Blog Posts My Thoughts
Update: Back to school, Mencap online community, SEN Magazine, Podcast
My article ‘Creating autism-inclusive classrooms’ has been published in the Sept – Oct 19 edition of SEN Magazine.
Blog Posts Classroom Parents, Carers and Family Teaching Resources
Editable photo transition book to prepare autistic children for change
It is very important to thoroughly prepare autistic children for a change to a new class or school. One way of doing this is to make a photo transition book that they can look at or read at home and at school. Going to a new class or new school Read more…
Blog Posts Helpful for parents Parents, Carers and Family
How to communicate and interact with an autistic child
Here is some advice and practical tips on understanding, interacting with and playing with your autistic child, from my experience of being a teacher for children with complex needs. Always show or model to the child what you want him/her to do, when you ask them to do something Read more…
Blog Posts Classroom Communication Helpful for parents Parents, Carers and Family
The impact of successful parent and teacher relationships on autistic children
How successful parent and teacher relationships impact children with autism and how to ensure the relationship is effective, from a parent and teacher perspective. Parent Perspective Written by Harshita Patel, parent and author of ‘Autism in the City’ It’s Good to Talk! The moment a child with special needs Read more…
Blog Posts Classroom Communication Life skills Parents, Carers and Family Teaching Resources
Using Widgit symbols to support teaching autistic children
I recently wrote an article for Widgit, all about ‘Using symbols to support ASD Teaching‘. Widgit is a symbol set containing more than 17,000 symbols. Widgit symbols are clear, simple, colourful and display a single concept in a concise way, aimed to be understood by all abilities. Read more…
Blog Posts Classroom Parents, Carers and Family Teaching Resources
Teaching autistic children to play the keyboard using colours
If a child can match colours, then they can learn to play a melody on the keyboard! I love teaching music, and teaching how to play the keyboard is really fun. I cannot think of a single child who I have taught, that didn’t enjoy touching and listening to the Read more…
Blog Posts Helpful for parents Parents, Carers and Family Sensory Resources
Sensory equipment to support autistic children
As a teacher, I have used a range of sensory equipment in the classroom to support individual sensory needs. An Occupational Therapist (OT) is the professional who can support you to assess the sensory needs of a child in order to direct you to appropriate equipment to meet their Read more…
Blog Posts Classroom Communication Parents, Carers and Family Teaching Resources
Emotional regulation: Teaching autistic children to recognise and respond to their emotion
Emotional regulation is a key area of development. Being able to regulate emotions means being able to effectively identify and respond to an emotional experience. For children with autism, understanding their emotion and knowing how to appropriately respond to help themselves regulate, can be very challenging. This, therefore, needs to be Read more…
Blog Posts Classroom Communication Parents, Carers and Family Teaching Resources
Why the choice of language you use to communicate with an autistic child is so important
Each child with a diagnosis of autism will have varying abilities with language and communication. If you know more than one child with autism, you will know that their communication and language abilities and features will be very different. It is important to understand the difference between expressive and Read more…
Blog Posts Classroom Parents, Carers and Family Sensory Resources Teaching Resources
Engaging winter learning activities and resources for autistic children!
You will have probably noticed that children with autism can find attending to and concentrating during activities that they are not particularly interested in, very challenging! With developmental delay in the areas of joint attention, language, communication and social skills being core features of the diagnostic criteria for Autistic Spectrum Read more…