Background

Building pathways to resilience is an important goal for all children with autism.

For many young people with autism, however, daily living can prove to be particularly challenging due to their communication and social difficulties, co-occurring physical and mental health problems (Davignon, Qian, Massolo & Croen 2018), independent living and career challenges (Howlin & Magiati, 2017), combined with a general misunderstanding of autism (Lai & Szatmari 2019).

Teaching autistic students to develop resilience skills to manage every day stresses can promote self-confidence and independence, positive mental health and full engagement in family life, school and community.

Resilience is a personal and highly individualised life skill and, as with teaching any skill or set of skills, should start with an assessment of what the student needs and their challenges and strengths.