What do YOU see? What comes to mind?

Infinity?

8?

Race track?

Figure eight?

Your fav piece of jewelry?

An idea for a tattoo you’ve been wanting?

Your son whose birthday is the 8th?

We all bring our own meaning.

Our Leaves also bring their unique ASD layer of interpretation to a situation, conversation, incident or lesson.

We often assume.

We assume our Leaves understand. We assume they’re being disobedient. We assume if we keep approaching things in the same way, they’ll learn. We assume they see it from our way of thinking. We assume he learns the way we do. We assume it makes sense to her because it does to us. We assume he’ll eat what we’ve cooked for him when he’s hungry. We assume their reactions and actions are over reactions. We assume she can today because she did it yesterday. We assume they don’t want to. We assume if we keep pushing, they will...

Maybe he wasn’t lying. Maybe she didn’t understand. Possibly he isn’t being disobedient but his body or rigid thinking won’t enable him to do as you’ve asked. What if you’re expectations are too high or too low? Is there a chance that we’re wrong or that actually it’s us who don’t understand?

Remember the 6 Leaves.

Whenever you’re trying to work through something with/about your leaf • Communication • Thinking • Emotional Wellbeing • Physical Wellbeing • Health • Social Wellbeing

Ask ourselves.

What does your Leaf find tricky in each Area? Could it be sensory? Could it be that their version is different to ours? Could it be that they are drained after school and just don’t have the capacity for any more today? Could it be that their meds are impacting their sleep or mood? What strengths or interests to they have in any of the Areas? If they benefit from quiet time, can this be built into her day across the day to help with the social demands and pressures? If he understands the social rules of hygiene is this playing to his strength and spelling it out might encourage regular showers? What strategies can you use in the key Areas? Communication visuals decrease the cognitive demand of spoken instructions. Noise cancelling headphones help with filtering excess classroom noise. Timers help with waiting/sharing/ limiting iPad useage. Understanding and patience can give space for a Leaf who is overwhelmed by day to day demands

Using the 6 Leaves

Makes sure that we are covering all bases and not make assumptions.

Choose peace. When you feel like your head is spinning with competing responsibilities, challenges, struggles and difficulties, tell yourself to pin it all to the donkey. Sound weird? Well, when we visualize ourselves doing something it can have a powerful impact on our mental wellbeing so instead of spinning, picture yourself blindfolded. Now tell yourself to stop spinning and watch yourself pin your thoughts to the donkey on the wall. Once you have pinned them all there, walk away. Feel the peace wash over you and then you’re your blindfold off. Have a look at the thoughts pinned there to the wall; still, secured and pinned down. No longer sending you into a frenzy. Then, and only then see yourself picking one to think about and take a small step toward trouble shooting that one thought. Don’t pick up the others until that one is taken care of.Acknowledge your headspace and call it out. Feeling stressed, anxious about the future, lost, exhausted, worried about what the new year will bring? Own it, call it out and talk about it. No one, and I mean no one has it all together no matter what their social media feeds look like. Share with a friend, jump onto facebook or insta and share with us. Find a way to own your feelings and they’ll no longer own you.Take it outside. If you’re a working leafplace mum and usually spend your lunch at your desk or in the staffroom, change it up, take it outside and get moving. Stay at home mum? Encourage the kiddos to do their fav thing outside. Ipad, tv, dinosaurs, drawing, airconditioners, airports, animals, my little pony, making…whatever it is, chances are there’s a way to move it outside so that you can all get some sunshine and fresh air without throwing too much change and expectation on your family.Move. However, whenever you can, increase movement in your day. Exercise not only improvise your physical health but it’ll boost your mood and clear your head too.Take a moment to ‘be’ with your child. The dishes, the bills, the dinner can wait for 15 minutes. Give yourself permission to put life aside for quarter of an hour to put your child first. Sit with them, ask them about their fav computer game or dinosaur or just ‘be’ with them if they are unable to communicate with you. Sing songs, paint, read do some sensory activities with them, whatever it is, take a moment to really ‘be’ with your child.

There are different types of change; small and large, anticipated and unexpected. Then there’s different perceptions of the change itself, for example we may perceive it to be an incidental change while an Autistic person may find it completely overwhelming. We may have acknowledged the change at the time but have since moved on while wondering why our loved one is behaving ‘out of character’ 6 months down the track.

Summer holidays are a significant change for some students. Over the coming weeks, we’ll focus on understanding the whys and how to’s to help your family have a relaxed summer break. Let’s have a look at the 6 Leaf Areas and consider just some of the reasons why change can be difficult;

SOCIAL WELLBEING

If I don’t understand why I’m at home and not at school, then I’m going to have difficulty with trust. I may not be able to interpret the social reasoning for situations because in my mind I should be at school not at the pool, or at a friend’s house or at the shops. Following rules and expectations is particularly hard because I feel out of sorts, confused, frustrated, annoyed, anxious or overwhelmed because Im not at school where I expect to be.

SENSORY WELLBEING

My arousal states are impacted when change occurs. This means that Im going to feel especially unsettled. Particular parts of the day can be sensory triggering so I’m unable to regulate in anticipation of the change as well as, during and after the transition.

PHYSICAL WELLBEING

Change can trigger my ability to sleep, eat and toilet and with increased negative emotions I might find everyday fine and gross motor tasks like dressing, play etc. more difficult than usual.

COGNITIVE WELLBEING

Routine is safer, reassuring, calming and predictable. I have

difficulty remembering, reading between the lines, generalising, perceiving, comprehending, rationalising, being flexible and letting go. If my rigid thinking tells me that I ‘should’ be at school today, and I’m not, then I’m going to struggle to go with the flow of the day.

EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

Because I dont understand, I feel unsafe and that means that I can’t trust you and I dont know how to communicate my thoughts and feelings. I’m likely to feel panicked, anxious, angry, overwhelmed, scared, confused, frustrated, depressed and exhausted. If supports aren’t put in place, I may still feel this way months after the change has occurred and everyone else has ‘moved on’. I not only need supports to transition from term to holidays but Ill need it to transition back to school next term too.

COMMUNICATION

Auditory/verbal information is confusing because I can’t perceive what you are explaining. If you just talk through the change with me, I may have difficulty asking for help, clarification or communicating my emotions. If you ‘tell me a hundred times’, its not always helpful. If you ‘ask me a million times’ I may not understand or remember. If you nag me yesterday and today about the same issue, it may not help because I feel extra unsettled and talking to me makes it harder for me to work through.

Change is like a ripple in the tight rope for people with ASD. Their everyday is already a balancing act and change creates a wobble. The more significant the perception of the change, the more unsettling the ripple will be.

The small wobble might happen at home before school; (ie morning routine)

I can’t find my left shoeWe ran out of cornflakes so I have to have something differentRoad works on my way to school so we have to take another route

Or it might happen at school

My favourite pen has run out of inkIts raining so lunch time is inside todayMum sent me to school with a cheese sandwich not a ham sandwich that I always haveMy teacher is away sick todayWe are doing musical practice instead of the usual school day today

Big changes at home can definitely happen unexpectedly or can be anticipated

Home;

Moving houseGoing on holidaySchool holidays vs term timeFamily breakdownLoss of a loved one

A bigger change = bigger impact so wobbles can endure perhaps for the term, or maybe even longer, long after we’ve moved on ourselves.

Some expected changes at school

Sports DayBook WeekGrandparents DaySchool Holidays back to TermCamps, excursions, starting new year

An example of this might be moving house. We worked with a teacher this year who in term three was really struggling with a student that, in the first part of the year was doing really well with the supports that were in place and the teacher – student relationship was positive. When we met with the teacher we asked him if he was aware of any changes that may have happened for the student either at school or at home. It took some reflection but we uncovered that the student’s father had started fly in fly out work, her mum had traveled interstate a number of times for Autism conferences and the family had moved house also increasing the car ride to school from 20 minutes up to an hour.

The result, a student who had experienced a number of changes that she had no control over, and because everyone else had perceived them as ‘no big deal’, her family and school had overlooked them as being the route cause of her ‘new’ challenging demeanor. Looking at the sitauiton from the 6 Leaves perspective we can see just how big change can be;

Emotional Wellbeing: she was constantly unsettled at school and wanting extra breaks. She attempted to run away from school and had great difficulty understanding her own feelings.

