Practical Strategies to Use When Coaching People with Autism

Autism affects different people in different ways and to varying degrees, so there is no ‘one method fits all’ approach to coaching people with autism. 

We often hear the phrase ‘on the spectrum’, without fully comprehending its sheer scale and complexity. The ‘spectrum’ covers a huge range of different difficulties and challenges.

Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is the umbrella term used to describe the lifelong symptoms and behaviours that affect the way in which a person experiences and reacts to the world around them and processes information.

Some of the main ways this can manifest itself include: verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties (in processing language, for example, and difficulty in understanding metaphors, ambiguous language or sarcasm); sensory sensitivities (oversensitivity to sound or touch); social challenges (including heightened fear and anxiety when interacting in social situations); repetitive patterns of behaviour and inflexible thinking.

To provide a person with autism with the correct level of support, therefore, it is crucial that any idiosyncrasies are observed and acted upon in an appropriate manner.

Factor in too that autism is often referred to as the ‘hidden condition’, because it can evade diagnosis well into adulthood – and quite often entirely – and you begin to understand why coaches might be hesitant and uncertain of how to proceed if they suspect someone in their team, group or club may have autism.

Follow these links for a more detailed breakdown of the general characteristics of autism, Asperger Syndrome and ADHD.

Amanda remembers delivering a classroom session on behaviour to a group of coaches.

When presented with a range of scenarios and asked how they would react, the response from most people was: “Tell them that it is unacceptable”.

‘We went on to discuss positive ways of involving them in a session that often results in the desired behaviours without the need to resort to having to have stern words, which would most likely escalate the situation,’ says Amanda.

‘But it was interesting that, even when I added the layer, “let’s say this person has mental health issues or autism, would you feel any differently about it?”, they still concluded, after a quick pause for thought, that they needed to be told they were disrupting the session, or be removed from the session.

‘You do find people are more understanding if someone has a diagnosis of autism but if they haven’t been diagnosed, people are not very understanding at all where challenging behaviour is concerned.’

Amanda believes that coaches who have a greater awareness of what autism is and those who take the time to really get to know their participants will be more tolerant of such behaviours, and better still, be able to avoid most of these situations occurring in the first place.

We will examine the importance of parental cooperation in the second article, and whether parents have a duty to inform the coach of their child’s diagnosis, but what of those participants who remain ‘off the radar’?

By developing a close relationship with your participants, making sure you connect with them by observing, noticing and communicating, you can start to spot tell-tale patterns of behaviour.

This requires coaches putting the person at the heart of their coaching.

A person-centred approach should underpin coaching practice anyway, so it is simply a matter of becoming hyper-aware in order to discern both internalised and externalised behaviour. 

Like a newly-acquired sixth sense, in the fullness of time coaches will learn to detect what may be invisible to the untrained eye – uncovering explanations that lie hidden just beneath the surface.

Amanda runs through some examples where she has observed participants struggling in coached situations.

Highlighting the difficulty some autistic people have with verbal processing and information overload, she explains: ‘Many people with autism find processing information difficult, especially if they find the situation stressful.

Participants with autism who exhibit such characteristics may have excellent observational skills and be very perceptive but there may be something else distracting their attention. They might be picking up on certain smells, the noise of the air conditioning, the heavy rain bouncing off the roof of the hall, or other sounds that are going on in the room that are adding to their mental load. They may also be struggling due to social discomfort or just being in very close proximity to other people.

It can rankle if, in the eyes of someone on the autism spectrum, they deem a coach has failed to demonstrate a new skill adequately. Or they might take exception when fellow team-mates don’t follow the rules or don’t wait their turn.

‘They are likely to point this out in a direct manner, and some coaches don’t appreciate this. 

‘I have witnessed myself people who find it especially annoying when another member of the group says "that's easy" or they get praise from the coach for doing something with incorrect technique.

‘One example I recall is that a person with autism felt that she had wasted her time listening to something and got increasingly agitated throughout the session. The coach recognised that she was upset but couldn’t work out what had caused it. They asked for feedback from the parents and discovered this resulted from the coach explaining a new drill in detail to the group and then, instead of being allowed to do it, she was instead given another drill that she had done lots of times before. 

‘She didn’t tell the coach this but struggled for the rest of the session and took this as meaning she wasn’t good enough or was being treated unfairly. A simple change would be to set her off doing her drills first before explaining the new drill to the rest of the group. The coach in this case actively sought feedback, increased her understanding of autism and was able to avoid this in future.’

Team-mates not sticking to the rules is another thing that people with autism often struggle with and can result in behavioural issues if not dealt with.

Whenever there is a flare-up with other children, there is potential for the coach to further inflame things by their knee-jerk reaction, turning an already tense situation into a double whammy of distress for someone on the autism spectrum.

Coaches may want to nip bad behaviour in the bud before it can spread, but a child with autism may refuse to back down from their position, so a forceful approach is destined to rebound on the coach.

Think of it like a jigsaw puzzle. The more signs and symptoms you can identify, the more pieces begin to fall into place and the clearer picture you can begin to build of the child or adult’s individual needs.

So, for instance: “I know that Billy doesn’t like it when others crowd him so I will make sure that there are no more than three players in a queue at a time during cricket net practice.”

Or: “I know from experience that Sarah covering her face in her hands is a sign she is distressed. This is my cue to give her a time-out or a job to do.”

Just as the range of behaviours that are a hallmark of autism are vast and variable, so are the different strategies that can be employed to help manage those behaviours.

Too many to address in one article. So in part two, we will look at the importance of working alongside parents; ‘special interests’; how to adapt your coaching to make it easier for people with autism and celebrating the many positive features of the autistic mind.