Autistic Child

[basilbrush]

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for this problem - I teach reception in a double reception unit, and a child in my class who is autistic, has developed a huge fear of a child in the second reception class (who is also special needs and possibly also autistic). The second child once hit him, and later on has tried to initiate contact with him to play, but the first child is terrified of him, and will climb over a teaching assistant to get away from him if he comes near.

 

Next year in Year 1, the liklihood is that both these children will be in the same class, and I am just wondering what strategies to use to prepare him for it....

 

sad situation, as I think the initial incident of hitting only occurred because the child did not know the appropriate way to communicate....

[Guest]

Hi there.

 

I've had autistic children in my group for the past two years, and I think you are right about the child not knowing how to communicate. What kind of approach do you use for the child with autism at present, and do you have an extra assistant to help with this? Because I had this kind of situation last year, although it was the child with autism who was hitting the other children, and pictures were very effective.

 

For instance, I used the Boardmaker pack and I printed off a picture of two children smiling and holding hands and labelled it 'Friends'. I then took a photograph of all of the childrenin the group, and also printed off another picture showing a child hitting and printed out a big No entry sign (or you could use a big red X) and labelled it 'No Hitting'. Then when I sensed the autistic child was about to get cross I said 'Remember, No Hitting' and showed him the No Hitting picture. Or, 'Remember we have to be kind to ...' and showed a picture of another child.

 

So you could maybe take a photograph of the two children in your group, and tell the autistic child that the other child wants to be friends - showing him the photos of the two children and the Friends picture. If he gets upset, you could show him the No Hitting picture and hold it beside the photo of the other child's face, and reassure him that other child is not allowed to hit him. Emphasise again that he wants to be friends. This will probably not work immediately, so you could try to hold up the Friends picture beside the actual child frequently so that the autistic child will hopefully start to change his perception.

 

Hope this is some help!!

G.

[basilbrush]

Thanks, i might try the pictures, although we have problems with this approach sometimes, as the parent doesn't like pictures being used... do you have any more information on boardmaker - that sounds like a good programme?

[Guest]

Our school purchased Boardmaker from the Winslow catalogue two years ago - not sure if its still in it. The telephone number is 0845 230 1177 for their other catalogue - I dont have the number for Winslow, but if you phone this number they should be able to put you through - this company is ROMPA and I think they are the same organisation.

 

The package is quite expensive - over £100 I think (although well worth it), but I remember seeing a good link here before where someone spent a long time putting lots of clip art type pictures in, which might help - not sure how to get to it though - maybe someone else knows how

 

Good luck

 

G.

[Guest]

Hello BasilBrush, I think Goldilocks' suggestion for using the pictures and photos are very clever. You might find it useful to include another stage and that would be to have paired photos of the scared child with adults and children he does like so that he gets used to the idea that the pictures show him with people that are 'OK'. And telling him that people are 'ok' is a good strategy. There is a chance that the 'no hitting' pictures may cause some confusion and it could be enough just to teach him that the other child is an OK person.

Perhaps it might help his parents accept pictures if you gave them some information from the National Autistic Society that recommends using visual support with all, even the most able person, with autism.

Lyeska

[Guest Fiona]

Goldilocks, I think your idea was really useful. I have an autistic child in my class and I'm going to take my camera in tomorrow and start snapping away. I have 15 hours support a week and I will try ANYTHING that might make a difference for him. Thanks again!