Cognitive Wellbeing: She consistently wasted time. She refused to return to her work following breaks and manipulated situations to create more break time. She was disruptive in class and would not do tasks that the teacher knew that she had the ability to complete. Once she started a ‘doodle’ she became more rigid in her need to complete it, to perfection before she felt calm enough to move on and focus on her school work

Social Wellbeing: She started breaking classroom rules, calling out and having relationship difficulties with her friends. She no longer showed courtesy or respect for her teacher who felt that he had lost the relationship that was going well in the beginning of the year.

Communication: She started calling out in class and struggled more and more with verbal instructions given by the teacher during lessons.

Physical Wellbeing: Her parents reported that because she was sleeping well, they assumed that she had settled well into the changes of her dad’s new work routine, the move to a new house and mum being away for conferences.

Sensory Wellbeing: She required more quiet time outside of the classroom as her sensory threshold to manage the busy nature of year five reduced. The more anxious she felt, the less she was able to filter out the environment and feel calm, alert and ready for learning.

It wasn’t until we were able to set aside a moment for the teacher to reflect on the big picture that he was able to see exactly what was at the bottom of his student’s out of character changes, and just how big the impact had been on her. All of a sudden its not a question of 'is she just being defiant for no reason?' or 'What consequence can I use because what we're doing isn't working?' because we start to realise just how big change can be. The teacher spent the last term focusing on repairing his relationship with her, building trust, making her feel safe, providing her with tasks that she would experience success in and he spoke with her family to flag supports that they too would need to establish at home until she was back to her happy self.

We promised tips and they're on their way. Check out our feed over the next week for more posts related to change.

Ever wondered "why the heck won't s/he just wear shoes?" Well, we just happen to have magical powers that let us see right into your child's mind so we know exactly what's up and we're here to reveal all the mysteries to you. Well, that's not entirely true. Sad fact; there's no magic, just years of working with hundreds of Autistic children and here's our collection of whys and how to's that have worked for us in the past.

Chances are your child is thinking one (or more) of these....

I don’t understand why I have to wear shoes.

I’m tired, grumpy, hungry, having an off day and just don’t want to.

I don’t understand what you’re asking me to do.

I don’t understand the consequences if I don’t wear shoes.

These shoes are too small.

These shoes are too tight.

These shoes are too itchy.

Closed shoes are too hot.

When I can’t see my toes, I think that they have disappeared and that makes me panic.

I feel safer when I can see my toes. I hate seeing my toes so want different shoes.

These shoes are comfortable but I don’t like to wear socks or these particular socks, or socks that have a particular colour on them so I'll refuse to wear them.

These shoes hurt.

Shoes are uncomfortable.

I don’t want to wear these shoes, I want to wear my sparkly plastic dress up shoes but I can’t explain this to you.

I’m not aware of the social rule or expectation that 'when we go out, we wear shoes'.

I find it hard to feel the ground through these shoes so can’t walk properly.

I feel anxious when you make me wear shoes.

I need to wear the same favourite pair of shoes everywhere, every day, with every outfit, no matter the weather because I like them, because they make me feel good about my self, because they make me happy, because they are comfortable, because I don't care what other people think.

Strategies to help everyone get out the door on time

If possible let your child choose their shoes and yes if that means they end up looking like they’ve been dragged through a costume shop, so-be-it. This is all part of embracing their uniqueness and tough to anyone who thinks they look odd.Experiment when refusals happen, is there a pattern? Maybe there is a sensory trigger that you’re not otherwise aware of and trying to ‘force’ a child to tolerate a harmful sensation will be detrimental both to their wellbeing and your chances of getting out the door on time.Use a visual when giving the instruction that shoes need to go on. This may be a photo of shoes, the actual shoe, or a diagram of a shoe but either way it will reinforce your verbal instruction and support comprehension of what you are asking them to doKeep your instruction simple “shoes on” and if you have to repeat, allow your child some seconds to process and then repeat in the same way in a calm tone “shoes on”Talk to your child’s OT as there may be desensitizing approaches that can assist your child’s tolerance threshold when it comes to wearing shoesCreate a social script about wearing shoes explaining why we wear shoes, when we wear shoes etc and read it to your child to help them to understand the ‘whys’ both from a social and safety perspectiveUse a visual choice card ie you choose this pair or this pair. This helps them to have some control over their appearance and choose a pair that they feel is comfortable

QA3 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS Is your outdoor play space inclusive? Leaf can help! Our visual communication system ensures that ALL children understand how to make meaningful connections with their world. You can choose from our standard collection or we can design custom visuals for your unique nature play equipment.

They're manufactured from weather proof material that can be stuck to play equipment to help children with disabilities to understand how to play.

Why do children with Autism need visuals?

COMMUNICATION: (Learning Outcome 5) Children with ASD don't always know how to ask for help and are visual learners. Visual communication systems enable them to communicate in meaningful ways to support inclusion.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS: (Learning Outcome 2) Children who don't know how to play, who don't understand how to wait, to share, to take turns often become defensive and feel threatened so can hurt those around them. Visual communication systems can include 'wait' and other visuals that reinforce safe play and play ground rules.

THINKING & LEARNING: (Learning Outcome 4) Children with Autism learn differently to our neurotypical children. Typical children watch each other and copy/imitate play using their mirror neurones but children with ASD's mirror neurones develop differently so often they don't notice, don't observe and don't imitate play. Therefore, they're left to their own devices to understand how to use equipment. In addition, ASD thinkers are logical thinkers. If a log is a piece of balance climbing etc equipment in a nature play space, an ASD child may very well only see it as a log, not something to play on because its not the equipment that they are used to so avoid it not understanding its there to be played on. Visuals help demystify the confusion.

EMOTIONAL REGULATION: (Learning Outcome 1) Children with ASD are very often anxious and overwhelmed in play ground areas. They are busy, noisy, unpredictable and confusing. That means they are frightening. Therefore, visuals help children to understand how to play, to support them to ask for help and to help them to share their needs with others who might not be able to do so without these visuals.

BODY REGULATION: (Learning Outcome 3) Some children with Autism have motor planning difficulties. This means that the messages between their brains and their bodies don't quite come through as clearly as they might for other children. A child with motor planning difficulty may climb their way up the ladder and be able to independently stand on the platform but may not be able to tell their body how to sit, hold on, shuffle forward and shift their weight to go down the slide. Visuals take away some of the complication in the message's journey and helps the body to understand what it needs to do.

Many of our children with additional needs avoid the playground or display 'challenging behaviours' because they actually don't know how to use the equipment. These visuals are similar to the aids that therapists use to enable children to communicate, to understand and to request help etc from others.

The idea is that we point to the picture and support the child to copy the picture. This builds independence. Next time they use the equipment, the picture is a reminder what to do. This way they learn to play independently without our support. Then they can build on this play by using their imagination, taking risks and trying new things but first they need the fundamental understanding of what equipment is, what its there for and how to use it.

Contact us for more information about how you can have Leaf Communication Systems in your centre, school or local playground.

One of our wonderful clients (Charlotte) recently asked for help with her relationship. She loves her partner (Derek) but really doesn't know enough about ASD to understand how best she can play her part in maintaining a successful relationship. Her story went like this...

"We had reason to celebrate and my thought was 'we worked hard for this, we deserve something special. Im going to ring Derek and organise a special date night for us tonight.' So I rang him at work. I told him what I was thinking and said that he should choose where we could go for dinner. His response was simply that he couldn't think about it right now, he was too busy and he'd prefer to stay home anyway."

Deflated, Charlotte hung up the phone and reluctantly started cooking dinner. She told us that "this happens all the time. Derek just doesn't care. Im so tired of being the only one that's actually giving in our relationship. He does nothing in the way of sharing 'us time' unless its on his terms. I just don't feel valued by him anymore."

