ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Independence skills. The independence skills include feeding, dressing, and older pupils. Children with autism often exhibit difficulties with eating and diet in a variety of ways: Intolerance of certain textures of food, combinations of food and different temperatures of food, requiring routines for meal times, eating the same foods, sitting in a particular place and using particular plates. The strategies to improve feeding: social stories to address problems have routines but try to have a little flexibility, and introduce a simple activity prior to lunchtime. Pupils with autism may have a delay or difficulty with dressing skills due to a number of reasons: lack of motivation, sensitivity to labels, certain fabrics, new clothes, poor organisational skills, and restricted gross and fine motor skills. Older pupils need to develop coping strategies to overcome their difficulties. Consider how fashions can be adapted to make dressing easier.
