Autism and Accessing the Curriculum

• The Rule of Five: Fewer than 5 words, wait 5 seconds

• Use the student’s name first before an instruction that they will need to respond to.

• Use ‘first’ and ‘then’ to describe sequences

• First - Then strategy and boards

• Give warnings before an activity finishes

• Asking questions can be anxiety provoking

Goodall (2014) notes that a ‘one size fits all’ mentality is very unhelpful for the children and often only serves to further marginalize them.'

• Ponderings from my RTLB work: how can we best support learners as they move into the secondary environment?

• Maps (including a 'safe' or quiet zone), timetables that have been colour coded and modified, social stories describing the 'rules' of that environment, age appropriate to the student.

• Encourage the teachers to be more flexible in their expectations in order to facilitate engagement (for example, allow exercise books /pen and paper even if it is a very digital school.

• Instead of seeing 'rudeness' , accept 'different' and model the desired expectation.

• Design simple social narratives around desired social communication /rules and expectations.

The use of Social Stories to support our students during lockdown learning from home and then making the transition back into the school environment was very beneficial and could be used easily at home to prepare children with their whānau.