We walked through the scenario with her step by step to explain where her partner was likely to be coming from. We started by looking at his Thinking. Before Charlotte rang, Derek was busy working. The Autistic mind is fantastic at honing in on a particular task (especially when it is one of interest) and being sold out so to speak for that task until it is complete, often to an impeccably high standard. What the Autistic mind isn't so great at is multitasking, shifting attention and moving away from a task until it is complete. Charlotte also threw an open ended choice at Derek which is particularly difficult for the Autistic mind. Choice paralysis is when we are presented with an endless option of things to choose from. For Autistic people, there isn't always a 'first thing that comes to mind.' Everything comes to mind at once and making a choice is too hard so they resort to either making any choice, because they feel trapped into it, or finding a way to avoid the choice by saying 'you choose, I don't care' or 'I don't want to'.

From an Emotional Regulation perspective Derek may have felt flustered when Charlotte rang because she interrupted his very focused train of thought. He may have felt anxious because he was trying to hold all of the task related thoughts in mind while attending to a social situation which is difficult for him. He may have been apprehensive because Charlotte was springing something spontaneous on him that he wasn't expecting - an unknown, which can be overwhelming.

When Autistic people feel uncomfortable, no matter how articulate they may be, often their Communication skills are the first to suffer. Therefore, Derek may have struggled to get the words out that he wanted to say so resorted to what he could say, which wasn't much in Charlotte's opinion.

Charlotte was trying to engage Derek in a Building Relationships scenario. To her, it was a run of the mill, everyday, no big deal conversation that, if anything, was supposed to be fun, exciting and inviting the love of her life to spend a special evening together. Derek has difficulty with theory of mind, meaning that he has difficulty understanding where Charlotte was coming from. He would have struggled to understand why on earth she would want to break with routine when staying at home and having the same dinner, in the same way, with the same place setting, in front of the same tv show was perfection, why would she want to do anything else?

This is what happened;

Charlotte's thoughts: 'Im going to ring my gorgeous partner to organise a special night for us because we deserve a break.'

Derek's thoughts: 'I need to do this task. I can't talk right now. If I move away from the task I might forget something. What if talking to her sets me back? Now I need to try to put the task on hold while I talk to Charlotte which is really hard. I don't really feel like we need to celebrate. Why would she want to change our usual routine? She's making me choose. Not only do I find making choices hard, I really struggle to make a choice when its something I don't want to do. Where would we go? Who would be there? What would I eat? Would it be too loud, too bright, too busy, too smelly? What would I choose to eat? What would I choose to drink? Would I choose an entree or just a main? What if I can't choose? How am I going to finish my task if she wants me to think about somewhere to go and if I choose somewhere, Im going to be so inundated about worry about going out that I just won't get my task done. Its all just too hard.'

Charlotte's thoughts: 'He's being really stubborn and selfish. He obviously doesn't love me. I just don't get it.'

Charlotte's feelings: hurt, frustrated, insignificant, unappreciated, under valued, really, really ticked off.

Derek's feelings: anxious, confused, trapped, worried.

At no point was Derek intentionally thinking selfishly about himself and at no point did he not value Charlotte. But Charlotte's way of perceiving the situation lead her to think otherwise. The neurotypical and Autistic minds come from completely different perspectives. When we don't understand, all we have is assumption and our own perspective to rely on.

When we explained Derek's perspective to Charlotte she completely understood where he must have been coming from, not only to this situation, but in so many similar situations.

So what strategies did we suggest?

Choices

We started with something simple that Charlotte could do straight away. Charlotte wanted Derek to meet her half way, as many of us do in relationships, and choose where they might go for dinner. She didn't care where, she just wanted him to want to go out with her and to pick somewhere nearby. This can be super tricky for the Autistic mind so we suggested that, instead of open ended choices, Charlotte should think of three of their favourite places to eat and have him choose one from those. This way she has removed the negative emotions from the situation for Derek and has empowered him to play his part by making a choice. While Charlotte doesn't get her ideal preference of spontaneity, she does still get a little surprise when Derek chooses from one of the three options, and she's more likely to actually eat out at a nice restaurant rather than at home, again!

Charlotte doesn't have a typically thinking partner so there are always going to be elements of her relationship that she'll need to adjust to meet him half way. Date nights are possible when you understand your partner and you know how and where to meet them along the way.

We would like to briefly respond to the conversations in the media today regarding Senator Pauline Hanson's comments on the inclusion of students on the Autism Spectrum in our mainstream classrooms.

If you are a child, a young person or adult on the Autism Spectrum you are valued, you matter and you are important. You deserve an education that is whatever you need it to be. You deserve a system that empowers you to learn, to achieve and to flourish whatever your support needs and wherever your strengths lie.

To our families. We hear you. We understand that you want for your children what all parents want; for them to have access to an education that enables them to succeed, for them to contribute meaningfully to society and most importantly for them to be happy and confident in who they are.

To our Teachers. To those of you who spend your personal time away from your own families planning and programming for all students in your class. Who spend your own money on classroom resources. Who put your students' wellbeing before your own. Who are passionate about equipping your students to succeed and who feel responsible when the system that you work within doesn't allow you to do so, we see you! We work with you every day. We are in your classrooms and in your lunch rooms and we hear your stories and see your efforts. You are doing the best that you can. You are not letting the students and their families down, our Education System is at fault.

The only way forward is with a system that goes beyond academics and enables every student to grow and develop their whole self through understanding and supporting the needs of each individual in areas of; Communication, Building Relationships, Emotional Regulation, Thinking and Learning and Body Regulation.

We see the success of our students when their whole selves are supported and championed in the school setting. All schools need adequate funding for;

- Smaller class sizes

- Autism friendly environment and specialist facilities

- Ongoing, best practice teacher training and mentoring

- Adequate access to resources and materials

- Education Support Specialists

- Teachers to be released for adequate programming and planning time

- Student mentors

Leaf is committed to making a difference in the lives of children and young people with Autism by equipping, supporting and empowering teachers to bring the best out in all students in their mainstream classrooms.

As Early Years Educators, we know that every one of the children in our Centre develops differently. But how do we know when children in our Baby Room are showing signs of ASD? Some will be earlier talkers than others. Some will be up and about while others will be less eager to venture out into the big wide world. This can be due to a lot of things; from their personalities to their home environment but not all difference is simply a matter of 'he'll get there'. Babies can display early signs of ASD and 'tuned in' Educators will know these to be possible 'red flags' of Autism.

When a toddler or preschooler is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, they display key characteristics in their interactions and relationships, language development and particular behaviours, which may be the presence of 'atypical' or lack of 'typical' actions and reactions.

Early signs are often present in the first two years. Some children may have a lot of these indicators, while others only a few. For some the indicators will be significant and for others the indicators may be mild or inconsistent.

Some children may be delayed in these indicators, appearing to be slower to reach milestones than others in their Room, while others may develop skills which then, for seemingly no reason, disappear. If ever this happens, it is reason for concern whether it be the cause of ASD or not, its important to bring this to the family's attention and recommend seeing a GP.

When we are thinking about a child's development, its important that we consider the whole child. We suggest investigating skills and characteristics within the 5 Leaf Areas;

Communication

- Pointing, showing other's toys etc to share in an experience or interaction e.g. does he point to Mum at pick up time and then look at you to see if you have noticed her too?

- Respond to her name i.e. does she respond when her name is called either when you are right by her side, holding her or from across the room?

- Does she babble?

- Does he look at you or does he tend to look only at what he is focused on, even if you are holding him or sitting in front of him?

- Single step instructions. Can she follow a simple instruction or request?

- Does he wave hello or goodbye?

- Does she smile with you or at you to share enjoyment?

Building Relationships

- Does she interact with other children?

- Does she seek relationship with her Educators?

- Is he interested in playing simple games like peek-a-boo?

- Does he notice when his family comes to collect him or is he disinterested?

Emotional Regulation

- Does she seek comfort when she is upset?

- Does he settle when he is comforted?

- Is she more unsettled for greater lengths of time than other children?

- Does he seem disconnected and un-emotional most of the time?

- Does he climb, hide, hit, bite, kick, throw items/furniture etc. more than other children in the Room?

- Does she make repetitive actions, noises etc that don’t seem to be typical behaviour eg vocalisations that are different to typical babble, walking on her tippy toes, flicking fingers in front of her eyes, sifting sand etc?

Thinking & Learning

- Does she play with a variety of toys or does she prefer only one or 2 toys?

- Is she more fascinated by everyday objects like light switches, taps, buttons, fans, pegs etc

- Is he interested in participating in group experiences like songs, dancing, painting, story time, water play etc or does he need an Educator to support his engagement?

