Explaining Autism in the Classroom

[Janey]

Hi everyone I hope you're all having a happy Easter.

 

I told T. about his autism last Nov/Dec, but now I am beginning to think that the rest of his class need to know as well. There are a number of children who are learning how to wind him up which is upsetting for T. Although these incidents have been dealt with well by the school as bullying, it seems as soon as one child stops this provocation another one starts. There is another child in his class who is physically disabled and all the children are very supportive of this child, but T. does not receive the same care in fact it seems the opposite from his peers.

 

Any thoughts as to if this is a good idea or not? If so does anyone know of any good lesson plans of how to explain autism to a year 3/4 class? I don't want the teacher to just sit the class down and tell them that T. has autism then they go away with no idea of what he was talking about.

 

Janey

[Caffeine Junkie]

Would the teacher be willling to cover the subject in PSHE , as section 4f of the Knowledge, skills and understanding states "that differences and similarities between people arise from a number of factors, including cultural, ethnic, racial and religious diversity, gender and disability"

Edited March 23, 2008 by Caffeine Junkie

[cmuir]

Hi

 

The NAS website has some literature which may be helpful. See:

 

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=435

 

I can totally see where you're coming from, particularly about an ASD being a hidden disability ie when it's a visible (wheelchair user), there is automatic understanding. In honesty, whilst I do think it's important to education kids about the fact that some people are different/have disabilities, kids can be cruel. My only concern is that school would need to be extra vigilant in case things worsened after your son's disability is highlighted to the class. I know that seems a rather negative response - I DO think kids need to be education, guess I'd be cautious and ask school to keep an eye on things just in case.

 

Best wishes

 

Caroline.

[rach04]

Js class had someone come in from children and young persons services called an autism outreach worker who talked to the whole of the class about autism. May be worth asking your ep (who put me in touch) they also do a thing called play buddies which helps their confidence.

[SSK]

I know when ds was diagnosed in year 3 (he had already looked it up and decided he had asperger's) he asked his teacher to tell the other children in his class, they used a book about a little boy called Adam, I think it was aimed at younger children, if I can find the book, I'll let you know what it was called.

[Flora]

It has to be handled very carefully to get the right message accross, when telling peers of a child's SEN.

 

When Bill was at primary school and being bullied, I asked his class teacher if someone could explain his difficulties to his class hoping it might stop the bullying. His teacher said, NO WAY would she condone doing that because she thought it would make things worse

 

When he started at secondary school the autism outreach teacher went in to the school and explained Bill's difficulties to his tutor group. It did help in a way because some of the girls especially were very nice to Bill although he just completely ingnored them!!

 

flora

[Janey]

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies,

 

Caffeine Junkie Posted Yesterday, 11:22 AM

Would the teacher be willling to cover the subject in PSHE , as section 4f of the Knowledge, skills and understanding states "that differences and similarities between people arise from a number of factors, including cultural, ethnic, racial and religious diversity, gender and disability"

 

I have spoken previously to T's teacher about telling the class and he felt that it would fit into this area of the curriculum so I do have the backing of T's teacher but he has left it up to me to decide if and when to tell the class.

 

SSK Posted Today, 12:14 PM

I know when ds was diagnosed in year 3 (he had already looked it up and decided he had asperger's) he asked his teacher to tell the other children in his class, they used a book about a little boy called Adam, I think it was aimed at younger children, if I can find the book, I'll let you know what it was called.

 

I think I know the book that you are talking about "Adam's Alternative Sports Day?" There are some other really good books by Kathy Hoopman that I used to tell Toby about his autism. It was a very gentle way of introducing the subject to him. However I although I think these stories would be a good way of starting the topic, I'm looking for some more explict ideas to explain autism and Toby's difficulties to his class.

 

Janey

[smiley]

Can i tell you about Asperger Syndrome - Jude Welton, is a goodie. Autism & me - a DVD by Rory Hoy, is fantastic too.

 

Sure i've seen some work sheets somewhere i'll have a moochy

 

EDIT - can't find the link i was thinking of - but there's a lot of teaching resources on introducing Autism if you google it :-)

Edited March 24, 2008 by smiley

[purplehaze]

Hello, The NAS make school make sense has campaign material that schools can use and there is a lesson plan on how to discuss ASD with a class

 

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=825

 

Hope it helps X

[justamum]

Reports like this link don't help to explain children in difficulties either!

Edited March 25, 2008 by justamum