Category: Autism Outreach

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!

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!

‘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

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!

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

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!

A free information book explaining the coronavirus to children, illustrated by Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler

Axel Scheffler has illustrated a digital book for primary school age children, free for anyone to read on screen or print out, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it. Published by Nosy Crow, and written by staff within the company, the book has had expert input: Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine acted as a consultant, and the company also had advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.

You can download a copy of the book by clicking on the cover page above.

The book answers key questions in simple language appropriate for 5 to 9 year olds:

• What is the coronavirus?
• How do you catch the coronavirus?
• What happens if you catch the coronavirus?
• Why are people worried about catching the coronavirus?
• Is there a cure for the coronavirus?
• Why are some places we normally go to closed?
• What can I do to help?
• What’s going to happen next?

Nosy Crow want to make sure that this book is accessible to every child and family and so the book is offered totally free of charge to anyone who wants to read it. However, they have suggested, at the back of the book, that families might make a donation to help our health service if they find the book useful: https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/.

The Scottish Charity,  Children in Scotland recently held a free webinar session …

Explaining coronavirus and managing health anxieties

with children with additional support needs

The webinar was presented by Corrie McLean. Corrie is an Autism Improvement Officer with Autism Network Scotland and has been working with autistic children in some form for nearly 12 years. She has a background in primary school teaching and a focus on additional support needs. Corrie also has a sibling with autism.

You can access the webinar’s presentation slides below,  as well as some additional resources.

• Explaining coronavirus and managing health anxieties with children with additional support needs
• Key Resources

Children in Scotland are also hoping to share the webinar on their website shortly so keep an eye out for it!

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.

Below are four social stories from the site that you might find helpful to read together and then talk through with your child or young person…