Autism resources, podcasts and blog posts for teachers and educators supporting communication development, emotional regulation and sensory needs.
Understanding whose turn it is Autistic children can find it difficult to predict what will or could happen next. It can therefore be challenging to understand who will be chosen to have a turn during a group or class activity. This can lead to anxious or ‘disruptive’ behaviour (such as Read more
Personalised learning It can be challenging to engage any child if they are not interested. It can be even harder to engage children with autism if they are not motivated. A child must want to take part in a teaching activity otherwise it will be difficult to engage and keep Read more
Emotional regulation In order to be ready to learn, children must be regulated and have their physical, sensory and emotional needs met. Let’s face it, a child is not going to learn anything if they are, for example: Over stimulated Under stimulated Very tired/hungry/thirsty Need the toilet If a child Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more