From left to right: Myself – Steph Reed, Jarymke Malijaars (Ku Leuven), Pat Quigley (The Garden Head of School) and Beth Junor (Specialist ASD Speech and Language Therapist). I was very grateful to attend the ComFor training held at The Garden School in January. The ComFor assessment is a tool used …
Me and my team of wonderful teaching assistants decided on the following important strategies for all of the team to follow in the classroom. The strategies are also essential for new people entering the classroom to know and understand. These strategies are therefore visible on the wall as you enter the …
Special iApps is a variety of exceptional apps aimed to teach a range of concepts to learners with special needs, including autism. The apps are clutter free and minimalistic, great for an easily distracted learner! There are no annoying in-app purchases or adverts that could be pressed at any time and …
After I completed the ‘Attention Autism’ training last year, adopting the approach in my class has made a HUGE impact on the children’s attention and interaction levels, the staff teams skills in working as a group, and most importantly, it has been a whole lot of fun for everyone! Attention …
Imagine a typical classroom, what can you see and hear? It may be quite noisy, have lots of furniture and equipment crammed into small spaces, perhaps a bit of clutter and bright and colourful displays on every available wall space! This can often be very overwhelming and distracting for an …
What Are Visual Timetables? Children with autism can really benefit from having a visual timetable because the visual information can reduce anxiety by showing the child what is going to happen in their day. Visual timetables can also aid pupils to be as independent as possible, by visually showing them …
Sensory Sensitivities: Children with autism can be either hypersensitive (over – sensitive) or hyposensitive (under – sensitive) to sensory input. Some examples of this are that you may see a child putting their fingers in their ears because they are hypersensitivie to sound. Â You could see a child seeking sensory …
Here is a fun science lesson I recently put together and taught during our term theme on colours. The pupils in my class all have a diagnosis of autism and severe learning difficulties and are working around P levels (UK assessment) P4 – P8. This would also be great for …
Intensive Interaction I highly recommend the Intensive Interaction approach to learning early communication skills. I have had many positive and rewarding interactions with my pupils through using the Intensive Interaction principles. “Intensive Interaction is an approach to teaching the pre-speech fundamentals of communication to children and adults who have severe …
Many children with autism are visual learners. Showing a child a picture can be much more meaningful than telling a child what to do. Pictures can aid a child’s learning and support them to be independent. An example of using pictures or symbols to aid learning and independence: dressing and …