Activities For Autistic Children In Reception

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

I've currently got a little boy in my class with autism and am having difficulty thinking of activities to give him. He doesn't speak yet and rarely focuses/shows an interest in anything. He seems to enjoy bubbles landing on him and is vaguely interested in the cars but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas they might have used in a Reception class that might grab his attention.

Have been trying a schedule with him with picture symbols (having used all of the links on the autistic symbols topic, thankyou those were really useful!) but its not really working. He prefers to throw them on the floor! Am also having trouble in whole class sessions as he is very vocal and distracts the other children. Have started to ask the LSA supporting him to take him out after a few minutes. Any advice or ideas would be really appreciated as I have little experience of working with autistic children and am finding it difficult!!

Becky

[Rea]

Hi Becky, sorry I cant help you but you should have more support. In a pre-school with a higher adult:child ratio problems can arise through distractions, but even then we can get support, even if it's only for a little while. Hope you can find more help from others.

[bubblejack]

I had a little boy in my pre-school who also displayed these tendencies. I gave him things to throw like beanbags and soft balls. He used to try and throw them in a bucket.He would play with the cars if I made him an elevated ramp to roll them down. He was also very obsessed with coming down the slide. In fact all his behaviour was repetitive.It was hard coping with him in pre-school any little improvement was a milestone.

[Guest]

The LSA that I work with has put together a special tray with all the books, puzzles, soft toys etc that my child likes. I will often place place items in the tray that are related to the topic. I plan to introduce him onto the carpet gradually. A couple of minutes this week and so on. Be patient although I do appreciate that it can be distracting for you and the rest of the class. Has your child used a choice board before? Get your TA to take photos of all the areas in the classroom including the outside and get the child to choose from the photos what he wants to do. Photos are less abstract than symbols. Good luck!

[Lorna]

Becky

 

Is there a local special school with an autistic unit that may be able to come in and help you... I know that when I worked in a special school they were setting up an autistic outreach worker who would visit parent and other professionals to support them.

Either that or contact your LEA they should be able to direct you to the local outreach group... they opperate in most counties.

 

With an autistic child it is all about routine, distractions and being positive.

It may be best that he has his own area to work in.... All the autistic children i have seen have had two trays one on the right of their table and one on the left.

The have an activity to do in the left habd tray and when it has been completed it is moved to the right hand tray.

 

Speaking to the parents and finding out what motivates the child may also help... Most Autistic children have one or two things that really motivate them and this can be used almost as a treat.... to tempt them to do an activity and then they can have 5 minutes with their motivation toy.

 

I hope that you are recieving extra support for this child. Autistic children are very challenging but can also be very rewarding.

 

 

L

[Susan]

Sorry Becky, would love to help but have no experience of this other than many years ago in my final nursery practise. That little boy spent the entire session, every session, at the sand tray, running the dry sand through the sand wheel and making noises.

I think you need to provide alternative activities for him so that he can develop and so that the other children are not distracted and I hope you have adequate support, again not detratcing from the other children. If he has a statement does that not give you some ideas for development and need? Your SENCO should also be supporting you. Perhaps you will have a Sp& L progrmme to follow as he is not talking?( and a therapist to advise you?!)

good luck.

[Guest]

Becky, I truely can sympathise with you - I am in exactly the same position!

 

The child in my class currently has 17hrs support a week but this apparently is going to be reduced so that he will be down to 10hrs by December... I'm not looking forward to this as I'm too sure how he will cope.

 

I have set up a workstation for him - he goes to this with his support worker and chooses an activity from a choice of picture cards, onc this is complete the LSA gets to choose, we are trying it in this way so that he will be participating in some planned activities, Ill let you know how this goes!

 

So far I have discovered that he is interested in computers and numbers and also seems to really like playing with our marble run track - this has come in as good negotiating and teaching tools, so as other posters have said find out any of his interests and use these to your advantage.

 

I'm not sure if this has been useful or not but GOOD LUCK and let us know of anything which you find works for you.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the advice/ideas! I do have support for 17 hours a week which is all the time at the moment, (he's only coming in for mornings for now) it's just that the LSA doesn't have any training in autism either!

Went to get some advice from SEN support person which was really helpful. We managed to get him to make a picture by gluing shapes on Friday which we were really pleased about. He also quite liked the xylophone so we're beginning to catch his interest, even if it is only for a few seconds! Am going to try listening station tomorrow as he seems to quite like music. The main problem is that he isn't that bothered about anything in particular so we can't get him to do one thing with the reward of having something else if he does! His mum says he likes videos but that's quite hard to use as a reward as it needs to be instant (when he sits down on the carpet etc.) I've been advised to try crisps/chocolate buttons as rewards so I might try that tomorrow.

We have been trying to get him to sit on the carpet for a couple of minutes but now the LSA takes him out after that so I can concentrate on the other children without them being distracted. I tried the choice chart thing with photos last year and it worked well so I might try that with him too. (it might work better than the pictures!)

Am also spending tomorrow afternoon in an autistic unit in a special needs school so will hopefully pick up lots of good ideas there! I will let you know if I do.