Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Passports written by
parents/carers/staff who know the
individual well
Methods to gain their
perspective..
Teach them the vocabulary for emotions and feelings
and provide activities where they experience these
Do we keep individuals too comfortable/safe?- do
they experience the extremes of weather, physical
endurance benefits of highs and lows in life
Spend more time on getting feedback and less on
the activity
Cameras - ask the individual to take pictures of
places where they feel happy; safe; frightened;
relaxed etc and discuss
AET research
Jones et al., 2008
Download full report from
www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk
Challenges for parents/carers
AET research
Finding an ally who understands their child
and is keen to address their needs
Gaining access to staff within schools to share
ideas and concerns
Educating the rest of the family (often childs
father, grandparents and siblings)
Living with their child 24/7 and coping with
and managing their range of emotional states
Challenges for practitioners
Lack of knowledge on the autism spectrum
Many competing demands on their time
Ethos and support provided within the school
from colleagues
Opportunities to visit other schools and share
ideas and strategies often limited
Finding time to engage effectively with
individual pupils and with parents/carers
Not surprising that challenging
behaviour occurs
CB is an interaction of internal, within-child
factors and external factors (physical envt;
demands)
CB can be viewed as a panic attack
(McDonnell)
CB can be viewed as a gift (Zarkowska) a
sign that something is not working
Those with autism may not show that they
are distressed or communicate this
Potential solutions for parents,
carers and families
To genuinely listen and take account of what
parents value and say they would like
To encourage parents to bring friends or
family to meetings and events
To offer a range of options in terms of parent
support and training in terms of venue, times,
whether individual or group
To ensure good transitions and the continuity
and consistency of support and strategies
between settings and phases of education
Features of an effective
school: the triad + 2
Good at communication with staff, pupils and
parents/carers and external agencies
Good at facilitating peer-peer engagement
Flexible able to adjust to meet the needs of
individual students
Mindful of sensory challenges
Respects and values difference
Characteristics of a good
practitioner (Jordan)
Value difference
Able to share control
Accept own mistakes and start again
Optimism
Self confidence
Sense of humour
Badge system for conferences
Autscape strategy
RED I do not want to interact with anyone
www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/asd