Autism Home Learning

2021 promises further change and uncertainty for us all. There are difficult times ahead, but hope is in sight.  Let's keep going and support children as they learn at home and school. As another period of lockdown begins I will resume posting ideas, activities and my reflections to offer support to all who are involved in supporting autistic youngsters to learn at home. Many of my previous posts are still relevant and I will cross reference to these when appropriate - to make it easier to navigate through the posts (for you and for me) I intend to go back and number them! This post includes my tips for online resources and who to follow on twitter for some brilliant ideas:) (Most recently added in red) Autism friendly resources: NLC Communication Friendly @SchoolsNLC From Special Education and Inclusive Learning  Pancake Day Sensory Story Follow Charlie @ShareInclusion for some fun ideas and activities Autism Education Trust has some useful information and free resourc...

Mental Health Awareness Week shines a light on kindness and the benefits for those who carry out acts of kindness. Sadly it is essential we also teach autistic children about what is NOT KIND. It is a sad fact of life that unkindness exists across society. Targets of unkindness are frequently those who are perceived as different in some way. It is widely recognised that autistic youngsters (and adults) are vulnerable to unkindness and often make easy targets. It is vital therefore that we teach about what is not kind and what to do when they experience unkindness . However, this is more complex than it might seem as recognising unkindness requires us to 'read' the intentions of other people. Autistic children and young people may find it difficult to read and interpret the intentions of others. This makes it all the more important to develop strategies to enable them to recognise unkindness, to make distinctions between degrees of unkindness and to know what to do when they...

Life during lockdown is an emotional roller coaster for us all. For many autistic children and young people, the emotions they are experiencing may be intense and confusing. In this post I share some of my experiences and thoughts on ways to support emotional wellbeing at home.  The confusion and unpredictability of the current situation, and when/how  we will eventually exit lockdown, is causing a good deal of anxiety for everyone. Awareness of the risks to emotional wellbeing for autistic children and young people is an important first step to supporting their wellbeing at this time. An earlier post focused upon increased anxiety which of course risks emotional wellbeing. Other widely recognised factors also impact emotional wellbeing for our children including: difficulties in communicating about feelings, barriers to interaction, differences in ways of thinking - such as lack of flexibility, sensory processing differences, difficulties with asking for help, lack of re...