Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Transcription

1 Autistic Spectrum Disorder Information and advice Springhallow School

2 What are your expectations from today s session?

3 The aim of today s session is to provide an overview of how autism may affect your child... consider some strategies which may help individuals to make progress. facilitate support, communication and questions.

4 DSM - V Impairment of social communication and interaction. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities including sensory behaviours. Emphasis focuses on identifying needs and support.

5 Social interaction and communication processing difficulties and differences can make it difficult to form and maintain relationships.

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7 Autism is not An illness. A result of bad parenting. Geniuses and amazing talents. Being unsociable. We re all a bit autistic : Spectrum refers to the degree that individuals with autism are affected. A developmental delay where the child will catch up. Linked to the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. The work was discredited.

8 Differences in understanding and interacting Social cues/rules. Non verbal gestures and communication. Emotions in themselves and others. Other people behaviour and play. Recognition of appropriate contexts.

9 Differences in social interaction understanding could lead to Not responding to social cues (at the right time). Inappropriate giggling/laughing. Not laughing. Different smiles/ eye-contact/ facial expression. Learnt actions from TV/games in inappropriate contexts. Difficulty in coping with competition losing, not being first. The need for time out of some social interaction situations?

10 Potential differences in processing communication Understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication. Stereotypic questions/echolalia/special interest conversations. Reciprocal conversations/interactions. Difficulties in retrieving the correct words or ordering words into a sentence correctly. Naïve/inappropriate interaction (saying what s on my mind).

11 Repetitive patterns of behaviour social imagination/flexibility Restrictive behaviour. Need to be at the front of the line. Have to sit in a specific seat. No foods can touch on my plate. I become VERY upset if things change. Repetitive behaviour. Repetitive movements such as flicking fingers or spinning. Lining up or spinning objects. Repeating actions such as closing a door, washing hands. Ritualistic behaviour. Ritualistic movements, having specific order of doing things. Tap on drain covers, don t stand on lines on pavement, touching items before leaving a room. Eat foods in set order. Impaired reaction to danger Overly fearful of harmless objects, hairbrush, buttons, new environments, animals. Complete lack of fear in dangerous situations such as lack of road safety awareness, matches and fire, heights etc.

12 Food Issues Diets can easily become very restricted and then difficult to vary. Child with autism may have issues with food colour, taste, texture, or the environment. Would you eat food you don t like the look or thought of? Time Use clocks and calendars to explicitly teach the passage of time. What to do when nobody tells you what to do? Give options for unstructured time. Perfectionist Explicitly teach good enough. Scaling can be a useful strategy. Not being organised enough to do things quickly can also result in opting out. Motivation and then self esteem can quickly become affected.

13 Repetitive behaviours or stimming Should I stop it? NO If they re a non-stop stimmer this can get into the area of challenging behaviours, and you may need to consult an OT, but the aim should probably be to get stimming down to reasonable proportions rather than to cut it out entirely. Social effects looking weird really isn t a problem unless people choose to make it one.

14 Stimming Self-harming Some children with autism have a high pain threshold and to them, these behaviours don t always hurt : a child stimming like this may be doing what they can to get even just a moderate degree of sensation. Ask for professional help from GP, Occupational Therapists, Clinical Psychologists, or behavioural specialists. If in doubt of your child seriously self-harming (banging their heads repeatedly against hard surfaces) consult your GP or go to the hospital. Don t neglect your mental health!

15 Anxiety, OCD, depression Anxiety; 40% of autistic compared with up to 15% of the general population. OCD is an anxiety disorder. Obsessions (thoughts) Compulsions (behaviours) Depression; people with autism can have difficulty labelling their feelings. It can be especially hard to communicate symptoms or concerns.

16 Theory of mind Knowing that others have mental states thoughts, beliefs, desires, intentions etc., and information which is different from one s own. Using that knowledge to interpret what people say, make sense of their behaviour and predict what they will do next. People with autism are not all lacking in ToM. They may have more difficulties than people who don t have autism, in seeing different perspectives in some situations.

17 How important is this? To explain somebody s behaviour. To predict somebody s behaviour. To understand emotions in self and others. To work out the world and ourselves in it. To decode communication including speech, non verbal and figurative speech.

18 Strategies and aids Lists/ Checklists. Step by step instructions. Simple drawings. Calendars. Timetables. Social stories. Comic strip conversations. Prompt cards. PECS. Scales.

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21 Visual aids! Adults sometimes want to abandon these once the child becomes familiar with routines. However, in many cases visual aids can help children to gain independence as they reduce the need for them to seek information from adults. Checklists can be especially helpful as they help the child to see clearly what has been done and what is left to do.

22 General tips Communicate calmly and quietly. Give time to process information and respond. Try to say what you mean and mean what you say. Warn before changes. Endeavour to create a secure, calm environment. Use incentives to encourage. Say what to do, rather what not to do.

23 Challenging behaviour Why does it occur? Different people different strategies Consequences Set boundaries, be consistent and patient. With time they will process new rules. behaviours tend to get worse before they improve.

24 Involving professionals School staff Clinical Psychologist Occupational Therapist Speech and Language Therapist Social Care CAMHS

25 Attend courses Early Birds Early Birds Plus CYGNET Speech and Language Therapy

26 Questions and feedback:

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