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Excerpt from:
Just Give Him the Whale*: 20 ways to use fascinations, areas of expertise, and strengths to support students with autism
Paula Kluth and Patrick Schwarz
* available for borrowing from the Autism Portage lending library
To plan for Inclusive Schooling: Although all of the ideas in this book may help teachers provide more inclusive opportunities for students with autism and other disabilities, we want to offer a few thoughts on how to specifically use passions to accomplish this goal. Stewart, a student in a school where we both worked as educators, instantly comes to mind when we think of inclusion and interests. We learned that this third-grader loved the chef Emeril Lagasse. With this important knowledge in mind, we began planning for Stewart to enter an inclusive classroom for the first time in his schooling career. Because Stewart had attended a special education school for 4 years, all of the students in the classroom were 
new to him, the environment was new to him, and the daily activities were new to him. We knew we would need Emeril’s help to comfort, motivate, reassure, teach and support Stewart in this new experience. In the earliest stages of planning, we began thinking of various ways we could use Stewart’s favourite person to increase his success in the new school. To begin with, we asked some peers to decorate the inside of Stewart’s locker with pictures of Emeril (with dialogue bubbles coming out of the chef’s mouth exclaiming “Welcome to Holmes School” and “Third grade is fun!”). His desk was similarly adorned with small pictures of Emeril right next to a “cheat sheet” of cursive letters for Stewart’s reference as he learned to write in this new style. Again, there was a dialogue bubble coming from Emeril’s mouth, this one said, “Cursive writing is cool.”
To start the year off right for Stewart, the homeroom teacher, Ms. Alvarez, decided to give a creative name to her daily schedule. In previous school years, Ms. Alvarez simply titled the list of hour-to-hour activities “Our Day”; this year, she called it “Today’s Menu of Events.” She also added a paper chef’s hat to her collection of classroom props to use when she wanted to really motivate and energize Stewart and his classmates.
Finally, knowing how much her new student loved to make food (and that he had spent a lot of time cooking in his life skills class at his previous school), Ms. Alvarez worked with the other third-grade teachers to develop a few lessons that would give the students in all three classes opportunities to learn through the creativity of the kitchen. For example, when the students studies the oceans and ocean life during a science unit, they worked with a visiting sushi chef to make sashimi. When they finished a unit on measurement, the celebrated by collaborating to make a five course meal that (of course) required them to measure using a variety of tools (e.g., measuring cups and spoons) and to use other math skills such as multiplication and division to determine portions and develop a grocery list.
Cole, another student we supported, loved OnStar, the in-vehicle security, communications and diagnostics
system designed and used by General Motors. Like Ms. Alvarez, Cole’s teacher was sensitive to his needs and used his fascination to keep him comfortable in his inclusive classroom. Because Cole often pretended to phone OnStar when he needed help during class, his teacher decided to build him a booth that any student could use during choice time. Students who worked in the booth used the internet and reference books to answer questions posed by their classmates. Cole, a map expert and a wiz at orienteering, delighted in working the OnStar booth and, more than any other task, loved giving students directions to one another’s homes. His teacher also made him feel at home by using her “OnStar Voice” when she really needed Cole’s attention. By simply speaking in a robotic-sounding monotone, she found she could easily get Cole to follow directions and answer questions.