- Does he get upset when things change unexpectedly? Is he a routine baby, always preferring to eat, sleep, arrive, leave etc at the same time each day.

- Does she play with toys in a typical way i.e. does she play with tea sets and draw with pencils or does she focus on particular parts of toys, line them up or group them by colour etc

Body Regulation

- Is he a ‘fussy’ eater?

- Does he get distressed more inside than outside?

- Is his fine motor and gross motor delayed?

- Does she mouth everything or eat non food items ie bark, crayons, rocks, sand, paint etc?

- Is he more likely to get upset when it is noisy ie during music time

- Does he rest with the other children or his he more likely to wonder the room?

- Does she like to touch everything and everyone?

- Is he less likely to play on the equipment and more likely to be in his own space away from others?

- Does he spin or constantly climb on the furniture?

Is getting your class of 5 or 6 year olds to set themselves up at the beginning of the day like herding a school of slippery fish? Do you need a megaphone, a voice recorder and a play on repeat button at the end of the day when you are endlessly reminding your year 6ers and even senior school students to 'take your jumper home', 'put your homework in your bag', and 'don't forget to give your diary to your parents because there's an important note in there that they have to read' - only to find jumpers, diaries and crumpled up notes on the floor, in lockers and in desk trays come 3:30pm? And I haven't even mentioned the student or two that you have who are on the Autism Spectrum - You're not alone!

There's hope!

Here's the thing. Too often teachers we work with simply expect too much of their young students. Typical students often struggle at the best of times to; remember, prioritise, organise and plan. Yet, we've spoken to some teachers who have as many as 10 step instructions that they expect children to remember as they enter the room in the morning. Our conversation usually starts with 'so tell me about your morning routine' and the teacher lists off all the steps they expect the children to carry out independently. This can be anything from 1) come in quietly, 2) put your diary in the box on my desk, 3) get your reader out of your bag and swap it with another one from your reader group box, 5) keep your reader out if it is your reading day, 5) put your drink bottle on your desk 6) but your brain food healthy snack on your desk, 7) put your pencil, ruer and eraser in the pot on your desk, 8) zip your bag up, 9) put your bag on your hook 10) Line up outside and wait quietly for Mr Green.

Its not until we break these down with the teacher and he has a moment to reflect that he realises how jam packed this action list is. Considering most children would struggle with a 4 or 5 step verbal instruction, this list is just enormous for them to remember independently everyday. Throw in the mix, the child with ASD who, by design, is going to struggle even more than her peers with these executive functions and all this in the first 5 minutes of the day. And lets face it, our middle school and senior school students are seldom any more organised than receptions at times!

'How else do I get my class to get organised? I can't possibly do all for them! It has to be done otherwise it creates issues later in the day when children aren't organised!' 'They need to learn to do it themselves!' - We hear you! And we have some suggestions!

1. The first question to consider is around the number of steps. Is EVERY step critical for that time of the day or could you give your children 2 minute movement breaks to get up and grab their bottles or snack from their bags as they need it?

2. Do you have a visual schedule in your classroom that children can follow as a reminder in place of you having to constantly prompt, remind, and repeat?

3. Is the visual schedule age appropriate? You'd be amazed at the number of written schedules that reception teachers have in their classrooms for different things. Children at 5 and 6 need picture schedules because its highly likely that their reading competence hasn't quite reached the level needed to understand every instruction.

4. If you have a student with ASD in your class, no matter what year you teach, we strongly suggest having an individual schedule for them. This needs to be skill appropriate (i.e. either written or pictures), vertical and sequenced in the way that you want the steps followed with check boxes so that the child can tick off each step that she completes. Alternatively, it could be laminated with velcro spots and the child can remove steps as she completes them.

So often we hear from our teachers that the parents need to be in the room to set the child with ASD up for the day. This just adds to the dynamic of an already busy morning, takes time out of their busy schedule, can be confusing for the child, can create attachment anxiety when Mum leaves and, is just another body in the already noisy room.

We can teach all children independence. It is possible to teach our children with ASD to organise themselves when we have the right support tools for them. A check list schedule can also be attached to their bag. It could be used at the end of the day to remember what to take home. It can be used at home to make sure that they have packed everything into their bags in the morning. It can be used for any age students, even seniors

It can be a reminder for older students to take everything they need to the different lessons each day. There are so many ways that check list schedules can help our children to be more organised, to plan, to sequence, to remember and ultimately, to be more independent.

Surviving the school or childcare care day can be challenging for our children with Autism. The busy, vibrant, ever changing nature of our education settings press every one of our students communication, social, emotional, regulation and learning buttons. This is why we work with our teachers and educators to implement break time systems with their children to be used across the day, especially at times when the child can feel themselves starting to grow anxious, frustrated, angry or particularly fatigued.

Its especially important that our children know how to request a break at recess and lunch at school or during outside play time at childcare. While these times are designed to be breaks, for many reasons, these unstructured, socially based times of day are the most difficult for children with Autism so we need to ensure they are equipped with the skills they need to get through the day.

When we work in schools and centres, we suggest that teachers on duty or educators supervising outside play have a box nearby that has the child's favourite toy, game, book or comfort item in it that they can request from you either verbally (if they are able) or using a visual support system. When they approach you for a break, allow them to access their toy or book and allocate a quiet spot for them under the verandah on a cushion or under a tree - wherever they feel safe and where they feel as though they can find some piece and quiet to rejuvenate on their own.

A common concern is the intrigue or jealousy of other children who will also want to be allowed to play with their iPads outside or who want to play with the child and his toy dinosaur. We encourage our educators and teachers to foster a community of understanding with their other students. We all need to respect each other's differences, strengths, needs, and areas of support. Create an assembly item or newsletter feed that is focussed on "We are all learning" which identifies children's different areas of strength, talent and where they need extra support. Some will need more help with maths than others while some will wear glasses and others don't. It doesn't matter who we are, we all need additional support in different ways and this is the way we need to support children who become overwhelmed by the social pressures of outside play.

Everyone needs and deserves down time! Creating a break system for our children with ASD to use when they need a moment to recalobrate is essential to their learning and development. As education professionals, its our responsibility to empower them with a break system that includes teaching other students to respect the individual needs of others.

When we sit down with teachers to chat about how we can be of most help to them regarding a student in their class who has Autism, one of the first questions we ask our teachers is "what does the NEP say?". More often than not the response is a blank face, or "oh I haven't read that for ages" or "I can't remember" or "I've never done one". Despite the need for effective NEP processes, it seems that schools across Australia are missing this critical cog in the effective education, care and inclusion of students with Autism in their mainstream schools.

When teachers don't know where to start with planning for and assessing a student's individual needs, or don't know of the child's strengths or individual areas that require additional support, or are unfamiliar with what therapy services the child engages in or haven't held discussion with families about their expectations, hopes and priorities for the school year for their child, its because an effective NEP process has not been established.

So here's the what, when, who and why of an effective NEP process:

WHAT IS A NEGOTIATED EDUCATION PLAN?

priority.

Education means we are considering the whole child and how we are going to work together to ensure that best efforts are put in place to support successful learning outcomes to be achieved by the child over the period of the coming school year (this can be broken down into terms and can have longer goals as well).

Plan means the team is going to take a strategic, considered, agreed upon approach to the teaching and learning of the student. Meetings are held, plans are drafted, a school wide template is completed, signed off, implemented, reviewed, modified, and reviewed again to ensure that everything is going to plan or to ensure the plan is changed if it needs adaptation to be more successful.

WHEN IS A NEGOTIATED EDUCATION PLAN CREATED?

The ideal time to initiate the plan is in the term prior to the child starting school, or enrolling into your school or prior to the child graduating into your class. It then is reviewed at a negotiated and agreed upon time. Depending on the individual, this may start with mid term review (particularly if the child is transitioning to school as a reception/prep child or as a new student from another school). Otherwise, termly or half yearly reviews may be more appropriate, its up to the group to decide.

WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE PLAN?

Firstly the student. If a child is able to participate, they must be involved. Secondly parents or primary carers, teachers and school support staff, and finally therapists, allied health professionals and anyone else involved in the health and wellbeing of the child. Be mindful that professionals are likely to charge the family for involvement in the process. Rather than attending the meetings, it may be more cost effective to have them provide input externally through conversations with the family.

