Advice for a 3-year old

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I have begun working in a day-care center in the 2-year-old room, and one of the children I work with displays a lot of characteristics of Asperger's syndrome/Autism spectrum disorder, though as far as I know he's undiagnosed.

I get on well with him, though I've only worked there about 2.5 months, and have only been on good terms with him about half of that time. He's very sweet and funny and silly, but he also has a lot of the difficulties associated with the syndrome--especially having trouble adapting to change, and difficulty socializing. He's very rule opriented, and gets very adamant about how things are supposed to be, and has a hard time deviating from that view.

I'm concerned because now that the year is ending, in a few weeks he's meant to head off to the 3-year room with everyone else, and though the lead teacher has asked me to help him in some way (we haven't discussed it much) to begin this transition to a new room and new teachers, I'm not sure how to approach this situation. I don't have any training in dealing with special-needs kids, I just happen to get on with him because I a)tolerate a lot of things from him that I probably wouldn't accept from anyone else, and b)can often get a 'feel' for his needs and emotional state which helps me figure out how to react. ( I worry because being in a situation with new teachers where more is expected of him, I fear that he'll be right back where he was with not really interacting as much and spending a lot of his time getting in trouble for perceived misbehaviours.)

Can anyone suggest some ways to help begin this transition? Should I walk him through the room, let him play with stuff? What are some things I can do and maybe say that will help him prepare for this new situation?

Try a social story, they help a lot of children not just on the spectrum. It should help with the transition better.

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

I would really hesitate to show him the new "stuff" just yet. I think time is a relatively difficult concept for any child to grasp...what does two weeks mean? It's just to abstract a concept. So if you how him where he will be going to soon I think it would be just to confusing. Perhaps if you could take the tour closer to the actual time change....like the day before? Either way, I think it's going to be a rough transition, wish that weren't true. If you know of particular things that he likes in his current room perhaps there is something similar in the new room...the more similar things the better. If there is something that they have that you don't...like physical activities or toys...that might help him have a positive thing to look forward to.

I wish you both luck. This is a very hard area for me and I am 44.

hmm.. I dont know. I almost would suggest the opposite. It might be ok to show him around the new place he will be and tell him about when it will happen. That way he is part of the planning. I know that for me when i was a child, i liked to know ahead of time so that i could prepare. I liked to know the date so i could expect it. I definitely wouldnt want to be shuffled around without warning. Are we talking about breaking classes up into periods as opposed to a homeroom teacher that teaches everything, well then...please walk the kiddo through it. I remember nearly having a nervous breakdown at that age from switching schools and class procecures. Nobody had actually explained any of the changes to me and it made my head spin. I still to this day have nightmares about being in school with different class periods.

OP...... the 3 year room mean is he 3 years old? I still don't think I had a sense of time at that age...future/present were just to complicated. If someone said you are going to get a spanking next week or a gift....I think it would have just confused me?