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A dilemma...

10 replies

neverputasockinatoaster · 18/10/2013 23:29

DS's school have asked me to go and do a talk on Autism, not as an expert but as a family touched by autism.

I would be asked to do a talk to DS's class and then to the staff.

I think I ought to do it......

OP posts:
PolterGoose · 18/10/2013 23:30

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Ineedmorepatience · 19/10/2013 09:48

Yes I do think you should. A parent prospective is so much better than a 2 hour course run by someone with a text book!

neverputasockinatoaster · 19/10/2013 11:43

My feelings exactly!

Now I just have to make 2 powerpoints! One from a child friendly POV and one for the teachers with a bit more detail.

If I have ideas can I come back and share?

I must remember the line - If you've met a person with autism them you've met one person with autism........

OP posts:
EllenJanesthickerknickers · 19/10/2013 16:08

Do come back and share...

Ineedmorepatience · 19/10/2013 18:28

Thats a great line never Grin

My Dd3 likes to think of herself as totally unique. She really likes the book "Inside Aspergers looking out" which I know is not technically about autism but has some good info in.

Hope it goes ok Smile

neverputasockinatoaster · 19/10/2013 21:05

So, I'm thinking I need to start (for the kids) with what autism is. I need to say it is a spectrum and although there are commonalities not everyone with an ASC will behave in the same way....

The school have asked me to make it quite specific to my DS as there is currently a culture of winding him up and watching him go... Some of the parents of the boys involved have said their children can't be blamed as they are just being boys and they don't understand about autism........

I have a fantastic slide that a friend gave me - it has a very strange backround, the text is all wonky and hard to read and there is white noise in the background. Then the noise stops and the text becomes easier to read and it points out that for someone with an ASC it NEVER stops.

I also want to do something that Tony Atwood did on a course I went on. He made half of us close our eyes while he showed the other half a question. Then he showed us a picture and we had to study it for 30 seconds before he asked us questions about it. To start with the questions were quite general - what sort of room is it? (I had no idea, I'd got fixated on the plant in the foreground.. Grin ) but then he suddenly asked what time it said on the clock. The half who had closed their eyes had no idea but the half he'd shown a slide had been primed to look for the time. I thought it was quite powerful because it illustrated that if you don't know what is required of you then you can't perform!

OP posts:
EllenJanesthickerknickers · 20/10/2013 10:55

Some good ideas. I like the interactive bit!

When my DS's year group had a talk it was important that it was at a level the DC could understand. They were quite young so it explained what an 'invisible' disability was by starting out with visible ones, wheelchairs, glasses etc. How old is your DS? Words like 'spectrum' and 'commonalities' will be over the head of most primary school children, though I guess that was probably more for MN's benefit than the actual talk. Grin

neverputasockinatoaster · 20/10/2013 11:24

Yes, wasn't going to use the words spectrum or commonalities! That was just me thinking...

I was going to say that people with autism might.......

I thought of describing it as being like a road or a step ladder with people being at different points or maybe like a thermometer.

The kids are 8, 9 and 10.

I am quite excited about doing it actually.

OP posts:
EllenJanesthickerknickers · 20/10/2013 11:34

Having just finished 4 years of being a TA in a junior school, I know the age group well! Steps up a ladder or a thermometer should work. I know that's a simplification, as it's more like a position on a football field, IMO, more than one dimensional, but that would be too difficult to convey.

Remember to balance the difficulties with some strengths, some general ones and some specific to your DS. Maybe some 'celeb' examples of role models? Bill Gates springs to mind, they'll have heard of Microsoft and Windows.

StarlightMcKenzie · 20/10/2013 11:50

Having witnessed ds recently on a zip wire I thought that it was a perfect example of how his autism affects him.

I thought he was scared of the thing but actually, when empty he used it over and over. It was the social aspect that scared him.

There are so many unwritten rules. When you have a go you are supposed to then get off and hand it back to the person whose turn it is next, but how do you know who that is?

It is the person stepping forward, making meaningful eye contact, perhaps with their arm out. You have to judge how close to get to them, and ensure that they have grasped it before you let go yourself.

Then you have to go and queue for your turn, except there isn't a queue because it is just a platform with children huddled on it. How do you know who is before you? How do you know who the last person is currently to ensure you go after them. The other children are all doing elbowing and glancing and non-verbally stating their territory.

Should you figure out how many children are before you, you have to try and remember which ones. What happens when someone new joins the queue? How do you ensure that they know you are the last one so far and that they should take their place after you? How do you make it clear to them that they need to allow you to go before them if they either a)make a mistake, or b)deliberately try and push in front?

You could perhaps instead of point things out, use it as an exercise to get the kids to give as many examples of likely difficulties in that or similar social scenarios?

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