WHY ARE NEP PROCESS SO IMPORTANT?

An effective NEP process allows the student, family, professionals and schools to have a voice. It creates opportunity for everyone to work together to consider the child's strengths, needs and to create plans. Without an NEP everyone is left guessing. Often teachers guess where to target plans and assessments, guess what support needs to put in place, and guess what the expectations are of the families. The child is provided with a scatter plot approach to education that may be missing critical information like triggers, strengths, interests and capabilities in the home environment vs capabilities presented in the classroom (as these can differ). Families are left assuming that the child's need are being met, assuming that teachers know how to best meet the education and care needs of their child and guess that there is a plan in place to make sure that this happens.

THE LEAF NEP PROCESS, HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?

The Leaf process firstly provides teachers with an in-depth understanding of Autism. Secondly it provides schools with our uniquely developed tools to assess the individual developmental and education needs of the student. This means that teachers know with confidence where to target the learning goals for each subject, according to the Australian Curriculum. The tool also considers the developmental areas of the child and how each is impacted by Autism. It provides teachers with a visual tool that maps out the child's profile for each subject and each developmental area and when reviewed, provides a clear, visual representation of progress. It spells out what strategies will be put in place to support individual needs and empowers teachers to feel confident that they are on the right track because it is developed by Autism experts and is directly influenced by the Australian Curriculum. It creates a language that teachers and families can engage in that is positive, affirming, strengths based and most importantly, effective.

Teachers of Australia, the Leaf NEP process will save you time. It will empower you. It will save you from feeling lost. It will equip you and fill you with confidence for the year ahead. It will build a meaningful relationship between the school and the family. It will streamline inclusive practices of students with ASD across the school community. It will reduce your workload and stress and fill you with confidence knowing that you are part of a team, working together for the best outcomes of the child!

Children with Autism typically experience even greater levels of anxiety throughout their day than their peers. Often children with Autism feel bombarded by overwhelming sensory input; the lights are too bright, the clock is ticking, pens are tapping on desks, children are chatting, fans buzzing, chair is uncomfortable, tags are itchy, feeling nauseous, I don't understand what I need to be doing, Ive forgotten what the instruction was, I find it really hard to do my handwriting, recess is coming and I don't know how the others want me to act around them......

What we see on the surface is 'inappropriate' or 'challenging' behaviors and what we can easily assume is that they are 'unprovoked' or occur for 'no reason'. A child with Autism might push others, throw chairs, disrupt the lesson, insist on being first in line, irritate the group or disengage and refuse to participate.

Think for a moment how you'd be feeling if a tiger was chasing you. Your heart would be racing, mind buzzing, body shaking and your palms would be sweating. Chances are you'd either freeze, pass out or fight for your survival. When all you are trying to do is survive, when you're body is surging with stress and panic, when your mind is racing and you're just trying to tell yourself to breathe......are you listening to someone who might be telling you to 'put your hat on and go outside', or 'stop doing what you're doing' (humming, spinning, flapping, chewing your arm, pushing things over) because its the only thing you can do that helps your body to regulate. How might you respond when another student bullies you or provokes you?

Now imagine this is how you felt every day in childcare or school. You spend every minute trying to cope with the overwhelming sensory input and social demands that at some point, are going to tip you over and make you erupt like a volcano.

For many children with ASD, this is their daily reality. Often our settings become so overwhelming that our children act out or shut down. Not because they are naughty. Not because they are bad or non compliant but because they are doing their best to manage challenging situations, often on their own because no one understands.

If a child in your setting has ASD and frequently presents with 'challenging' behaviours, chances are they are completely overwhelmed and need your support to cope. If we don't like the behaviours we are getting from the child, we need to change the environment we are giving!

Every area of a child's day can impact their emotional regulation. This being the case, there are endless strategies that we can put in place that will help reduce anxiety, stress and panic. The first step is to understand Autism and that children generally act out due to emotional dysregulation not because they are bad. When we understand Autism, we appreciate the WHY behind the behaviours. The second step is to KNOW the right strategies to put in place that will support the child to feel more in control of their day. Consider the environment; is it over/under stimulating for children with sensory processing difficulties? How about communication systems; does the child have visual supports like schedules, timers or reduced language? Is your approach to teaching and learning empowered with; written lesson instructions, extra time to complete tasks, motivators, integrating special interests into learning outcomes? Are class rules clear, repeated, displayed? Are social skills groups in place to support friendships?

The strategies are endless, but we can get them wrong and its important that our knowledge of the hows and whys are deeper than Pinterest or Google. If you have a student or child in your room who has ASD and you are unsure how to reach and teach them, we are here for you. Our LEARN Autism workshops help educators to understand the WHY and most importantly the HOW to educate, care for and include children with ASD in schools and centers.

www.leafautismservices.com

There are so many fabulous aspects of Autism, but parenting a child with limited to no communication, who suffers anxiety, sensory sensitivities, self care delays, sleep difficulties and restrictive behaviours like needing routine to always be the same can be overwhelming for families. This, together with the daunting task of navigating the 'system' to access funding, advocacy and support for therapy and intervention adds to the every day family challenges that all families work through. Not only that, families often feel judged (i.e. meltdowns can be misinterpreted by the community as poor parenting of an unruly child), feel misunderstood (i.e. when they make requests for their child to have special considerations that other children may not require) or unsupported (i.e. when they receive regular calls from their LDC school or OSHC to collect their child early due to ongoing challenging behaviour). As Educators, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of families to better understand their world if we are going to truly collaborate with them. How do we connect with families? 1. Families often work their way through the grief and loss process from the point of first noticing some possible delays, through diagnosis and again at each point that other children reach milestones that perhaps their child isn't quite reaching. Families in the ASD community have told us that a diagnosis can be "like a death sentence" or like "getting told your child has cancer". We need to show our families empathy, compassion and understanding. Be patient, be supportive and make time to connect and build a positive and trusting relationship with them. Research local support services that your family might be able to connect with like grief and loss counselling, financial aid, emergency assistance, respite services or family support programs. Better still, create an inclusive community in your school or service that celebrates diversity. 2. Families often have to fight for the rights of their child to make sure that their unique needs are met. Therapy, intervention and support are often limited, expensive, untimely and always add extra demands on the family. Make sure that your school or centre is a place where families feel understood and welcomed. Go above and beyond with your ASD families by making sure that you greet and farewell them with a smile. Focus on the positives of the child's day and always let families know about them. Be careful to keep your interactions positive rather than just focussing what the child struggled with throughout the day. 3. Families are expected to share their story over and over with the many different agencies that they now have to connect with due to their child's diagnosis. You can imagine how tough this must be, so when you are working with a child with ASD ask if the family has any paperwork, reports or other agencies that you can connect with to gather information rather than them needing to repeat themselves. Parents of children with ASD are frequently told by professionals what to do differently, what 'should' be done, what needs to change, and where they are going wrong. As Educators, lets not be just another professional in the family's life giving top down advice. Lets make sure that we enquire rather than tell, focus on strengths to build up areas of difficulty and partner with and walk along side our families.

4. Negotiated Education Plans are a must. Educators, allied health and families need to work together to make sure that we are all on the same page. We need to agree on goals, priorities, areas of support and how we are all going to work together to support the child's progress. 5. Families become educators and advocates of Autism. Like sharing their personal story over and over, constantly teaching professionals about ASD puts additional stress on families. Be and educated Educator. Stick with LEAF and we'll help develop your skills and knowledge of ASD so that you can be an ally for your ASD children and their families.

Water play is often a hot favourite with most children. Be it stomping in puddles, dancing in the rain, swimming in a pool or pouring and splashing with water in a trough, bucket or container, children can be amused for hours.

Water play can be extended in so many different ways; building on concepts like full or empty, sink and float, cold and warm, wet and dry, shallow and deep, as well as new vocabulary words such as pour, trickle, gush etc.

Of course, water play can also be extended through the different equipment or toys used in the experience like measuring cups, jugs or spoons, washing dolly with wash cloths and drying him with a towel, washing tea set dishes, or floating toy boats or other objects like corks or watching heavy objects like rocks sink.

