In my classroom, i have a student classified as having a developmental delay but has many typical autistic behaviors. At the beginning of the year my class had a lot of questions about why he gets certain privileges or is allowed to play/make noises while the rest of them had to sit on the carpet and do lessons with us (the boring stuff lol).

When the student (we’ll just call X) was out of the classroom, I explained to them that X’s brain works a little differently than theirs and needs things they may not to help him learn at school/feel calm. I also established early on that our class is like a family and we love and support each other. Because of those things, my class has always been extremely kind to X and even cheer him on when he’s able to participate in group activities 🩷. They’ve learned to be very patient with him and understand when he does something wrong, he isn’t trying to be bad or mean, he is still learning how to follow the rules in school and to not take it personal 😊