autistic classmates. So very great for inclusion! [http://www.autism-society.org/site/DocServer/asa-growing_together-preflighted.pdf?docID=9522] The booklet provides information for the normal students of the classroom and answers the question, how can I be friends with someone with Autism?

• "A Land We Can Share: Teaching Literacy to Students With Autism"
by Paula Kluth and Kelly Chandler-Olcott
Synopsis:
Teachers are going to love this book! Passionate and practical, A Land We Can Share moves beyond functional literacy skills and helps K-12 educators bring high-quality, meaningful literacy instruction to students with autism. Authored by nationally known scholars in autism and literacy, this groundbreaking guide shows teachers how to implement research-based practices in reading and writing instruction, including those consistent with the recommendations of Reading First, plan effective lessons that build on students' strengths, interests, and individual needs, design a classroom environment that promotes literacy learning for all students while addressing the individual needs of learners with autism, assess students who do not or cannot show their literacy learning in traditional ways, include students with autism in a wide range of classroom literacy activities
Enhanced with insights from people with autism and teaching tips from the authors' own extensive classroom experiences, this essential primer helps educators see literacy as a "land" everyone can share-and reveals how every learner can achieve a more fulfilling, rich, and inclusive academic life.

• "Just Give Him the Whale!: 20 Ways to Use Fascinations, Areas of Expertise, and Strengths to Support Students with Autism"
by Paula Kluth, Patrick Schwarz
Synopsis:
Awarded the 2009 Merit Award for excellence in book design, book production and book manufacturing. This award was presented to Brookes Publishing by the 23rd Annual New York Book Show, sponsored by the Bookbinders' Guild in New York.
When learners with autism have deep, consuming fascinations—trains, triangles, basketballs, whales—teachers often wonder what to do. This concise, highly practical guidebook gives educators across grade levels a powerful new way to think about students' "obsessions": as positive teaching tools that calm, motivate, and improve learning.
Written by top autism experts and nationally renowned speakers Paula Kluth and Patrick Schwarz, this guide is brimming with easy tips and strategies for folding students' special interests, strengths, and areas of expertise into classroom lessons and routines. Teachers will discover how making the most of fascinations can help their students, learn standards-based academic content, boost literacy learning and mathematics skills, develop social connections, expand communication skills, minimize anxiety, and much more
Just Give Him the Whale! is packed from start to finish with unforgettable stories based on the authors' experience, firsthand perspectives from people with autism themselves, research-based recommendations that are easy to use right away, and sample forms teachers can adapt for use in their own classrooms. An enjoyable read with an eye-opening message, this short book will have a long-lasting impact on teachers' understanding of autism—and on their students' social and academic success.

• "Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew"
by Ellen Notbohm, Veronica Zysk
Synopsis:
Ellen Notbohm's first book, Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew, was a shot heard throughout the worldwide autism community, branded by readers as "required reading for all social service workers, teachers and relatives of children with autism." Now, for the teacher in all of us comes Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew. The unique perspective of a child's voice is back to help us understand the thinking patterns that guide their actions, shape an environment conducive to their learning style, and communicate with them in meaningful ways. Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew affirms that autism imposes no inherent upper limits on achievement, that both teacher and child "can do it." It's the game plan every educator, parent, or family member needs to make the most of every "teaching moment" in the life of these children we love.

•"Teaching Conversation to Children with Autism: Scripts and Script Fading"
by Lynn E. McClannahan, Patricia J. Krantz, Sandra L. Harris
Synopsis:
Teaching Conversation to Children with Autism describes scripts that parents and teachers can use to help children learn to initiate conversation, thereby improving communication. Drs. McClannahan and Krantz-authors of Activity Schedules For Children With Autism-have successfully used scripts and script-fading techniques based on their clinical observations and research, and founded on applied behavior analysis principles. The authors begin by thoroughly explaining the script and script-fading processes and include many examples to support the instructions. A script is an audiotaped or written word, phrase, or sentence that often reflects the child's preferences and interests. For very young children and nonreaders, scripts are paired with pictures of desired objects or activities. The process starts when a child engages in conversation with an interaction partner by reading a script or playing it on an audio card reader to start the conversation (e.g., "I like yogurt."). The partner supports the conversation with a response (e.g., "Yogurt is good," or "You had yogurt for lunch."). After the child masters a few scripts, the script-fading process begins. The last word of the script is removed, then the next to last, and so on, until the script is absent. After scripts have been introduced and faded, many children learn to spontaneously initiate and pursue social interaction.
Teaching Conversation To Children With Autism also covers:
Prompts and rewards
Observing, evaluating, and measuring results
Activity schedules, card readers, and voice recorders
Conversation activities
Scripts for readers and nonreaders
Teaching Conversation To Children With Autism demonstrates that scripts are a valuable tool to improve interaction for children and even adolescents and adults. Use scripts at home, in school, in the workplace, and in the community.

•"Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes"
By Jennifer Elder
Synopsis:
Different Like Me introduces children aged 8 to 12 years to famous, inspirational figures from the world of science, art, math, literature, philosophy and comedy.
Eight-year-old Quinn, a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome, tells young readers about the achievements and characteristics of his autism heroes, from Albert Einstein, Dian Fossey and Wassily Kandinsky to Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Banneker and Julia Bowman Robinson, among others. All excel in different fields, but are united by the fact that they often found it difficult to fit in-just like Quinn.
Fully illustrated in color and written in child-friendly language, this book will be a wonderful resource for children, particularly children with autism, their parents, teachers, carers and siblings.

*Model Me Kids® videos are an excellent way to teach children with Autism and Asperger's to learn social skills. It is difficult for children to make friends as it is, children with Autism must have a greater difficulty in doing so. Model Me Kids® videos exhibits nonverbal cues, how and when to start a conversation, maintain conversation, and turn-taking in conversation. Model Me Kids® videos demonstrate social skills by modeling peer behavior at school, on a play date, at a birthday party, on the playground, at a library, at the dentist, restaurant, and more. Real children model and narrate each skill. Here is a website where you can purchase your own copy of Model Me Kids videos and help your child learn great social skills! [http://www.modelmekids.com/]

*An article which was a part of a study conducted by researchers in Indiana University, discusses how watching videos can help children learn social skills. Two new studies at Indiana University demonstrate that videos depicting exemplary behaviors can be effective in helping children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders develop social skills and daily living skills. As mentioned in the Buggey text, this article provides successful results by using the VSM method. Here is a link where you can read the complete article [http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/5254.html]

*In order for children to learn manners and self-help skills, they must be shown the correct ways in doing so first. This website provides information on how to teach Autistic children ways in which they can become more independent. As soon as the child is diagnosed with autism, self help / life skills instruction should begin. Valuable programs will
teach early communication and social interaction skills. This website provides instructions on how to let children with Autism take the lead, to allow them to tie their own shoelaces, and brush their own teeth. This site also explains ways in which a child with Autism can eat, go to the bathroom, drink, and dress themselves without any help. Here is the website which which explains self-help skills for all kinds of Autism spectrum dissabilities. [http://www.brighttots.com/Autism/Self_help_skills]

*A child with Autism who is trying to become more independent needs the support of his/her parents to be completely successful. This website is designed to help parents help their children become more independent. There are certain things that children need in order for them to understand the importance of self-help skills. This excerpt provides parents with tips to ensure the best outcome from their children. It explains to give their child space and not to be overbearing. If a child has mastered a skill, do not help them him/her. Here is a link to the website, so you can become more informed on the right and wrong ways to help your child become more independent. [http://www.autismtreatment.info/Self+Help.aspx]