SCHEMERS?????

[mrsforgetful]

PRONOUNCED "SKEEMERS".... does anyone know about or remember several years ago a t.v programme about the way children learn according to their "schemer"...meaning for eg :construction toys,arty stuff,numerics,animals...i don't remember too much but think that i could adapt this to my Autistic children's 'obssesive ' interests as a way of 'tuning in' to his way of thinking???I've tried the internet...but reckon i must be spelling it wrong as in the whole of the WWW i cannot find ANYTHING!!!

[Jimjams]

I have something somewhere- my homeopathic tutor sent me an article- his wife is a play specialist. I'll try and dig it out and post again.

it may be spelt schema. (I'll check when I get the article)

[lucy123]

It is schema - try a search on that.

[mrsforgetful]

THANKYOU!!!I KNEW i could rely on you mumsnetters!!
Big question is do i surf now or when i've actually done some housework...i know the answer...but i'd better tidy up first!!!!

[cloudy]

Reviving this thread... I still don't understand what a schema is. This is the best page I can find on the Internt about Schema , and it doesn't seem very complete. Is there a description of other types of schema, somewhere? What does it mean, anyway? How is it useful? If I recognise my child fitting a schema, should I encourage that behaviour?

[coppertop]

I only know a little about schemas as I've found them useful when trying to help my 2 boys. My eldest is autistic and my youngest is being assessed for autism.

Ds2's main schema is rotation. This means that he likes spinning himself, spinning objects and anything to do with circles. Ds1 also has a rotation schema and walks round in circles to calm himself down. I've been using this as a 'way in' to my youngest. If I'm encouraging him to play with toys I choose toys that he can spin. He loves to draw circles and spirals so again I can use this kind of drawing to intract with him and also to help him with his language skills.

Ds2 also has a trajectory schema. In his case this means that he does a lot of throwing and seems to get some stimulation from this. I can interact with him by joining him in throwing plastic balls at targets for example. As he has a need to throw things I can provide him with things that are safe to throw indoors and (hopefully!) stop him from throwing furniture and other heavy objects.

Both boys also have an enclosure schema. They like to cover things up, especially themselves. When the boys get distressed I've found it really useful to have a place where they can go to calm down. Their current favourite is a huge cardboard box that they can shut themselves inside. Ds2 also likes his eyes to be covered, either with his hands or with hats, cushions, blankets etc. It seems to help him calm down so I use it for that purpose.

There are other kinds of schema too but I can't remember off the top of my head what they are.

[cloudy]

So, the idea is that we should encourage whatever schema our child already does? Or should we encourage other types of schema? Does the concept of schema matter mroe for autistic children than other children?

[coppertop]

I think (but I'm by no means certain) that if you have an idea of a child's schemas you can use them to help a child in other areas. If a child is into rotation, for example, this could be useful in encouraging maths and art projects, eg drawing circles, measuring fractions, telling the time, measuring angles, using smaller circles to make bigger pictures, rotating other shapes etc. With trajectory you could encourage motor skills, measuring distances of objects thrown, discussing heavy/light objects and the differences between them, angles, physics etc. Teachers on here will probably have much better ideas on this.

It can be useful for autism as knowing why a child does something can help you to find a way around the problem or to channel it into something more positive