Author: Lesley Parker

Autism Outreach Service – Transitions Presentation and online Q&A

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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.

KInglis@aberdeencity.gov.uk

LauMay@aberdeencity.gov.uk

JaMcKechnie@aberddencity.gov.uk

We look forward to seeing you there.

Autism Outreach Service – CAMHS Grampian webinars

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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 tools​for 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

Autism Outreach Service – World Autism Awareness Day

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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

Autism Outreach Service – Workshops

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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.

Chinese New Year

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Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar new Year, is the Chinese festival which celebrates the New Year on the traditional Chinese calendar. This year it falls on Friday the 12th of February. Every year in the Chinese calendar is represented by an animal, 2021 is the year of the Ox.

Below are some activities to help you celebrate at home. Don’t worry if you do not have all the exact items you need, you can replace them with whatever bits and pieces you have at home.

Hope you have fun and Happy Chinese New Year!

This is a story from about how the twelve zodiac years were named by the Jade Emperor.

Cbeebies also have some fun things to make to help you celebrate.

This video shows you how to make a Chinese lantern that you can decorate and hang up.

What is your child’s behaviour trying to tell you?

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Sometimes, when you have a child with an additional support need, working out what they are trying to tell you can be difficult!

Your child may be beginning to develop some behaviours that challenge you, or they may already have behaviours that challenge you.

There are often complex reasons behind a child’s behaviour and it is rarely anyone’s ‘fault’.

All children are different and there is often no single answer as to why the behaviours are happening.

There is no ‘quick fix’ but hopefully this presentation will give you some ideas, strategies and advice and show you that there are lots of ways you can help and support your child.

At the end of the presentation there are lots of links to additional resources that you may find useful!

Scottish Autism – ‘Right Click’ Online Support

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Scottish Autism is the largest provider of autism specific services in Scotland and a leading authority and advocate for good autism practice.

In supporting families, Scottish Autism, have produced an online support programme.

The Right Click programme has been developed specifically for parents or carers of individuals who are on the autism spectrum who are in particular need of information or support.

The Young Child programme is focused on providing support to parents or carers of young and recently diagnosed children. The programme includes topics such as: eating, sleeping and toileting.

When you sign up for Right Click you will complete a registration form and then receive a confirmation email. You can then log in and get started.

Sense Scotland – Activity Videos

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As well as the Activity Sheets in the previous post we wanted to share some more videos from Sense Scotland on things you might like to try at home.

The ideas can all be adapted to suit your child and can be made using items and objects that can generally be found in the home without having to go out and buy specialist equipment or items.

If you do decide to make, or try, any of the activities or ideas that we have posted we would love to know how they turned out and how much fun was had. If you would like to, get in touch and let us know, if you get the chance you could always send us some photos too!

This next video is from Easy Peasy and Fun and is how to paint with ice!

Making Play Inclusive – Sense Play Toolkits

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Sense.org.uk is a charity that supports people with complex disabilities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Sense Scotland is part of the Sense family and works with children, young people and adults who have communication needs in Scotland.

Sense has developed a set of play toolkits for parents and professionals to provide information and advice on enabling children with complex disabilities to enjoy inclusive play.

The toolkit for parents contains simple ideas, suggestions and practical tips on making play fun and fully accessible. You know your child best, you know their likes and dislikes, so not all the activities and ideas may be suitable for your child but hopefully there will be some inspiring ideas for you to try.

Sense have also produced a series of videos to go along with their play toolkit which we have linked below.

During the current restrictions we know that you may not have, or be able to get, a lot of the items in the videos. The videos have simply been added to hopefully give you some ideas of things that you might want to try with your child, using or adapting, whatever items and objects you do already have at home.