 Autism is a lifelong condition.
 Autistic Spectrum disorders.
 People with autism have difficulties with communication, social understanding, flexibility, sensory issues. ( Wing, L. 1979, Bogdashina,O.
2003)
 Delays rather than deficits.

 Spontaneous communication (Potter and
Whittaker)
 Facilitated communication
 Receptive Language
 Non verbal language
 Literal understanding and idiom (Blackburn)
 Processing time

• Stages of PECS
• PECS across the day
• Innovative uses of PECS

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Develop augmentative communication (e.g. Picture
Exchange Communication System; Frost and Bondi
2002)
Include speech and language targets in the classroom
Use of Makaton, objects of reference, photographs and simple speech cues for those students who need other approaches
Include communication targets in students’ IEPs
View challenging behaviours as communicative
Find more appropriate ways to communicate needs to reduce challenging behaviours
Intensive interaction (Hewett and Nind 1998)

 Written info
 Laptop
 Symbols in filofax style books
 Expect literal understanding
 Allow processing time
 The role of the 1 : 1 could be as interpreter – to collate a phrase book for the neurotypical world
 To repair misunderstandings and to facilitate processing time

 Students with autism do not pick up social cues
 Every thing must be explicitly taught
 Again, and again, and again ( Blackburn 2008)
 Other people seem illogical and unpredictable
 Inability to share a theory of mind impairs empathic response (Mitchell 1996)
 Don’t teach social skills at the same time as other skills
 Provide visual cues/ back up
 What do we know about social skills .... Eating dinner

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Intensive interaction
PECS : initiation/communication between students
Socialeyes
Learn social skills specifically and not alongside other activities
Use play to develop theory of mind (Sherrat 2000)
Social stories and comic strip conversations
Carol Gray
Limited use of modelling
Rules of interaction : openers/ closers ( activity )

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Support staff can write social stories
Explain each social rule and don’t expect them to by , caught / immediately understood
Unstructured and social times could be the hardest – think about staff allocation – is playtime a better time to have extra support, than maths
Facilitate withdrawal
Where a teacher is using a whiteboard presentation could these be made available to students, through laptops to avid aversive group time
Teach being in a groups – at a different time from academic skills / knowledge
Allocate peer mentors
Train students in ASD understanding

 Students with autism can find it really difficult to make sense of the world around them
 Predictability can help
 Schedules, structure, routine
 Prosthetic environment
 Build in changes ( surprise cards )
 Using imaginative play/ drama.
 What is the pivotal part of the day ?

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Introduce TEACCH style approaches, trained staff
All students with autism have a schedule
Clear structure and routine based days to make students secure enough to learn to deviate from the routine
Warn students about changes in routines, practice being flexible e.g. fire drills
Prepare students for breaks and holidays
Don’t make assumptions about the pivotal part of the day
Develop imaginative play to facilitate further flexibility

Why use structure in the classroom?
 It helps the child with autism to understand
 It helps children with autism to be calm
 It helps children with autism to learn better
 Structure is the prosthetic device that will help the child with autism to achieve independence

 Work bay Life skills

 Schedules for whole classes can be beneficial
 Can be diaries, phone, ipod, ipad, laptop or filofax based
 Most students will always need the schedule – celebrate using it as a tool towards independence rather than trying to work away from it –the equivalent of a hearing aid etc
 Support staff can set up schedules, teach ownership, teach students to manage their own schedules

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Students with autism can be under stimulated or over stimulated in any of the following; in any combination, and it can change ...
Vision
Hearing
Taste
Smell
Touch
Vestibular : balance
Propriorceptive : body in space
• Gestalt perception
• (Bogdashina, O. 2003)

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Began staff training and encouraged further reading
Began sensory profiling of students (Bogdashina 2003)
Wrote a policy
Tried to ensure that students were not over or under stimulated
Considered sensory issues to be major cause of challenging behaviours .
Endeavoured to reduce these behaviours by addressing sensory issues
Pursue sensory integration

 Withdrawal spaces – tents/ library
 Withdrawal tools – headphones / dark glasses/ scarves/ scented hankies/ strong flavours/ modified uniforms/ backpacks/ body warmers / flexibility with uniform
 Access to sensory integration style activities – could be as simple as getting a turn on playground equipment every day/ big balls to sit on/ rockers on chairs – or could be a comprehensive professional program

• There is no such thing as an autistic behaviour
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(Blackburn 2008)
View behaviour as communicative ( Clements 2005)
Record, record, record
And then assess, assess, assess
Be a detective
Keep records across the year
Let me tell you a secret ... The behaviours tend to stay in the young persons repertoire.

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View all behaviours as communicative
Record all behaviours
Consider and the whats, whens, hows and whys.
Analyse patterns of behaviour
Give students more appropriate equivalents to meet the same needs
Consider behaviours as contextually inappropriate, rather than inappropriate.
Take the responsibility to prevent rather than relying on reacting to behaviours that have happened.

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Consider the pupil’s communication
What are they understanding and what are they missing?
How are they helped?
Do they have augmentative communication systems in place?
Do they have schedules, routines, predictability, filofax, diary, calendar, ipod, ipad, laptop, phone?
Have the relevant social rules been explained to them?
Are their sensory needs being met, do you know what they are? Are they fluctuating?

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People with autism have difficulties with
Metataxis : holding 2 perspectives at once (Sherrat and
Peter 1998)
Weak central coherence : ability to process minutiae in detail, difficulties in understanding the context as a whole leads to extra abilities and extreme difficulties in processing and learning (Frith 1989)
Theory of mind ( Leslie and Frith 1988)
Difficulty working independently, coping with interaction and the task at the same time.
Copyright Luci Rose Oak View School 2011

We acknowledge that students with autism think and learn in different ways
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Present information visually
Learn one concept at a time
Plan for generalisation
Plan for problem solving
Plan for interaction and co-operation
Plan for independent work
Plan for choice making
Demonstrate what outcome is expected , clear beginnings and endings of activities.

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Wing, L. 1979; National Autistic Society website www.nas.org.uk
2008; Bogdashina, O. “Sensory Perceptions Issues in Autism and
Asperger Syndrome” 2003.
Potter, C. and Whittaker, C. 2001 Enabling Communication
“A picture’s worth” Frost, L and Bondi, A. 2002. “Interaction in action” Hewett , D. and Nind, M. 1998.
Mitchell, P “Theory of Mind and Autism” 1996
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“Logically Illogical” a talk by Ros Blackburn 2008
Bogdashina, O. “Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and
Asperger Syndrome”. 2003.
 “Developing Play and Drama in Children with Autistic Spectrum
Disorders” Sherrat , D. and Peter, M . 1998. “Autism Explaining the Enigma” Frith, U. 1989 .

Area
Communication
Social Understanding
Training
PECS (Pyramid Education)
Intensive interaction (Dave Hewett)
Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations
Carol Gray (Gray Centre)
NAS Social eyes NAS website
Flexibility
Sensory Issues
Challenging Behaviour
Sexual Issues and Autism
Further understanding including thinking and learning
All of the above
TEACCH/ Pyramid
Olga Bogdashina
John Clements
Luke Beardon (NAS/ Sheffield University)
Jenny Coffee
Birmingham University distance/ part time courses. Autism Centre Sheffield Hallam
University
Oak View School Training
Autumn Term 2011 TBC

 Communication
 Social understanding
 Sensory Issues
 Flexibility
 Structured teaching
 One student
 One class
 Whole school : school development plan
 Accreditation