Author: Lesley Parker

Autism Outreach Service – Presentation: An Autism Appropriate Environment

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This autism appropriate environment presentation is one that has been delivered to education staff in the past as a twilight workshop, presented by Tricia Bruce, a member 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 CPD.

The presentation will guide you in…

  • understanding the importance of structure and routine
  • understanding the part that sensory differences play in the classroom
  • minimising distractions

and

  • the use of ABC charts with some examples

We hope you enjoy!

 

Autism Outreach Service – Transition Resources

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Schools and staff across Aberdeen City are in the process of planning and preparing for the return of their pupils to school in August.  This will be exciting news for a lot of our pupils but it may also be a time of apprehension for some of them too. To help support the transition from home back to school we thought it would be helpful to post some general transition resources and advice for use by both parents and teaching staff.

 

Elsa-support has a social story on going ‘Back to school’ after coronavirus and some back to school wellbeing question worksheets.

‘The Rainbow Classroom’ has produced two video social stories: ‘Going back to school’ and ‘What will school be like now?’

This is another social story on going back to school.

The following are links to pages on the Autism Toolbox and the National Autistic Society websites that relate to transition advice and resources.

The Reachout ASC website has a free collection of resources you can download.

The Autism Education Trust Transition Booklet has advice and practical strategies to support transitions. They also have a ‘Tools for Teachers Covid-19 Edition’ booklet which is free to download if you are registered with them.

The following links are visual transition supports from Communication Friendly Environments.

‘Guidance for teachers on transitioning autistic pupils back to school’ is a booklet that has been written and produced by the One Stop Shop Aberdeen and the Triple A’s Aberdeen. The Triple A’s are an entirely autism led peer support charity for people on the autistic spectrum.

 

Autism Outreach Service – Resource Links

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Here are some links to pages from Scottish Autism, the National Autistic Society and Clear your Head that may be useful.

Remember,

if you would like some of the site’s resources to use at home with your child or young person but are unable to print out and make them up yourself, then we can help you with this.

Just contact Dahni, our team member for resources, at:

DaNewcombe@aberdeencity.gov.uk

It would be helpful, if when you email Dahni, you could give her the following information:

• Your name
• Child’s name, class and school
• Whether they are currently supported by the Autism Outreach Service
• The resources you would like made up either from below, or from the website.

Dahni will get in touch to let you know that she has received your request and then email you back when the resources are ready and arrange to get them out to you!

Please note that we can only provide this service for children and young people who are attending, or will be attending, an Aberdeen City Council educational placement.

 

Autism Outreach Service – More Resources (ELSA Support)

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ELSA Support is a website which provides downloadable resources for parents and carers and teaching staff that support the teaching of emotional literacy or emotional intelligence.

Remember, if you would like some of the site’s resources to use at home with your child or young person but are unable to print out and make them up yourself, then we can help you with this.

Just contact Dahni, our team member for resources, at:

DaNewcombe@aberdeencity.gov.uk

It would be helpful, if when you email Dahni, you could give her the following information:

• Your name
• Child’s name, class and school
• Whether they are currently supported by the Autism Outreach Service
• The resources you would like made up either from below, or from the website.

Dahni will get in touch to let you know that she has received your request and then email you back when the resources are ready and arrange to get them out to you!

Please note that we can only provide this service for children and young people who are attending, or will be attending, an Aberdeen City Council educational placement.

Below are some resources from the ELSA-Support website that you may find helpful!

             

             

             

             

             

             

 

Autism Outreach Service – Presentation: What is Autism?

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This introduction to autism presentation is one that has been delivered to education staff in the past as a twilight workshop, presented by Hayley McFarlane, a member 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 CPD.

The presentation will guide you in…

  • understanding why autism is described as a spectrum condition
  • understanding what is meant by a comorbid condition
  • understanding potential supports that you can put in place to minimise any difficulties that may occur
  • understanding the range and impact of sensory sensitivities, outlining potential supports that you can put in place to minimise their negative impact

and

  • understanding the importance of having an individual profile to achieve positive outcomes.

We hope you enjoy!

 

Autism Outreach Service – Wellbeing Activities

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The following free resource ideas, available from the ‘Partnership for Children’ website, are designed to boost your child or young person’s wellbeing, especially during the current Covid-19 lockdown.

