Is it Non-Compliance or inability to Self-Regulate?    In the last two months, I may have had more than two or three dozen conversations where parents share that they are getting notes home from the teacher that their child is non-compliant. In most cases, the child or teen is avoiding the task they are being asked to complete. It has always been my belief that no child wants to fail. There is always a reason for the behavior so finding the reason is important. With an autistic child, the question should always be what is the skill needed to complete the task and do they have this skill. The mindset should be a skill gap leads to task avoidance. Task initiation, avoidance, completion, and endurance all fall under the skill set of self-regulation. Autism impacts self-regulation and the gravity varies depending on the child’s autism profile. This impact results in skill gaps in the executive function which is the mental processes that are involved in managing oneself. In autism self-regulation and self-management will require support to organize their mind and bodies to complete tasks. The question to ask when there is task avoidance: what tool, strategy, resource or support does the child need to be more constructive? Not how do we manage the behavior? Self -regulation is a process internal to one’s self that involves “controlling one’s behavior, emotions and the thoughts in pursuit of long term goals. Self-regulation is the core aspect of adaptive behavior-meaning adjusting to the situation. Executive Function is a set of mental processes that have to do with managing oneself and one's resources in order to achieve a goal and involves mental control and self-regulation In the last few years, we have really placed an enormous emphasis on behaviors in autism. To the detriment of identifying the skill deficit that results in this behavior. The most common behaviors that are identified by a teacher for an autistic child are: BIG SKILL: underlying all these other skills is language acquisition (what words mean and how to put them together), for example asking for help, or a break when needed BEHAVIOR: does not transition from one task/activity to another SKILL: focus/attention, impulse control, cognitive flexibility BEHAVIOR: does not follow directions SKILL: attention, focus, listening, language processing and comprehension, working memory, impulse control BEHAVIOR: unable to get started independently or does not want to do work SKILL: initiate task -getting started independently requires sustained attention, impulse control (block distracting thoughts), and cognitive flexibility BEHAVIOR: not staying on task, scattered attention, getting up or distracted from the task with other thoughts SKILL: staying on task requires sustained attention, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility (shift attention back) BEHAVIOR: not completing work or tasks SKILL: task completion/finishing requires staying on task, sustained attention, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility (shift attention back) skills Story: Both of my kids have an incredibly unique and diverse learning style. When it comes to their ability to self-manage/self-regulate they are polar opposites. We all have unique ways to get goals accomplished. Self-regulation is goal-driven behavior. There are many skills involved in accomplishing goals. My son was under-responsive to his environment. What that means is he had difficulty getting his mind and body organized to tackle the day. Each child on the autism spectrum uniquely navigates their daily differently depending on their needs. They all need support with self-regulation/self-management because autism impacts self-regulation. So the inability to initiate or get started is not always behavior. The level of difficulty in self-regulating is impacted in autism by the level of deficit in: social communication, the inflexibility of behavior, difficulty coping with change, or other