Author: Alicia Baud
Alicia is in her final year of a Bachelor of Education and will commence her Honours later this year. Alicia will share with us her experiences as a mother of a child with severe autism as well as her continued studies in inclusive practice with a focus on ASD.
Alicia is in her final year of a Bachelor of Education and will commence her Honours later this year. Alicia will share with us her experiences as a mother of a child with severe autism as well as her continued studies in inclusive practice with a focus on ASD.
Do you have a student with autism in your classroom? Are there challenging behaviours that you don’t quite understand? This workshop will assist you in developing a better understanding of autism and the impacts this disorder has on behaviour and learning as well as practical solutions that you can take back to your classroom.
We will discuss:
The characteristics of autism and how they affect the student’s abilities in communication, social relating, thinking and their sensory sensitivities and how this often relates to challenging behaviours.
Common behaviours that students with autism display and possible solutions for them. Remembering though, that sometimes these challenging behaviours are not clear and require some detective work to see why a behaviour is occurring. We will break down the elements of common behaviours to determine its purpose or function.
The differences between a meltdown (extreme emotional and/or behavioural response), and a temper tantrum (manipulative/looking for attention). Even though they display similar behaviours, it is important to distinguish between the two. By determining which one it is will change the way you intervene to help the student. They are easy to spot if you know what to look for.
Using visual supports to facilitate understanding. The majority of students with autism respond more appropriately when information is presented visually. Their different learning styles should be taken into consideration for a higher level of understanding to occur.
Explicitly teaching new skills and coping strategies that replace inappropriate behaviours. Strategies include teaching appropriate forms of communication, self control or avoidance.
Using positive and proactive strategies to prevent behaviours from occurring by setting up an autism friendly classroom and planning for success. We will also look at how to increase ‘good’ behaviours through positive reinforcement (not using punishment to reduce challenging behaviours) and become more proactive by anticipating potential issues and preventing them rather than reacting when things go wrong.
This workshop will be a great introduction to working with students on the autism spectrum and also a great opportunity to develop new and improved strategies. I look forward to seeing you on Feb. 3 '15 ... for more information on the other wonderful presenters visit the teachinclusive site.
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