Look up Temple Grandin - TED talks - great insight into autism.
ASD - covers a range of autism behaviours. People are rated - mild, moderate, severe.
Now recognising sensory issues as well.
Behaviours of Autism:
- Check with parents about students behaviour after school - How are they? Often they hold it together at school and let loose at home.
- Risk is avoidance with social environments because it's "too hared, prefer to lock themselves away.
- Have a lot of difficulty with organising themselves. This iw hat I need to do now, next - need specific instructions broken down. - Parents have lists of instructions for getting ready for the day . List of how to be ready for the day at school, visual reminders.
- Take time to tell students instructions and let them sink in.
- Lose things all the time.
- Don't usually like surprises.
- Tell on others. Need to teach them not to - lose friends.
- Often don't have body awareness to eat and drink - need to remind them.
- Reminders to eat food.
- Noise and clutter distracts. Cluttered classrooms, noise, assemblies are hard, people close to each other. How are we catering for our ASD students in the classroom? Unclutter the room.
- Have difficulty to gauge emotions/social behaviours because attention is on something else. Social skills need to be deliberately taught. - how to talk to friends, responses etc. - Life skills programme?
- Visual strengths/spatial systems - huge attention to detail.
- Have great memory.
- Anxiety
How they learn:
- On the spot teaching - in the moment
- Create situations where learning can happen. eg. putting things on a higher shelf
- Climbing, trampolining, ball throwing - PMP for A/C
- Autistic children give up if they can't get it right. Need stepping through the process.
- Children won't learn by imitating - they won't learn by being exposed to things. They need to be intentionally and specifically taught things.
- Transitioning through activities - reduce anxiety. Break instructions into small pieces.
- Handwriting - pens, felts, colours
- They need to know what is coming up - clear visual aides, chart, systems to know what happens next, routines. Take pictures of instructions or what is on the whiteboard instead of copying. "Help me organise myself."
- Will pick up information if not looking at faces (too much information to take in - too much to focus on. Don't make children look at your face.
- Connecting with parents - What are their struggles? What techniques to support reactions etc? If there are changes to the timetable, contact parents to pre-warn the child. Need to prepare them.
- Use of technology
- 1:1 support
- Tap into interests
- Being rewarded for doing a good job.
- Being allowed to have breaks.
- Making clear boundaries to work within.
- Pre-warning
What works:
- Visual systems
- Lists of instructions
- Whiteboards of things to do they can cross off
- Direct instructions - "Go there." "Do this."
- Say name first before talking to them.
- Movement breaks
- Quiet corners, seats, spaces in the room
- Visual timers
- "First....then....now.....after."
- Check ins
- Emotion gauge - Where are you? 3 levels...?
- Reduce stress during the day (bean bag, head set, music, book, place to calm down)
- Things to play with - sensory, Smiggle - helps with reducing stress - focus)
- Teach them how to ask for something, deal with feelings, emotional control
- Physical Exercise
- Involve family/buddies.
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