Adding detergent will create endless conversation about bubbles or clean and dirty, adding sand and sea animal toys can turn play into an under the ocean adventure, playing with pvc pipes can turn into a water wall or discussions about our water systems; oceans, rivers and creeks.

Water play really is limited only by the child’s imagination and the Educator’s ability to extend the activity with the materials at hand. But how do we engage a child with Autism? Whether the child in your service has severe, mild or high functioning ASD, there is always a way to create a meaningful experience with them in water play.

For the confident communicators, try promoting Outcome 4. Enquire with them where they think water comes from, which environments water can be found, how water travels between environments, where the water goes once we flush our toilet, empty our bath or wash our hands in the sink. Encourage hypothesizing, and foster curiosity by asking questions, answering their queries and turn the conversation into a research project to see what everyone can learn together.

For children with emerging language, focus on building upon what they already know by fostering Outcome 3. Using water play to promote self help skills such as pretending to wash dishes, wash hands, or wash baby will support the child’s physical health and wellbeing. Children with ASD struggle with generalisation. This means that although they might learn a skill in one context (washing hands in their own bathroom at home) they may not be able to demonstrate this skill in other settings like childcare. To encourage generalisation of skills, use clear, simple language and label actions such as ‘wash hands’, ‘we are washing our hands’.

Children on the Autism Spectrum who have no to few words, signs or visuals can build on their Outcome 5 when Educators use simple nouns and verbs during water play. As you encourage interaction either label what the child is doing or take the lead by filling a container with water and pour. As you do, say ‘pour, pour, pour’ if he’s not looking, gain his attention and try again, ‘Alex, pour, pour, pour. Pour the water’. Or you could make deliberate actions to feel the water on your hands, wrists, face, forearms and say ‘wet, the water is wet’. Use basic language and keep your phrases simple and repetitive. This will build on Outcome 5 through interacting in a shared experience and extending the child’s understanding of the purpose of communication.

Most importantly, have fun! Water play is fun for most children. For some it will be calming, for others it will be stimulating and energizing, its up to you to let each child explore and experience the water in their own way.

When children are little, we invest hours, weeks even months in supporting them to walk. We use hand over hand support. We celebrate ever little inch-stone win. We praise, encourage, clap and cheer, even when the child stumbles. We never expect them to master the skill without us and we know that they'll keep trying, as long as we are there to support them!

As children get older and gain more independence, we take a step back. Our supports decline and our expectations increase as the child grows. Early Years Educators spend more hands on time with little children but as they transition up from room to room, then from junior primary to primary, the support they require from teachers is expected to decline....But what happens when the child still needs us?

Unlike typically developing children, those on the Autism Spectrum don't tend to learn through observation. There are libraries full of research that unpack the technical reasons why; like differences in the development of their mirror neurones, processing ability, sensory processing challenges, altered cognition and perception and even in the physical structure of the brain of children with ASD but what we need to know and understand as Educators, Teachers and SSOs is that our students with Autism don't pick up on social cues, unwritten rules or academic skills as smoothly as their peers. At the same time, as our children get older, our expectations increase, and the 'shoulds' start to sneak in. We find ourselves saying "he's 10, he should know better". Or, "she's in year 3, she should know how to do that by now."

The fact is, children with ASD generally learn differently from others and at a different pace. We need to unlearn some of what the text books have told us about teaching strategies and go back to our 'teaching them how to walk' approach. Even though the student is in upper primary, or even high school, there are elements of their development that will still require us to teach them with hands on support, celebrating little wins, breaking tasks down into little steps and giving continuous praise and encouragement with buckets of patience. Most importantly, we need to reduce our expectations and find their personal age equivalent for each area of their development and curriculum learning areas. We need to put the 'shoulds' away and try not to compare children with ASD to other students of the same age.

Taking the 'teaching them how to walk' approach will mean that the student experiences success at their own pace, in their own way according to NEP goals.

School excursions and camps can be the highlight of the year for most students. Getting out and about with classmates away from the usual daily routine and learning about our world in a way that doesn't involve desks and whiteboards is usually welcomed and something to look forward to - so why is it so difficult for our students with ASD and what can we do to make our excursions and camps more successful for them?

1. Prepare the Student for Change

Set up a visual countdown (i.e. mark off a calendar every day for a few weeks leading up) so that students can start to prepare themselves emotionally for change. Children with ASD rely on routine and predictability to feel safe and in control of their world so when changes occur (even changes that we think are insignificant), children can experience extreme anxiety, confusion, fear and frustration.

2. Prepare the Student for the Setting

Create a picture board or booklet of photos or show the child around the website of the place you will be visiting or campsite you will be staying at. Help them to understand what to expect, what it looks like, what sounds will be there, what you will all be doing, including bedrooms/dorms, bathrooms, common areas, eating areas etc (you may need to contact the place before you head off to ask for photos).

3. Prepare the Student for the Activity

Whatever you are doing; visiting the zoo, going on camp, going to a museum or visiting a fire station, the behaviours, rules and expectations of each location are quite different. Help the child to understand what is expected of them by discussing with your class what you will all be doing there and why, talk about rules and expectations and break down the visit into small visual steps outlining the schedule of the day or days i.e. picture of the bus, picture of the location, picture of a group of children looking at animals/artwork/museum exhibits etc., having lunch in a park, getting back on the bus and returning to school then pick up time.

4. Prepare the Student to Engage

Allow the student to take something that makes them feel safe (i.e. an iPad, toy, sensory item etc) they will need breaks from what the rest of the class is doing because the change in pace, place and expectation is a lot for a child with ASD to process and stay on top of. Providing them with regular short breaks throughout the day to zone out and play with a favourite item will help them remain engaged and regulated across the day.

Excursions and camps are a valuable and necessary part of our education and children with ASD can be supported to engage and even experience success but they need our support. Without adequate preparation, patience, understanding and support from us as teachers and SSOs, our students will likely not cope with the added stress and overwhelming demands of change but with us they can!

Whether you are an Early Years Educator or a teacher in a school, Im guessing that you have a mountain of programming, planning and documentation to get through and no time to do it. So, you spend your lunch 'break', weekends and evenings working and are still struggling to come up with ways to include the child with ASD who you are having difficulty engaging in learning.

Both the Early Years Learning Framework and the Oz Curriculum share common language. That is; they are frameworks and are therefore designed to be flexible, built upon, extended, moulded and shaped to meet the need of every child that comes into our room. Both use terms like 'individualisation' and 'inclusion of students with diverse learning needs'. Now, we are all educated professionals who are in our line of work because of our passion not pay so we are more than aware that we should and even need to meet each child where they are at and build enriching, engaging and meaningful curricula to extend their learning to ensure that we set them on the right path to becoming valued and active participants in society....but how? and when? Neither framework nor curriculum tells us about the 'how' to differentiate our approach to actually get our children with ASD to stop being distracted, going off and doing their own thing, running away, being aggressive, refusing to do the work and instead to engage in their learning. And then there's also our real world situation in our day that is so full of hands on time with children that there isn't enough time to luxuriate in hours of individual planning for each child...so what do we do? How do we know what our children with ASD actually need? How can we get them to focus on learning when we can't even get them to sit and engage? How can we work together with families when we struggle to build a relationship with them?

We won't tell you 'its easy when you know how' but we will tell you that 'knowing how can make life easier for you, the child and their family'. Unfortunately, like most things worth doing right, this will take some time to get right, but when you do, you'll find your job so much more enjoyable and far more rewarding. So here's some tips we hope will help to get you away from your desk and into the staffroom at lunch and actually spending time with family and friends on the weekend.

UNDERSTAND ASD

This is what LEAF is so passionate about. We spend a lot of time working with teachers and educators making sure that they have a solid understanding of ASD, in particular from our 5 Learning Areas: Emotional Regulation, Body Regulation, Communication, Thinking and Building Relationships. When we understand how each area impacts the lives of our children on the Autism Spectrum and how to apply our simple strategies, you'll be amazed at the difference they make both to the child's learning and your time!

