Category: Autism Outreach

Christmas Celebration with Active Schools: Thursday 14th December, 4-6 pm

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Active Schools & Sport Aberdeen are hosting a Young Carers and Care Experienced event. Although many brothers and sisters of our Orchard Brae youngsters may not consider themselves to be “Young Carers” we recognise the support that they give in everyday life and would encourage them to attend this fun event. Please register in advance.

AUTISM ACCEPTANCE WEEK COMPETITION        

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Thank you for celebrating with us the Autism Acceptance Week. We have received entries from:

Glashieburn School,

Walker Road School,

Brimmond School,

Bramble Brae School,

Stoneywood School,

Orchard Brae School,

and Lochside Academy.

Our Jury (Senior Pupils at Orchard Brae School) had been presented with a difficult task to select 3 pieces of work. After careful consideration and discussions they made final decision and we are delighted to announce the Winners of the competition!

1st place – an individual piece of art from Glashieburn school

2nd place- an individual  piece of art from Lochside Academy

3rd place- a group piece of art from Stoneywood School

Well done!!!

We have a prize for the 1st place and certificates and they will be shared with schools 😊

Parent Support Groups

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One of our main aims is to support families across the city through creating safe space where like-minded parents/cares could meet, have a chat and feel understood. In order to make it happen we have been liaising with schools and setting up Parent Support Groups in 5 primary schools (Stoneywood, Fernilea, Kaimhill, Glashieburn and Woodside). All groups are led by AOR staff and they meet monthly. Parents make suggestions what they would like to discuss and if they would like to have guests (SALT, OT, School Nurse, SW, charities). We are looking at setting up more similar groups in different schools in the future.

If you would like to join one of the groups and meet parents, have chat and enjoy a cuppa, please get in touch with Alex Polanska.

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.

Autism Outreach Service – ‘Teaching Scotland’ Magazine Articles

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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.