Tutor for a child with autism: who they are and how to prepare them

A tutor for a child with autism, also called a support person or shadow aide, is an adult who stays next to the child at daycare or school and helps them take part in the group: keep to the routine, move between activities, talk to other children. A tutor does not replace the teacher, and the aim is that over time less and less help is needed. Below you will find who can be a tutor, what they do, how to prepare them, and how support works in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia and Spain as of October 2026.

If you are seriously considering a tutor, the daycare or school has most likely already said that the group is hard for your child. That is a reason to set up support and no reason to doubt your child: a support person gives what a teacher busy with a whole group cannot, which is attention at the right moment.

Who a tutor is and how they differ from a teacher or speech therapist

Countries use different names for this role: tutor, support person, shadow aide, child's assistant, personal helper. The core is the same: an adult assigned to one particular child. What a tutor usually does:

• Helps hold attention on a task.
• Accompanies the child through transitions, for example before a walk or lunch.
• Prompts the child how to ask for help or a break.
• Helps with self-care: getting dressed, washing hands, eating.
• Creates openings for play and conversation with other children.
• Notices signs of overload and helps the child cope.
• Tells the teacher and the family what worked today.

What a tutor does not do:

• Does not run the lesson in place of the teacher.
• Does not diagnose or change the child's programme alone.
• Does not separate the child from the group by sitting apart.
• Does not do for the child what the child can do alone.

When a tutor is needed and when to start elsewhere

Support is usually useful when:

• The child regularly loses time in class because of transitions, instructions or self-organisation.
• There is challenging behaviour that needs an adult's immediate reaction while the teacher is busy with the group.
• Material has to be adapted during the lesson itself and not after it.

If the main difficulty is one skill, for example communication or self-care, it is usually better to work on that skill with a specialist first. A tutor can cover for a missing skill with constant prompting, and then the skill never forms.

What research shows about support aides

A systematic review by Rispoli and colleagues (2011) collected 12 studies in which aides in schools and rehabilitation, 39 people in total, were trained to work with people with autism: picture schedules, prompting, the picture exchange system (PECS), discrete trial teaching and other methods. Training relied on written and verbal instructions, modelling, role play, video and feedback. Positive outcomes were reported in 92% of the studies, but the authors call the evidence base limited.

A similar finding appears in Feldman and Matos (2013): after specific training, aides stood next to the child without need less often and helped the child interact with peers more often. Both studies are small, so they suggest how to prepare a support person and do not promise a result for every child.

Who can be a tutor for a child with autism

• A close relative, for example a grandmother or an uncle, after a briefing from a specialist. The plus is that the child knows them well. The minus is that a relative finds it harder to step back in time.
• A student or graduate in education, psychology or special education whom you found yourself.
• A specialist from an organisation that supports children with developmental differences: a centre, a non-profit, a parents' association, a rehabilitation service.
• A helper provided by the daycare, the school or the state. In Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia and Spain this works differently, details below.
• An ABA specialist as a supervisor: they stay outside the group and train the tutor, reviewing their work.

How to prepare a tutor: a step-by-step plan

Before the first day:

• Hand over the child's card: what soothes, what overloads, how the child signals needs.
• Introduce the tutor to the teacher and agree on signals: when to help and when to wait.
• Show how the child communicates and calms down, ideally with a live example.
• Discuss confidentiality and the safety rules of the setting.

Skills worth teaching a tutor:

• Prompt with the least force needed: a word or gesture first, then a demonstration, and hand over hand only as a last resort.
• Pause before prompting so the child can start alone.
• Praise specifically: "You put the card away yourself".
• Create openings for contact with peers and step aside.
• Notice the first signs of overload and offer a break.
• Keep short notes: what worked, what did not.

How to pass this on, according to the review above:

• A one-page written guide.
• A live demonstration and not only a talk.
• Role play with you or a specialist.
• Video review of the first days.
• Short feedback after every week.

Examples: what a tutor does in typical situations

• The child gets up and leaves circle time. The tutor offers a "break" card, lets the child rest in a quiet corner, then invites them back for a short while and praises the return.
• Time to get dressed for a walk. The tutor shows a "get dressed" picture in advance and starts a visual timer. The child dresses next to another child so there is a model.
• Playing with other children. The tutor stands slightly behind and not between the children prompts the phrase "Ask Max if you can join" and steps away so the children can sort it out.
• A noisy party. The tutor warns the child in advance that there will be music, offers headphones and picks a spot by the wall from which the child can leave.