UNDERSTAND YOUR CURRICULUM

The Australian Curriculum has 8 Learning Areas, 7 General Capabilities and 3 Cross-Curriculum Priorities (and Im sure if you look into a Christmas Unit Plan, there is sure to be a Partridge in a Pair Tree too). Each has additional elements, streams and standards and when we think too much about it, we can be easily overwhelmed at how to connect it with the education needs of typically developing students let alone those on the Spectrum. The secret is in your expectation. When we look deeper into the Curriculum, we can see that for students who have significant learning delays, the Capabilities become our frame of reference. Instead of pulling our hair out because our child "can't do age equivalent math" - try instead prioritising the Personal and Social Capability of successfully working in a group, or independently applying himself to a task for up to 10 minutes etc. When we have an NEP that is appropriately developed for the individual needs of the child, we can take the pressure off ourselves (in expecting the child to meet the age-equivalent curricula) and instead, support them to work toward life skills that he needs to develop before we can expect him to achieve in math.

UNDERSTAND YOUR FRAMEWORK

The Early Years Learning Framework has 5 Outcome Areas, each with additional elements for learning. It also makes assumptions such as Children are Connected to and Contribute to Their World when in fact, children with ASD can appear as quite the opposite. We need to remove our expected norms of what we understand play to be. Play to those of us in the Preschoool Room is all about children interacting with each other, playing shops in the home corner, or being racing car drivers on the track outside, with a splash of bickering and arguing while children develop a sense of negotiation and exercise their social skills in sharing, waiting and taking turns. Meanwhile we have a child with ASD who might prefer to 'do his own thing' or who 'only wants to play with the blocks and refuses to do anything else or let anyone else play with them'. When we understand that for a child with ASD, this is their connection to their world, we can start to reframe our perspective of their 'behaviour' and appreciate it for what it actually is, 'play'. When we look closely at what our children are actually getting from their 'obsessive' behaviour we can find ways to turn 'only' into 'strong interest in...' or 'likes to experiment with....' and all of a sudden, we have the beginnings of an emerging curriculum.

UNDERSTAND YOUR CHILD

Children who have a diagnosis of ASD generally have a restricted interest (its part of their diagnosis). Sometimes its obvious; it might be as abstract as air conditioners to concrete like dinosaurs. Other times, its less obvious and might be that they are visually stimulated by anything that moves, glistens, throws shadows etc. When we know what their special interest is we can unlock a world of learning and apply these to the EYLF or AC. If our child has a strong interest in Pokemon, use this as a theme for learning. Have the child add and subtract Pikachu in math or write a creative piece in english or develop an app in technology or design their own Pokemon and write about the land forms and weather of Pokemon World for a geography assignment. In the early years context, we could support our children to engage in group games by using Pokemon Says instead of Simon, or Pin the Tail on Pikachu or role play in the home corner practicing social skills using different Pokemon characters.

This approach, without a doubt, requires us as education professionals to think outside of the square for our children and when we are used to teaching the way we have been taught to, it can be a challenge to change our own narrative. But when we can tap into these strategies, we can begin to open doors that we once though impossible for our children. We start to see students who are connected to and motivated by their learning and this generally has a positive impact on disruptive behaviour because our child feels safer, more confident, connected and a valued member of their class and community.

As an educator or teacher, you'll start to feel inspired, less stressed and before long, you'll find your new way of approaching teaching and learning comes naturally, meaning no more being chained to your desk at lunch time.

Enjoy your break!

Whether its at school, OSHC or long day care, we can often underestimate how challenging the physical environment can be for our children on the Autism Spectrum. When we are still learning about the characteristics of ASD and look at our playgrounds and outside play areas on the surface, its easy to make assumptions that either put our children at risk or that overlook opportunities to put systems in place to encourage more meaningful engagement. Here are four areas that we need to check if we are to have an outdoor environment that is truly inclusive of our children with ASD.

1. Safety first. The early years sector has stringent regulations around fencing and 'containment safety' for our younger children. School environments, on the other hand, can quite often be more open with opportunities for students to escape. Children with Autism can be notorious escape experts and its imperative that we assess the boundaries of our outdoor areas, no matter the age of the student. When children with ASD feel overwhelmed, often their need to escape will drive them to be super sleuths when it comes to finding gaps or ingenious ways to scale fencing to break out of the yard.

2. Visual systems: Equipment. Children with ASD, no matter their level of language, benefit from visual communication supports. Playgrounds can be confusing for our children with Autism because they don't necessarily learn through observation of peers so don't always know how to approach equipment. Visual systems can be attached to each piece of equipment with a picture of how to play on them. Slides, swings, balance beams, sandpits, tunnels, climbing frames, ovals, balls, hoops, ropes etc all have very different functions and require a child to understand the purpose and then rely on their own ability to coordinate the required movements. These are skills that our typically developing children take in their stride but can be of particular difficulty for children on the Autism Spectrum.

3. Visual systems: Rules and requests. Visuals can also support children with ASD to make requests such as needing to go to the toilet, or a drink or help. They can also reinforce playground rules like turn taking, waiting and sharing. Posting visuals on a permanent outdoor sign that our children can access empowers them to communicate with us.

4. Quiet areas: A common response to the busy-ness of the playground is for our children to become boundary skimmers who stick to the fence line. Alternatively, they might seek out a quite corner to play alone in the leaves or with a collection of toys, or maybe to read a book. Its easy to interpret this behaviour as a child 'preferring to play on their own' or, 'doing their own thing'. But, when we have a deeper understanding of Autism, we know that this behaviour is most often a response to the pressures and overwhelming nature of interacting with others. Children with ASD do generally want to engage, to play and to build relationships but are easily overwhelmed. Playgrounds are notoriously busy, loud, vibrant, energetic environments full of social rules and expectations of physical manipulation of complex toys and equipment. Children with ASD can become overwhelmed by; the intensity of sensory input, by the pressure of interacting in social exchanges that don't come naturally, the physical demand of motor planning and coordination, or having a particular interest that others don't connect with in the same way. Quiet areas purposefully developed for the individual needs of children with Autism can become a refuge to escape the pressures of the playground.

Children with Autism thrive in environments that are structured and predictable. Familiar teachers and educators and routines help our children to feel safe and secure. Often, children with Autism can become extremely anxious when they are required to cope with change. A change that we may perceive as small, or insignificant (eg. having our music lesson outside instead of in the music room) can cause significant anxiety in a child with Autism.

In our busy schools and centres, children develop flexibility and resilience to cope with the changes they are faced with every day. But children with Autism can struggle to cope with these changes due to their rigid thinking. It’s important that as teachers and educators, we’re aware of the impact that unexpected change can have on a child with Autism, and put supports in place to help children cope when change occurs.

We often hear from teachers and educators who see significant differences in the behaviour of a child as a result of experiencing change. These changes are often known in advance and include things like:

A teacher or educator going on holidaysThe child moving up into a different roomThe child going somewhere new (like an excursion, or camp)A special assemblyA special visit (like an animal farm or musical group)

It’s important that we take the time to put some supports in place before these events, to give our children the best chance of being able to cope. There are many strategies that we can put in place to prepare our children for upcoming change.

1. Schedules and Timers

Daily visual schedules and first/then schedules are a great way to support children with Autism to cope with change. Children with Autism have strengths in their visual systems, and presenting information to them visually takes pressure of their listening and understanding, and gives them something concrete to refer back to over and over again.

A daily schedule provides structure and predictability that helps to reduce anxiety as the children have a clear understanding of what is coming up for the day and what they will be doing. The pictures on the daily schedule can be put on every morning to show exactly what is happening that day, and the child can be shown each step in the schedule every morning so they are aware of what they will be doing for the day.

First/then schedules are beneficial in supporting children with Autism to know exactly what is expected of them, what they are doing now and what they will be doing next.

Timers are also invaluable in supporting children with Autism to transition from one activity to another. The timer acts as a ‘warning’ and prepares the child by giving them time to process that the activity will be coming to an end, and provide a concrete end to the activity when the timer goes off.

While not all changes are predictable and can be planned for (eg. a teacher or educator being off sick and replaced by an unfamiliar teacher or educator), having visual systems already set up in the room enable us to better communicate these unexpected changes to our children. For example, we could add a ‘relief teacher’ picture to the beginning of the child’s daily schedule on the days their usual teacher is unexpectedly out of the room. It is also beneficial to develop a consistent approach amongst all staff for times of sudden change (eg. front office staff show the child a visual to indicate ‘relief teacher’ before the child enters the classroom).

