Context I set up my company, Reachout ASC in January 2014. At first I worked on my own, but soon added another specialist teacher, and most crucially, I paid someone to do my bookkeeping (not my biggest strength). Now I have two part time employees, three self-employed associate specialist teachers and I’m holding on to […]
*”A meltdown (or shutdown) is when a child becomes very distressed and emotionally overwhelmed. They can be caused by many different factors, such as situations that are unpredictable, sudden changes or things not happening as the child was expecting. They can also be delayed as the child takes time to process a difficult situation and […]
Written by Kirsten Illingworth Specialist TA with Reachout ASC. “Autistic children may react to a bereavement in different ways to neurotypical children. Some of the underlying perceptual and processing difficulties observed in autistic children may affect their understanding of death and their reaction to a bereavement. Autistic children, like any others, need their grief both […]
We’ve been chatting to all kinds of people who share our passion for autistic young people, and we currently have projects on-going with: Kidscape – Anti-bullying charity Check out our autism communication mat, parents booklet and social stories that we have created with Kidscape, with Widgit.com symbols. https://www.kidscape.org.uk/advice/advice-for-parents-and-carers/what-is-bullying/autistic-children-and-bullying/ 2. Spectrum Gaming We have loved working […]
Our Lego Based Therapy Courses are now available online We have developing an online version of our Lego Based Therapy training which works best be for 2 adults from the same setting. In the afternoon you would be working with 3 children in your school for 45 minutes. For full details (and you can […]
Welcome to our new website Lockdown gave us some time to work on updating our website and bring to you an updated and more accessible look. Please do have a scout through our pages…
Download here 5 ways to support exams It’s that time of year again. Emma and I have been spending some of last sessions with our autistic Y11 students, supporting them and their teachers through these next few weeks as the GCSE exams loom. We thought it may be a good time share some of the wisdom […]
Ok teachers this is THE half term when I get so many more emails about autistic pupils in school and their behaviour. I wanted to warn you all and help you get ready, but not for the challenging behaviour, no, it’s supporting your autistic pupils at this time of year that I want to help you with […]
I’ve recently worked with some schools to assess and apply for an autism diagnosis for girls. What was interesting was that each school had had some autism training from me and began to realise that these girls showed some of the same characteristics that I had spoken about. For some, the diagnosis was straight forward. […]
Photo from Ann Memmott www.annsautismblog.com showing what visual hyper-sensitivity can be like in a classroom. As I promised, here are my tips for secondary teachers getting ready for the next school year. There are likely to be a number of autistic students or other SEND needs coming into your classes this year and I want […]