The fourth and final section of this paper will cover autistic adults. To better understand teaching methods, a person must first understand the learning styles of people with autism. The visual learning style involves reading or watching television. An auditory learning style requires listening to a lecture or a tape. A kinesthetic learning style means that the person must learn through hand-on experiences.
Most people use two or three different learning styles but autistic people use only one.
To be able to teach people with this disorder, a teacher must quickly analyze what style of learning is best fitted to the individual. For instance, if the child is running around the room and is a visual learner, the teacher either needs to point to the chair or hold up a picture of a chair for the child to sit down. In the same situation for an auditory learner the teacher needs to tell the child to sit down. Finally, for kinesthetic learners the teacher needs to either take the chair to the person or the person to the chair. With most disabilities including autism, early intervention is the key.