2. Social Stories

Social Stories are short, easy to understand stories that are developed specifically for a child in a particular situation. The stories describe what is going to happen (eg. ‘going on camp’) and use words and pictures to let the child know what to expect in a way that is easy for them to understand (eg. ‘when I come to school we will go on a bus’, ‘we will ride on the bus until we get to the zoo’). Social stories also use positive language to provide reassurance to children (eg. ‘Mrs Smith will ride on the bus with me, this makes me feel happy’) and can be extremely effective if read repeatedly with the child leading up to the event.

3. Calendars

Calendars are a wonderful visual tool that can be used not only to prepare a child for upcoming change, but also as a countdown while the change is occurring.

For a one off event, like an excursion, print off a blank monthly calendar and put a picture or photo on the day of the event (eg. a photo of the zoo). Every morning, cross off the day on the calendar, point to the photo of the zoo and talk to the child about how many days it is until they go to the zoo.

For a longer change (eg. teacher/educator going on holidays), print off a blank monthly calendar and put a picture or photo on the last day the teacher/educator will be in the room (this can be something to represent saying goodbye like a hand waving, or something to represent a holiday like a plane). Put a photo of the teacher/educator who will be filling in on the days the usual teacher/educator is away, and then put a photo of the usual teacher/educator on the day they will be returning. Leading up to the holidays, cross off each day on the calendar with the child. Show the child when they will be saying goodbye to the teacher/educator, show them the days the new teacher/educator will be in the room and finally show them that their usual teacher/educator will come back.

4. Visit a place or person in advance

Giving the child a chance to visit the place you are going to (eg. on an excursion) ahead of time is a wonderful way to support them to prepare for an event. This is a great opportunity to partner with families – talk to the family about where you will be going and if they are able, encourage them to take their child for a visit before you go as a group. Even if they are able to drive past, or stand outside, it helps to familiarise the child with the new environment. Encourage the family to take photos, and use these to talk to the child about what you will be doing when you get there.

If a different teacher/educator will be in the room for a day or even a lesson (eg. music), introduce that staff member to the child ahead of time and support them to begin developing a positive relationship (eg. saying hello during recess and lunchtime) before the time that they will be in the room.

The more aware we are of the effect change can have on a child’s anxiety… the more prepared we can be with providing supports for the child before the change happens. Where possible, using a combination of the strategies listed above is also extremely beneficial and gives our children the best chance to cope with change.

How do we include children with ASD who might be violent, aggressive or inappropriate in our schools and centres? As teachers and educators, we all know just how important inclusion is for all children and their families in our communities. As part of our profession, we even have personal and service philosophies, value statements and policies that claim that ours is an inclusive community and that we welcome everyone from all walks of life.

But what about our students with ASD who have complex behaviours? Do we have parents who ask us to make sure their child stays away from 'that' student? Is the child with ASD well known as the 'naughty kid' or the one who 'always gets into trouble' or is 'the bully'? The truth is its the reality for a lot of us. It becomes our culture when we know that things should be different but we really don't know how to make a change. We get caught between a rock and a hard place when our children and their families are actually right; our particular child with ASD might be violent, might use inappropriate language and might be difficult to get along with. Its in these circumstances that as much as we want to, we don't know how to include our children with ASD.

But...Inclusion is easy when you know how!

Chances are that the child with Autism is behaving in challenging ways because they are overwhelmed by the demands of their day that perhaps their peers take in their stride. Social interactions are particularly challenging for children who have Autism because of the difficulty they have in understanding the unwritten social rules like manners, being polite, turn taking, waiting, sharing, reading facial expressions, understanding body language, sarcasm, jokes etc. So much concentration needs to be put into place just to try to engage in what we and typically developing children take for granted that it often becomes overwhelming and what we see is the pressure build up which outworks in inappropriate behaviours.

1. Understand Autism and Know your Child.

As education professionals, its our responsibility to know the individual needs of our children but all too often we hear ourselves say "but he's in primary school, he should know better by now". When we have a deeper understanding of ASD we can see that our student with Autism is actually trying his best to be a good friend but doesn't know how so we can put strategies into place to help. *Our LEARN Autism workshops teach you all you need to know about understanding the individual experiences of ASD and what strategies to put into place*

2. Create a Community that Embraces Continuous Improvement of Self and Others.

We can create a whole of community response to inclusion (of everyone, not just our child with ASD) and friendship by involving staff, children and families in a Building Relationships topic for a term. Plan games, activities and lessons that have a focus on how to look after each other, how to be good friends, and how to be an inclusive community. For younger children we could set up a dress up activities that encourage inclusive social language. Or we could play games that promote turn taking, waiting, not going first, sharing etc. During the games we explicitly teach all children how to practice these skills. We can even tell them that this is what we are doing so in this game we are all going to use our manners and use friendship language. For older students we could build on the Social and Personal Capability of all students across learning areas or focus on community in different art or HASS topics.

We can create correspondence with our families via newsletters or class notices to let them know that the whole community is focussing on friendships, acceptance and caring for everyone so we are practicing using manners, being kind, putting others first etc so these skills can be practiced at home too. ECEC Directors, put this in your QIP!

When our children or parents remark, complain or dob on the child with Autism who has difficulty with interactions, we can reinforce that "she is learning to share, to be a good friend, to take turns, to not use her body to communicate....we are all learning together". This way, we are teaching tolerance, acceptance and using positive inclusive language. When we need to talk to other children about their own unacceptable behaviour, we can remind them too that "we are all learning".

3. Its imperative that we take the spotlight away from 'the' child and put it on all of us!

Sesame Street reminds us that today is #InternationalFriendshipDay. Lets make friendship a focus in our communities. We can all benefit from a friendly reminder to be more caring and inclusive from time to time.

Happy International Friendship Day everyone!

EYLF Learning Outcome 4: Children are Confident and Involved Learners and Learning Outcome 5: Children are Connected to and Contribute to Their World.

Every child with Autism has an aspect of our world that they find motivating and interesting. With some children we can see just how much they love playing with trucks and we find out just how much they know about dinosaurs, but sometimes it's not obvious. For so many children with Autism, communication can be difficult and they can’t tell us what they love about their world. So, how do we engage children in their Learning Outcomes when we don’t know how to reach them?

We were recently invited to spend a few days in a regional long day care centre to support the wonderful Educators who were stuck for ideas around how to engage one of their preschool children "C" who has a diagnosis of ASD.

It’s all about finding the connection…

After spending a few moments chatting with the team and observing "C", we were able to identify immediately what it was that connected him to his world. We watched as he sat in the sandpit flicking the sand. He would climb onto rocks to see over the fence. He would lay down on his back and look up at the trees and climb to the tallest part of the playground to look around. "C" was interested in what he could see. It sounds obvious when you put the pieces together but when you don’t know how children with Autism learn, how they see the world or how to put yourself in their shoes, their very intentional engagement with the world and their way of playing can easily be misunderstood as a child who isn’t really interested in anything, or a child who is completely disconnected from our world.

Children with Autism often see details in our world that we overlook. "C" could see the sand glisten in the sunlight. He would watch the cars and trucks wiz by on the busy street. He looked up and watched the leaves on the trees blowing in the wind. He would climb to the tallest piece of play equipment and look down at his friends and Educators playing in the yard. "C" was connected to elements of our world that we are often too busy to see.

If our children don’t learn through the way we teach, we need to teach the way that they learn

Once we knew what "C's" special interest was we were able to create experiences that were visually based. Before long, we had used intentional teaching to develop an individualised emerging curriculum that focused on his interest in light and colours. By the end of the day we had supported his Educators to develop his first learning story, complete with a photo gallery, EYLF links and plans for extension.

How exciting! You can only imagine how his Mum felt when she collected him and for the very first time his Educators were able to show her just how connected her son was to his world. He experimented using shape tiles to cover the torch to create different coloured lights. When he plays with colours and lights, he demonstrates wonder, interest and connection to learning. "C" especially liked exploring with green tiles and we discovered that the yellow light made the roof glow the brightest. "C" was able to engage with an Educator for the first time in an extended and meaningful experience and that showed us that he definitely is a confident and involved learner!

We are so proud of him and his Educators!