How to arrange a tutor with the daycare or school

If the setting hesitates, offer concrete conditions. The conversation then moves from "yes or no" to "how exactly". The basics of talking to a daycare are covered in the article Turned away from daycare because of autism. With a tutor, agree in writing:

• The tutor's role: what they do and what they do not.
• Hours of presence and access to the group, the walk and the dining room.
• Who selects the person and who pays.
• How the tutor and the teacher share information every day.
• A trial period and a date when you review the result together.
• A plan for gradually reducing help.

How to reduce a tutor's help: a plan by stages

• Full support: the tutor is next to the child and prompts as needed.
• Fewer prompts: the tutor waits for the child to try alone.
• Help from a distance: the tutor is in the room but not beside the child.
• Help on request: the tutor comes when the child asks or is clearly overloaded.
• Familiar situations without the tutor, difficult ones with them.

Move to the next stage by results and not by the calendar, and review the plan at regular meetings with the teacher.

How to tell that a tutor is working

• The child starts actions alone more often.
• They spend more time with children than with the adult.
• Each month less help is needed.
• The teacher knows what to do in a hard moment and does not hand everything to the tutor.
• The child goes into the group calmly.

Warning signs:

• The child talks only to the tutor.
• The tutor speaks for the child and does things for them.
• The child sits apart from the group.
• There is no plan to reduce help.
• The teacher stepped back from the child because "there is a tutor".

Tutor for a child with autism in Ukraine

Ukrainian daycares have two roles that are easy to mix up. The rules changed in 2025 and 2026, so check the current version with the daycare and with the inclusive resource centre (IRC, ІРЦ).

• Assistant to the educator (асистент вихователя): a teaching-staff position introduced in an inclusive group at one post per group. This person helps develop and carry out the individual development programme (IPR, ІПР) and works with the whole group and not with one child. This is in the procedure for inclusive groups (Cabinet resolution No. 530).
• Child's assistant for special educational needs (асистент дитини з особливими освітніми потребами): a helper for one child. It is not a staff post, and the head of the setting admits the person to the daycare.

Under the Ministry of Education order of 20.03.2025 No. 474, as amended by No. 553, the assistant can be one of the parents, a person authorised by the parents, or a social worker providing an accompaniment service. For admission, as specialised portals write (one example, another), you need:

• A written application from one of the parents.
• An IRC conclusion that states the need for an assistant.
• The individual development programme (IPR) noting the support and the assistant's contacts.
• A contract between the head of the daycare and the assistant.
• A preventive medical check-up.
• Special training of at least 15 hours, confirmed by a document. The head may let parents start before it is finished if they commit to completing it within three months.

What the child's assistant does not do: does not run lessons, does not give recommendations to teachers, does not interfere with the educational process. Their task, as the portals describe it, is to support the child in communication, self-care, eating, orientation in space, the daytime nap, and to watch safety. Admission to the daycare does not create an employment relationship between the setting and the assistant and does not mean the daycare pays a salary, so payment has to be agreed separately.

A few more facts about groups and schools:

• An inclusive group under procedure No. 530 may have no more than three children with special educational needs, with different limits for different types of impairment.
• From 1 October 2026, under Cabinet resolution No. 1164, sessions delivered by specialists are logged in the IRC electronic system, and parents confirm them in the system or on paper.
• For schools, an updated procedure has applied since 1 August 2026 (Cabinet resolution No. 129 of 05.02.2026): the IPR is drawn up within a month after enrolment, and the team includes parents and a teacher's assistant, as NUS reports.
• More on arranging an assistant is in an article on the Osvitnii portal.

Tutor for a child with autism in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria a state daycare has no separate "tutor" figure. The main helper is the resource teacher (ресурсен учител): according to the portal "Priobshti se", this is a permanent member of the daycare or school team who works with the psychologist, speech therapist and pedagogical counsellor. As the role is described, the aim is to help a child with special educational needs stay part of the group, create conditions for carrying out the individual education programme and supply the teacher with materials.

