Scheduling Autism

I'm trying this new thing this year where I'm not sending call slips or calling for my students that I trust to not ditch nor get lost. So far, it has worked out quite successfully.

This year, 1/3 of my caseload consists of students with autism/ASD that are mainstreamed into general education and/or special education.

How can I tell the ones that have autism? They make my job so easy.

1. They come exactly at the time I told them to, and I only had to tell them once.
2. They remind me the day before that they will see me the next day during their specified period.
   
3. They remember exactly what activity I told them last week that we will do this week.
   
4. They are so honest ("Is your binder organized?" "No." "Did you pay attention in class?" "No.").
5. They learn my name -- and say it correctly -- after one session/trial.
6. The General Ed ones have amazing language skills, vocabulary, and memory. They can follow 2-3 step directions complicated by sequential ordering even though I only presented the direction once without prompts nor cues.
   
7. They put in so much effort and try so hard.

The not so easy part of working with them? Well, this next situation is what I hope to be just an anomaly. I ended the day with one little new kid with autism...and when I called the teacher to send him, the teacher said, "We need to talk about him." As he was on his way to my room, she said, "We have a serious situation here. He has been grabbing and kind of rubbing his winkie in class" -- and I swear the moment she said that, he came in grabbing/rubbing/readjusting his crotch. I could have died!

What creeped me out even more is that he came up right behind me while I was still on the phone in my "personal space" (i.e., desk area). No student has violated my personal space this year until now. I told him that he needed to step away and have a seat but he didn't move! I had to physically prompt him to sit down...as he eyed my pens and stuff (he wanted to "borrow" a pencil...which evidently meant he wanted to steal it, according to the teacher).

As I worked with him and another student, I almost very immaturely cracked up at least twice when I looked at him during his turns. I cease to amaze myself with how ridiculously immature I am as an adult!