Teach students to identify helpers and their roles in the community.

• Start by using social stories and visual supports to introduce the roles of community helpers. These tools help set expectations and reduce uncertainty. To get started with a lesson highlighting key community concepts and vocabulary, check out this discussion story all about communities (“What Is in a Community?” Discussion Story: English | Español).
• Using these tools to practice routines can offer opportunities to prepare for community interactions: For example, preparing for a haircut can be made easier with this sequence strip (English | Español) showing the steps for combing hair: Practice helps students get comfortable with having their hair touched.
• Use visuals or flashcards to support communication and reinforce vocabulary. This set of themed flashcards from Themes First! is full of key vocabulary: Vocabulary Flashcards (English | Español).
• Research and share about your community’s helpers: Show websites, videos, and other visual supports like photos when possible.

Some intentional practice and preparation will help empower students as they navigate public spaces and engage with community helpers.

• Consider assembling a kit to use when you anticipate engaging with community helpers, like for a doctor’s visit or haircut. Include items like fidget toys, visuals for communicating “stop,” “no,” “yes,” and “break,” or a personal information card (English | Español) that students can use to practice sharing personal details with safe professionals.
• Role-playing is a powerful way to build confidence. Try simple activities like pretending to be a mail carrier or librarian using easily accessible materials in the classroom or at home.
• Discuss safe and unsafe people, working to generalize and reinforce safe community helpers and potentially unsafe strangers. SOLER users can access comprehensive lessons with supports like scenario cards for role-play and visual stranger safety worksheets.
• Reinforce these lessons by asking simple, open-ended questions to help students generalize what they’ve learned and build confidence in real-world interactions.
• “What does a firefighter wear?”
• “Who do you call in an emergency?”
• “What do you say when you meet a police officer?”

Familiarity with community helpers not only builds confidence but also supports safety and self-advocacy.

• Encourage families to look for sensory-friendly events in their area, such as “Touch-a-Truck” days, where students can explore emergency vehicles in a calm, supportive environment.
• Contacting local fire or police departments to ask about autism-friendly tours or visits is a great starting point to access existing resources in your community!
• Consider how ordinary errands and life skills routines can be opportunities to learn and practice engaging with community helpers. Check out these community-based activities (English | Español) from Themes First! for more ideas!