The Schedule

If you are an autism parent, you know about the schedule.  You live your life by it...heck you plan your own potty breaks by it!!  Schedule is EXTREMELY important to children on the spectrum.  They tend to have anxiety and knowing what is coming next is necessary for them to calm down enough to focus on what is going on at the moment. 
I am surprised by how many professionals who work with children with autism are unaware of it's importance. 
In my experience, I have found that not only the knowledge of future expectations ease anxiety, but a predictable sequence is often as comforting as a squeeze machine or moon-sand.  Routine.  It's calming. 
I recall an experience when potty-training a child who loved to be spun in the air after going potty.  We would go through the same dialogue each time and end with a swing around the bathroom, pants down and all.  My co-workers were disgusted that he might drip some pee somewhere...or worse, on us.  I really wasn't worried about that...it was about the calming, comforting routine to set into place a vital life skill.
Also working with students, I have seen them try to establish a pattern in their work to get the right answer, rather than remembering the right answer.  For example, you ask a child to choose their name from a board full of 15 or so names,  At first they just guess, pointing randomly until they happen upon their name and get their reward.  But instead of reinforcing their correct choice of name, the child tries again each time to remember the exact pattern of names to choose...or times to point on the board, to achieve the desired reward.  In other words, instead of remembering "Tristen" is what I push when I'm asked to point to my name, the child tries to mimic all events up to the ending reward, such as, I put my heals down, my teacher talks, I point to Max, then I look at my teacher and she talks, and I point to Sam, and I look at my teacher and she talks and I point to Tom and I look at my teacher and she talks and I point to Tim and I look at my teacher and she talks and I point to Tristen and THEN I get my reward.
It makes it difficult to teach a child to recognize their name, especially when their printed name has no meaning to them.  Is that mine?  If that question is in the child's mind, it doesn't have the same meaning.  Is that mine is more like, Do I want that?  If I want it, then it's mine. 
The children with autism I have had the privilege of learning with also do not like waiting. ( Who does? )  They need their schedule filled with as little "waiting" time as possible.  There is always something to fill in between tasks that are enjoyable for them.  But if there is too much time for any one given thing....besides maybe TV.....they get bored and frustrated wondering when they can get on with their day.  The day should also be made of relatively short tasks divided up by sensory breaks.  We can relate!  Don't our days go by faster at work when we are busy?  Most individuals prefer that to a day where there wasn't much to do and the day slowly dragged on.
Last Example: 
If a child with autism is used to his afternoon routine, and is given too much unstructured time, he may get impatient and want to get the day over with and go home already.  This may happen "just-because" the child wants to go home to watch Sesame Street rather than be at school also, you might not know for sure, but the point is it happens.  He/she decides they want to go home.  But, the child knows they have a certain routine to go through to before going home. They start to tantrum to get to the next task. 
This is where schedule, routine, visual aids, and possibly timers are crucial.  It also takes a very calm and firm individual to carry out the tasks at hand. 
No matter how fast you were to get through the end of the day tasks, the child still cannot go home.  If he is upset now, he will continue to be upset the rest of the afternoon up until the bus comes to take him home.  The only thing accomplished by rushing through the tasks is to reinforce the idea that if I whine or tantrum I make people scurry around to give me whatever I want.
Filling a child's day with "jobs" or expectations actually results in less behaviors from being bored and trying to manipulate.
Sometimes you cannot help when a routine is interrupted....there are plenty of unpredictable things that happen in life.  So, we should be even more vigilant in keeping a routine to keep them as calm and comfortable as possible so they can better handle the changes.  Whether it's a swing around the bathroom, or singing a favorite song as we walk down the hallway or just remembering to follow the patter of "snack, bathroom, bus".......it will make ALL  the difference in the success of the child.