• According to the National Network for Children in July 2022, the country has about 2,200 resource teachers and they help more than 25,000 children with special educational needs.
• Regional inclusive education support centres (RCPPPO, for example in Sofia) train and support specialists. The Sofia centre's website lists training for teachers' assistants.
• In practice the request for a resource teacher more often goes through the daycare or school. Ask the regional centre for the exact procedure and do not count on the setting submitting an application by itself.
• In a 2022 publication parents and a resource teacher note that schools lack teachers' assistants who could replace a parent in the classroom. If you need help for the whole day, you sometimes have to look for a personal support person yourself.

In October 2026, according to the outlet Az-buki, amendments to the ordinance on inclusive education were approved. They clarify the resource teacher's work (individually and in a group), make the support team's joint work with specialists mandatory and cap the reduction of a child's teaching hours at 50%. The source gives no date of entry into force, so ask the regional education department or the support centre what applies now.

More on how the resource teacher system works in Bulgaria is covered separately.

Tutor for a child with autism in Serbia

In Serbia help is divided into school support and social support, and parents often confuse the two positions. According to the Ministry of Education page:

• The Interresorna komisija (inter-agency commission) assesses a child's need for educational, health and social support. Local government sets it up.
• The Individualni obrazovni plan (IOP, individual education plan) is a school programme for one pupil. A team for inclusive education proposes it and the school's teaching board adopts it.
• The Pedagoški asistent (pedagogical assistant) helps a group of children in the setting and not one child. It is an education service, and the ministry itself calls it non-personalised.
• The Lični pratilac deteta (child's personal companion) is a social protection service. It helps one child with everyday tasks and communication. Local budgets fund it, and the request goes to the social work centre (centar za socijalni rad) on the commission's recommendation.

The data on how this works in practice is discouraging. According to a UNS agency piece of November 2024 published on Nova Ekonomija, the personal companion service exists in 108 municipalities, about 67% (Ministry of Labour data). In the State Audit Institution report for 2019, waiting times ranged from 128 to 1,231 days. Among users, children with pervasive developmental disorders, including autism, dominate: 28.3% for 2016-2020. I did not find 2026 data on rule changes, so ask the local social work centre whether the service operates in your city.

Tutor for a child with autism in Spain

In Spain education is run by the autonomous communities, so names and rules differ by region. According to the Autismo España guide to educational rights, a child with special educational needs receives a dictamen de escolarización: a document prepared by the guidance services. It lists the resources needed, including the professional profiles that will help. The figures you will meet most often are:

• PT (maestro de Pedagogía Terapéutica): a therapeutic pedagogy teacher who works with children with special needs.
• AL (maestro de Audición y Lenguaje): a hearing and language teacher responsible for communication and language.
• ATE (Auxiliar Técnico Educativo) or PTIS (Personal Técnico de Integración Social): a helper who works with children who need support with independence. Not every school has this post.

In specialised autism classrooms (aulas TEA), for example in Madrid, support usually consists of a PT or AL and a social integration technician (TIS). I did not find in Spanish sources whether a private support person brought in by the family may join the group. Ask the school and the education department (consejería) of your region.

On money, for the 2026-2027 school year the Ministry of Education ran a call for aid for pupils with specific support needs (BOE-B-2026-14562). As Autismo España reports, applications were accepted from 19 May to 10 September 2026, and the aid can cover, for example, educational and speech re-education, transport and canteen. This year's call is closed, so look for the next one on the ministry's website.

Where to start today

• Write down in which situations your child needs help and what exactly an adult should do.
• Make a one-page card about your child.
• Choose who could be the tutor: a relative, a student, a specialist from an organisation or a helper from the setting.
• Find out the local rules: in Ukraine the IRC, in Bulgaria the regional support centre, in Serbia the inter-agency commission and the social work centre, in Spain the school's guidance service.
• Ask the daycare for written conditions for admitting a support person.

If your child already has a tutor but progress is not visible, a behaviour specialist's supervision of the tutor's work can help: it works alongside the tutor and gives concrete recommendations for daily practice. At Sense Behavior, supervision of a local tutor or support person is a separate service: a specialist analyses the situation remotely and gives the tutor and the family adjustments that can be applied on the spot.