Autism Home Learning

Behaviours which feel challenging can be frustrating and upsetting. Pause and give yourself a break. It is important to have some everyday strategies to maintain wellbeing which in turn may reduce difficult behaviour.This post offers some tips for everyday strategies, some suggestions for what you might do and what it is better not to do, which may help to prevent behaviours from escalating.  Structure  Always consider structure and routines as part of your everyday strategies. We all need structure and routine in our daily lives. For autistic children and young people, structure and routines are essential to provide information in a meaningful way and to reduce anxiety. The use of structure is empowering. Structured Teaching (TEACCH) strategies increase independence, raise self-esteem and as a result can reduce difficult behaviours. For example, a visual schedule provides vital information about the structure of the day: what, when, where, who. This is not that far removed from o

Managing behaviour that feels challenging is not easy, particularly when a specific behaviour occurs frequently, has been going on for a long period of time and is intense. It is important to be aware at these times that a child or young person may be distressed and frustrated and so are you. This post focuses on ways to plan strategies for your son or daughter, based on your observations and using a problem-solving approach. When you are in the middle of a ‘storm’, both your child and you are not feeling good. This is not the time to sit down and try to problem-solve. Do what you need to do to keep everyone safe and to restore some semblance of calm. Don’t feel bad if that means leaving your son or daughter to watch favourite apps, YouTube films, play computer games etc. Take a few minutes for yourself too. Strategies to manage behaviours which have become challenging need some time to think, to figure out the message (intended or not) and to plan ways to support your son or daugh

An essential part of the behaviour iceberg is communication. Most behaviours have meaning, but we need to make sure we proactively look for that meaning. A shift in mindset from focusing upon a behaviour to thinking about communication helps to have a more positive focus and attitude towards behaviour.  The iceberg model helps us to think about the underlying reasons for behaviour and to try to understand how the individual might be feeling. Behaviours are often an expression of how someone is feeling and it can be useful therefore to think about behaviour as communication. Communication involves intentionally sending messages to another person, with the expectation that they will respond in some way.  Whilst not all behaviours are intentional communication, it is helpful for us to think about communication as integral to behaviour as this helps to develop supportive strategies. Professor Rita Jordan, renowned for her knowledge of autism, explains:  “The most useful po

With prolonged school closures and uncertainty about almost everything, it is not surprising if you are seeing more behaviours at the tip of the iceberg than is usual for your son or daughter. This post is about looking below the waterline to think about feelings and how these relate to how an individual behaves. H ow are you feeling about the current situation, the many uncertainties and the sometimes unfathomable decisions regarding the way forward? How have your feelings affected the ways in which you behave? Perhaps you have been more irritable, or maybe you have withdrawn from usual activities? The same may well be true for many autistic children and young people. They may be experiencing feelings which are more intense than usual and/or feelings they have not experienced before. They may well be behaving in ways which are different from their usual behaviours and you may feel overwhelmed by behaviours at home which are more intense and/or which you are finding difficult to

What is behaviour and why do we sometimes label behaviour as ‘challenging’?  Well this is not as straight forward as it may seem – what is challenging to one person may not be to another, thus the ‘challenge’ is subjective. Personally I dislike the word ‘challenging’ as it is frequently used to label a person as challenging and this then leads to assumptions and misconceptions about an individual and how they behave. If we label behaviours as challenging, we need to recognise that part of the challenge is our own understanding and interpretation of what we see. This week’s posts focus on behaviour and the messages that may be intended through specific behaviours.  I reflect upon how we can understand behaviours and interpret what we see as communication and an expression of feelings. I also suggest different ways to think about behaviours that may be helpful at home. This first post focuses upon what we see – or the tip of the iceberg. Behaviour - Introduction   Everything we do is

Construction toys can be used to encourage communication and interaction whilst building. Many youngsters enjoy building with Lego and this interest has been used in designing the intervention 'Lego-Based Therapy'. This post gives some tips and ideas for ways to make the most of your child's construction interests, including the use of Lego and other construction toys. Encouraging social communication skills is essential for all children's development. This is particularly important for autistic youngsters who struggle with the complexities of social communication skills. Teaching social and communication skills can be challenging, not least because it is hard for our children, but by finding ways to engage and motivate it is possible to encourage social and communication skills in more meaningful and enjoyable ways. It makes good sense that if you want to teach skills that may be difficult, you need to use resources that interest, engage and motivate. Bui