If as parents and carers these  skills are not taught step by step or mastered at an early age then the barriers tend to increase for many individuals on the spectrum  thus  making it more difficult to form  successful strategies to support  the individual to become the productive, functioning member of society that we all wish for our children to be regardless of NT or ASD.

These barriers for many can seem  incomprehensible at times and yet to most of us NT (neuro typical) they are skills that we don’t even have to think about to perform, really when actually  asked to break tasks  down into steps we struggle to do this). 

By breaking everything down into step by step actions we allow the individual on the spectrum to see the processing thoughts, communication and behavior required to successfully complete the task.  Adding to this the opportunities for  practice, repitition and  to perform trial and error we can form the first stage of supporting individuals on the spectrum. 

The second stage of support is then incorporating and teaching the art of “ flexible thinking “ which then enables the individual on the spectrum to be able to adapt the tools and strategies taught to many different situations.