To find out more you can visit the website by clicking on the link below.

 

 

The resources are available by clicking on the link for each one.

 

 

 

Autism Outreach Service – ‘Communication Friendly Environment’ Resources

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‘Communication Friendly Environments’ is a website set up by Support for Learning Teachers in North Lanarkshire which has lots of really useful visual resource downloads for use at home or in school. We have given some examples of their resources below which can be freely downloaded, as well as the website link so that you can look through their whole range of available resources.

If you would like some of the site’s resources to use at home with your child or young person but are unable to print out and make them up yourself, then we can help you with this.

Just contact Dahni, our team member for resources, at:

DaNewcombe@aberdeencity.gov.uk

It would be helpful, if when you email Dahni, you could give her the following information:

• Your name
• Child’s name, class and school
• Whether they are currently supported by the Autism Outreach Service
• The resources you would like made up either from below, or from the website.

Dahni will get in touch to let you know that she has received your request and then email you back when the resources are ready and arrange to get them out to you!

Please note that we can only provide this service for children and young people who are attending, or will be attending, an Aberdeen City Council educational placement.

 

The ‘Communication Friendly Environments’ website can be found by clicking this link!

 

Social Story on ‘Wearing Masks’

 

Explaining Social Distancing

 

‘SHANARRI’ ideas for your child or young person at home

 

Examples of exercise cards for use on a visual schedule board

 

Some pen and paper games to play

Autism Outreach Service – Presentation: Understanding Sensory Difference

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This sensory presentation is one that has been delivered to education staff in the past as a twilight workshop, presented by Laura May and Karen Inglis, 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 CPD.

The presentation will guide you in…

  • identifying the eight senses
  • understanding the meaning of sensory difference
  • examining how sensory difference can affect a child or young person
  • looking at strategies that can be put in place to support.

We hope you enjoy!

Autism Outreach Service – Resources to download: Visual Schedules

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The Autism Outreach Service are looking to support you at home in whatever way we can during these difficult times. Below you will find some links to visual schedule boards and cards which we thought might be useful in helping you to maintain structure and routine at home. We know too, however, that printing out and making up these resources is not always easy as it requires both time and resources that may be in short supply.

To support you in this, if you have an autistic child or young person at home and are unable to print out and make up the resources yourself, and would appreciate some ready-made resources, then we would ask you to get in touch. The Team can then make up the resources and get them out to you. As well as the ready made resources we can also help if you need the resource individualised, such as specific cards or your child or young person’s name on the boards!

Our team member for resources is Dahni and she can be contacted on:

DaNewcombe@aberdeencity.gov.uk

It would be helpful if you could give Dahni the following information when you email her:

  • Your Name
  • Child’s name, class and school
  • Whether they are currently supported by the Autism Outreach Service
  • The resource that you are looking for

Dahni will get in touch to let you know that she has received your request and then email you back when the resources are ready and arrange to get them out to you!

Please note that we can only provide this service for children and young people who are attending, or will be attending, an Aberdeen City Council educational placement.

The symbols used are Boardmaker from Mayer-Johnson.

 

Schedule Cards – Standard (Everyday Home)

Morning Schedule Board – Standard

Afternoon Schedule Board – Standard

Morning & Afternoon Schedule Board – Standard

Evening Schedule Board – Standard

Morning, Afternoon & Evening Schedule Board – Standard

Horizontal Schedule Boards – Standard

Vertical Schedule Boards – Standard

Choice Boards -Standard

Schedule Cards – Large (Everyday Home)

Now & Next Board – Large

Now, Next & Then Board – Large

Choice Board – Large

Lanyard Schedule Cards (Home)

Helping out at Home Boards & Cards

Autism Outreach Service – Presentation: Effective Use of Visuals in the Mainstream Classroom

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This visuals presentation is one that has been delivered to education staff in the past as a twilight workshop presented by Karen Inglis, a member 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 CPD.

The following presentation will guide you through what visual supports are, and the reasons behind their use. It will focus on different types of visual supports and how they can be used in various different settings and scenarios. The resources are also transferable and so can be used in the home setting too!

The resources included are not an exclusive list but will hopefully give some examples of the type of strategies that we would be advising around both school and home use.

We hope you enjoy!