Pease find below a PowerPoint presentation on supporting transitions from the Autism Outreach Service.
At this time in the academic year the big transitions in the child or young person’s school life such as from one class to another, or from one educational setting to another, are being discussed, planned and implemented.
Transitions can be scary for everyone but for a child or young person with an ASC the fears, worry stress and anxiety can be even more heightened. ASC can have a big impact on the way a person experiences transitions.
It is important to recognise that transitions happen all day, every day: from room to room, activity to activity, teacher to teacher. Children and young people with an ASC may often need support with these smaller day to day transitions just as much as the larger transitions of moving school. Establishing the best way to support smaller transitions can often help the bigger ones go more smoothly.
The Autism Outreach Team have put together a transition presentation for staff to give them advice, guidance, practical tips and resources on making the process of school transitions go as smoothly as possible.
The presentation is available below to read and go through as a stand alone resource however, the Team will be available for a question and answer session on the In-Service Day on May 4th from 1pm till 3pm on an online Teams meet.
If would like to join in the Teams Q&A online discussion then just email Karen, Laura or Jan and they will send you the link.
JaMcKechnie@aberddencity.gov.uk
We look forward to seeing you there.
The NHS Grampian CAMHS Early Intervention team have developed a series of webinars to support parents to support themselves and their children during a time when they know anxiety is likely to be increased.
CAMHS Grampian – a mental health service for under 18’s based in Aberdeen and Moray.
The videos are linked below.
Episode1: Welcome and meet the team
Episode2: Body tools for anxiety
Episode3: Thinking toolsfor anxiety
Episode4: Managing anxious behaviours
Episode5: Talking to your child about anxiety
Episode6: Understanding the adolescent brain and impact on teen mental health during the Covid-19 lockdown
Episode7: Looking after your mental health and wellbeing
Episode8: Resources you may find helpful
Episode9: Supporting your child on the return to school following lockdown
Supporting Families experiencing anxiety on the return to school
Adjustment and Returning to School live webinar
World Autism Awareness day is being held this year on April 2nd.
As this is during the holidays we are asking schools to take part on the last week of term.
If you would like to get involved, we are asking you to decorate a pair of glasses with all the things that make you unique. How do you SEE the world?
If you would like to, we would love to share any photos that you take on our twitter page.
Please send any photos you are able to share to Tricia at TrBruce@Aberdeencity.gov.uk
The Autism Outreach Service are going to be presenting two new workshops for staff that are now available to book on Eventbrite.
The workshops are twilight sessions presented online on Teams. The links for booking for each workshop is available below.
We hope you will be able to join us and we look forward to seeing you there.
Autism and Mindfulness
Presented by Karen Inglis, Laura May and Jan McKechnie.
Tuesday 20th April 2021 (16.00 – 18.00)
Attendees will understand the theories behind mindfulness and the overall benefits it can have for themselves as well as children with Autism. This course will explore a range of practical ways to implement mindfulness and the positive affect it can have on wellbeing, emotional regulation and self- belief.
For the Eventbrite booking link for Autism and Mindfulness please click here.
Autism – Using Visuals at Home
Presented by Hayley McFarlane and Tricia Bruce
Thursday 29th April 2021 (16.00 – 17.30)
We will be discussing and demonstrating how visuals can be used in the home to effectively support Autistic children and young people. We will go through a range of different visual structures, templates and resources. The focus on the workshop will be to support you in understanding what visuals may be helpful for you to provide to parents to support them at home.
For the Eventbrite booking link for Autism – Using Visuals at Home please click here.
The latest GTCS magazine, January 21, ‘Teaching Scotland’, includes an article on autism.
The magazine is sent out regularly to members but it is also available online. If you want to have a look through back issues the website link can be found here.
An autism lens on nurture
The article is written by Lorna Johnston and Marion Rutherford from the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT).
The authors reflect upon adaptations to nurture-focused and compassionate approaches which might be relevant to autistic children .
At the end of the article reference is made to the GTCS booklet ‘Meeting the needs of autistic learners: A Professional guide for teachers’ which we have added below.
Let’s not just see how it goes
This is an article from the November 2019 issue discussing six key anticipatory supports which have been found to be relevant for pupils with autism in secondary schools.
Make a change
This article was first published in the May 2019 issue. Frances Young, is a Support for Learning Teacher who is also the parent of a child on the spectrum. In the article Frances outlines her views on how you can help pupils with compliant autism in your classroom.
This is a new presentation written by Hayley McFarlane, a member of the Autism Outreach Team. Under the current circumstances we thought it would provide useful information for those schools with pupils transitioning into Primary 1 from Nursery.
Specifically the presentation will look at how to support transition through the use of visuals.
This presentation is one that has been delivered to education staff in the past as a twilight workshop, presented by Hayley McFarlane and Laura May, members of the Autism Outreach Team. Under the current circumstances, our team thought it would be useful for staff to have access to it online, to help contribute towards CLPL.
The presentation will briefly discuss the following topics, giving you some simple ideas of how you can support an autistic young person in your class or school :
The following two booklets, a primary version and a secondary version, have been written by David Burns author of ‘Do lemons have feathers?’. They are short guides aimed at supporting teachers in setting up an autism friendly classroom. The ideas and strategies that David has chosen to share will be to the benefit of all children in the class not just those on the autism spectrum.
“We don’t have to learn a whole set of separate ideas to apply to certain pupils – they’ll benefit everyone. How good is that?”
Children in Scotland is a national charity that is delivering some free webinars throughout the month of July. The webinars are on a range of topics and are aimed at parents and carers of children with additional support needs. The webinar titles and dates are listed below.
If you are interested in joining in one of the webinars you can book by clicking the link here which will take you to the Children in Scotland booking page on eventbrite.
Tuesday, 7 July 2020, 10.30 till 12.00
Discussing coronavirus and lockdown with children/teens with ASN
Corrie McLean, Three Sisters Consultancy
Monday, 20 July 2020, 15.00 till 16.30
Supporting children/teens with ASN to manage health anxieties
Corrie McLean, Three Sisters Consultancy
Thursday, 23 July 2020, 10.30 till 12.00
Understanding children’s rights and additional support requirements
My Rights, My Say
Tuesday, 28 July 2020, 10.30 till 12.00
Creating positive home routines for children/teens with ASN
Corrie McLean, Three Sisters Consultancy
Friday, 31 July 2020, 15.00 till 16.30
Supporting children/teens with ASN with their transition back to schooling
Corrie McLean, Three Sisters Consultancy
