Imagine that every day the simplest demands make you panic. Not just the demands from other people but the demands that you place on yourself, the things you know you should be doing.Like getting out of bed. Getting ready for the day. Getting out of the house. It’s not just feeling lethargic. It’s the crippling […]
image from https://tentotwenty.com Autistic pupils can find everyday transitions difficult, as well as the major transitions that happen. The reasons can include: Not being told what the change will involve, What will be expected of them, How long it’s going to last, Perceived or real sensory challenges, Not being given time enough to process the changes […]
I was born worrying, so my mum said. I don’t really know what it is like not to have a million worries running through my head all at once. Every conceivable disaster is imagined once my brain focusses on a particular thought – There’s a downside to having a wild imagination. But over the years […]
Photo from Reachout ASC conference Do we think beyond our autistic pupils and wonder if teaching staff or other professionals may be grown up autistic people? Sensory overload, social confusion and other differences don’t go away, but many autistic adults spend a lot of time and energy trying to ‘mask’ their difficulties in busy, demanding […]
By now you might have heard the story about a dad putting out an appeal for a blue Tommee Tippee cup for his autistic son, Ben, who won’t drink from any other cup. The cup his son has used since he was 2 years old is wearing out and there is nothing at all […]
picture from https://www.thetricyclecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Homework.jpg It is seriously one of the biggest issues we have to deal with when we support secondary autistic students, so I thought it would be worth sharing my suggestions about homework. So…if you have a student refusing, never seeming to do homework, parents are saying that it is causing meltdowns and great […]
My friend @AnnMemmott who blogs at http://www.annsautismblog.co.uk first introduced me to the Spoon Theory in relation to autism. It was originally created by Christine Miserandino when asked about her chronic illness, (you can read the original post here http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/ ) but is a great way of helping us understand why school and college is such hard […]
image from http://quotesgram.com/ “We don’t see that behaviour at school” “He’s doing it on purpose, he gets away with it at home” “There’s no structure at home, you know” These are some of the comments we might hear in the staff room. It certainly not from all teachers or teaching staff, and it’s certainly […]
I’ve been doing some work with some girls with Autism Spectrum Condition recently and they have been amazingly perceptive about the reasons why they are left out, teased or ignored by their peers. All of them have talked about not understanding why all the other girls want to be the same as each other and why […]
Primary teachers are the most creative people I know. In just one day they explain, instruct, present, make, demonstrate, coach, advise, organise, design, guide, adapt, mentor, listen, comfort, laugh, cry and …oh and of course, teach! Each day there are around 30 individual human beings in our care and we want to nurture them, develop […]