Why Is School So Challenging for Autistic Children?

School is rarely a good environment for autistic children. And that can be a serious problem both during the school year and after.

Autistic kids spend a lot of time in school learning how to cope with an environment that is often out of sync with their abilities and challenges. Even after they've built the skills they need to cope at school, autistic kids will graduate and head into a completely new environment where they’ll need a different set of skills.

This article discusses why school can be challenging for autistic kids and what caregivers can do to support autistic children who are having a hard time in school.

Sensory Sensitivity

Autistic kids have sensory differences in any environment, but these challenges can be even more pronounced at school. Everyday school life includes hall bells and buzzers, fluorescent lights, loud voices, food smells from the cafeteria, and echoes in the gym or auditorium.

The sensory stimuli can be overwhelming for autistic kids and trigger extreme anxiety, increased self-stimulatory behaviors (stimming), and internalized physical symptoms like headaches.

Autistic people have to regulate their bodies more actively than neurotypical people do. Some autistic people describe having a lower threshold (or a smaller "bucket") for sensory stimuli and irritation. Self-regulation is harder for autistic kids, especially when the ways that they cope (like stimming) may be stigmatized in schools.

Reading and Verbal Comprehension

Standardized testing in schools requires children to comprehend and respond to spoken and written language at a speed and level that’s expected for their age. The testing starts when they're very young, and a child's verbal acuity and comprehension are expected to increase as they get older.

Autistic kids can be at a disadvantage when they have to do standardized testing because verbal expression and comprehension are major challenges for them—particularly using and understanding figurative or expressive language.

Executive Functioning

Executive functioning is the ability to plan and carry out multi-step projects while taking project parameters, timelines, and other factors into account at the same time. At school, executive function helps kids with tasks like managing homework, doing school projects, studying for tests, and planning for events.

Autistic people are typically less comfortable switching between activities, tasks, and topics. Executive function can be a major challenge for autistic kids in all areas of life, including at school.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are necessary for writing, drawing, cutting, pasting, and manipulating small objects such as microscope slides and tweezers. Gross motor skills are used for bigger movements, like jumping, kicking, throwing, running, and skipping.

Autistic children commonly have mild to moderate difficulty with these skills. This includes motor planning in which a child anticipates doing an action (such as kicking a ball) and positions the body to do that movement.

Since these skills are central to meeting the academic and social demands of school, any limitations affect an autistic child’s ability to do well in class and function socially with their peers.

Social Communication

Autistic people usually have big differences in social communication. Even if these differences are not severe and an autistic child is considered "high-functioning," navigating the idiosyncrasies of socializing can still be hard for them.

In school, social interactions are everywhere and constantly changing. What's appropriate in the classroom could be inappropriate in the halls, gym, or playground. An autistic child may not pick up on social cues that tell them to change their behavior to fit a situation.

Since they also have different communication skills, it can be difficult for autistic children to tell playful teasing from bullying or understand the difference between sarcasm and fact.

Because of the ever-evolving nature of social interactions (which change with every school year), an autistic child may be socially isolated or be seen as introverted if they don't participate.

Changing Rules and Expectations

As students go back to school each fall, they find that some aspects of their day are the same as they were last year, while other things have changed.

For example, an autistic child may have gotten used to their old teacher’s classroom, where it was OK to talk without raising your hand. However, a new teacher may have a rule that students must raise their hands and be called on before speaking. The change can be hard for any student to adjust to, but autistic kids can find it even more difficult to adapt.

Changes also happen with peers—what was "cool" last year is decidedly “uncool” the next. Autistic kids can be ridiculed, bullied, or ignored by others who don't understand their needs and differences.

Changes in Routines

Autistic people typically thrive when they have routine and structure. While school life is based on specific routines and goals, there are times when things will be different.

Special events, substitute teachers, snow days, outings, standardized testing days, and school holidays all shake up the usual school routine and can be very difficult for autistic children to cope with, even if they know the changes are coming.

Therapy sessions and social skills groups are meant to help children learn how to cope. However, these interventions can also be disruptive when they take kids out of class—often in the middle of a lesson. Even if they are learning helpful skills in these sessions, leaving class to attend them can also contribute to an autistic child’s feeling of “otherness” from their peers.

Acceptance of Autistic Behaviors

Teachers have different backgrounds, experience levels, and beliefs, so they all handle the varying needs of their students differently.

Some teachers are frustrated when an autistic child talks too much about a special interest, has trouble collaborating with their peers, or starts stimming in class.

Teachers may expect every student in the class to progress at a similar rate and may not know how to help an autistic child—or even be willing to learn.

Even if a teacher does want to help, an autistic student can still get left behind. An educator won't always have the resources and support they need to connect an autistic child with tutors and programs that could address their needs and help them be part of the classroom.

Summary

Most schools in the United States are not designed to be universally accessible. While more schools are making accommodations for kids with different needs, many still do not. Even schools that do make changes rarely have the facilities needed to address the various challenges that autistic kids face in school.

There are autism-only schools, but they also have their pros and cons and may not be the best choice for some children. If you're caring for an autistic child, a school counselor can be a valuable resource. They can help create and implement strategies for students with different needs.

Lastly and most importantly, turn to individual autistic self-advocates or organizations such as the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network (AWN) or the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) to get the best perspective on educating autistic children.