The #GetToKnow Project Activities for experiencing Autism Spectrum Disorder in school settings The #GetToKnow Project is a partnership between Adarius 4 Autism and Autism Edmonton two non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of individuals of living with autism. The purpose of #GetToKnow is to promote awareness and acceptance of Autism Spectrum Disorder to students in Grades 4-12. We know that students learn best when they are engaged, so the following activities are designed to create context for students to learn about some of the challenges that their classmates with autism may experience. Our goal is for students to develop empathy, understanding, and ultimately acceptance of all people in their school. We are challenging students to #GetToKnow more about autism, #GetToKnow someone with autism, #GetToKnow more about themselves, their school and their community. The #GetToKnow presentation is explained in an active and engaging format that gets the students out of their desks and moving around, while participating in exercises that allow them to experience some of the challenges that people with autism may face. Activities are most effective in a gymnasium or outside setting, but could also be performed in a classroom with plenty of empty space. It is recommended that you go through the activities and discussion, then spend time afterward watching the #GetToKnow video. The video was filmed in March of 2017 at H. E. Beriault junior high school with Adarius Bowman, President of Adarius 4 Autism; Matthew Kay, Adult Support Coordinator with Autism Edmonton; Lauren Rollett, Manager of Support Services with Autism Edmonton; and H. E. Beriault student volunteers. We hope that you and your students find this an informative exercise and that you #GetToKnow more about autism! 1
Activity 1 - Football Flops: Individuals with autism may not have a clear understanding of certain non-verbal cues, making social communication challenging. Football Flops is intended to show students how challenging social communication can be for students with autism. To prepare the space: Prepare 6 pieces of paper that have the letters X, R, Y, W, Z with a different letter largely written on each piece. On the sixth page, write the letters QB (which stands for quarterback). Tape each of these letters in a rectangular formation approximately 6-8 feet apart. Ex. X QB Z Y R W To prepare the instructor: Have 6 nonverbal signals that are representative of the letters, and 5 signs that are representative of the action (examples below). L: Sign for X is crossing your arms in front of your face. L: Sign for W is making a w shape with your hands. L: Sign for R is pointing to the up to the stars. L: Sign for Y is arms up in the shape of a y L: Sign for Z is drawing a z shape in the air with your finger L: Sign for QB has no signal, they are in charge of throwing the ball A: Cover your eyes (hands over eyes) A: Cover your ears (Hands over ears) A: Sit down (crouch down) A: Spin in a circle (draw a circle in the air with your hand) This exercise is formatted to help children understand the challenges ASD individuals may have with nonverbal communication. We will start the session by having all six children stand on the letters that they have 2
been assigned. Once the children have their specified letters, the exercise will begin. The instructor will start their hand motions with a double clap and end the motions with a double clap. They will not explain what this manual language will convey, therefore, it is highly likely that the kids will make mistakes the first and second time around. Next, the instructor conducts a series of motions that will relay a specific action to be performed by a specific student. This action will determine to whom the quarterback will be throwing. This activity gives the students the opportunity to attempt to understand the play the instructor is asking them to execute through their own form of sign language. After several attempts to understand the signal conducted by the instructor, they will proceed in explaining the original instructions verbally. This will not only demonstrate the difficulties ASD individuals have communicating nonverbally, but will indicate the precise obstacles they have in accurately communicating their feelings and desires. Talking points Questions to ask: How successful was everyone before they knew what the gesture meant? How about after? Some people with ASD don t understand social cues. You know how people ask how are you? 9 times out of 10 people respond with good or fine, even if they actually aren t. Or for instance when you are sitting in class, you have to put your hand up before asking a question instead of just shouting it out loud. Or when we go to the library it s expected that we be very quiet. These are called social expectations or norm. We don t give a lot of thought to why we do them, we just do because we know it is expected of us. There are some people with autism who just don t understand these cues, so we have to teach them, just like we taught you the football gestures. But a big part of this is not only teaching these individual social cues, but being understanding and patient when they make any mistakes. Imagine when we first tried the football exercise and you didn t understand what was expected, and we just started yelling at you, or made you feel unintelligent perhaps we made you leave the room, or we walked away. How would you feel? 3
Activity 2 - Act out your words : Some individuals with autism do not communicate verbally, so they have to find other ways to get their needs and wants met. This activity is intended to show students how challenging and time consuming it is to communicate a simple concept without verbal language. Students will imagine how difficult it would be to communicate complex situations or have full conversations without the use of verbal language. Prepare laminated slips of paper that have a specific concept on each. Examples could include: Hungry I am feeling sick Thirsty I am bored Tired I am lonely Happy I have a headache I need to go to the bathroom I feel jealous I feel excited I feel disgusted Choose volunteers from the group. If you have 10 concepts, choose 10 volunteers. Have student volunteers try to communicate that concept without using verbal language to the group (charades). The group has to agree on what the concept means. Have the group work together until they guess the clue correctly and all volunteers have acted out their cue. Talking points Questions to ask: Did anyone have some trouble getting their point across? How long did it take you guys to communicate something like tired or hungry? What were the hardest ones? Think about how hard it was to communicate one single concept. Now think about how hard it would be to communicate everything that we say on a daily basis, without being able to use words. Also think about how you were instructed to LOOK for clues. Imagine a person coming up to you and trying to communicate one of these concepts without words when you weren t looking for clues. 4
Some people with ASD are not able to communicate verbally, so they have to use other means of communication. Sometimes they use sign language, sometimes they use pictures, and sometimes they use what's called an augmented alternative communication device. This could be an ipad, that people press buttons on in order to communicate. When you see someone using a device like this, remember that that device is their words. It may be the only way that they can communicate. Just like in the exercise that we did, we have to pay attention to the person trying to communicate, and be patient. It s not always easy to communicate using these devices, and it only makes it more challenging if the person they are talking to doesn t want to take the time to listen. Some people with ASD can communicate verbally, but may not have as many words or may have trouble organizing the words in the way that makes sense. This can be extremely frustrating for that person, as they may have the thing that they want to say clearly in their head but can t get the message out as clearly in words. 5
Activity 3 - Regulation drill: The Zones of RegulationTM describes 4 basic zones of regulation, associated with colours. These colours are intended to give children and youth the language they need to describe their current state of regulation, as well as providing concrete strategies to help maintain regulation. As many individuals with autism have challenges regulating themselves, it is valuable for all students to be aware of regulation states, and how they may impact behaviour. Briefly describe 4 states of regulation and their associated colours. Blue: feeling tired, lazy Action: lying on the floor Green: feeling good, calm, alert, ready to learn Action: Standing up, feet spread, hands up like ready to catch a ball. Yellow: escalating excitement Action: hands up, but quickly moving feet up and down Red: Extremely excited or angry, hard to control. Action: burpees Once explained, shout colours to students and they have to move quickly between actions like a drill. Talking points Regulation is a way of describing how our bodies are feeling. Sometimes we are really, really, excited. Sometimes we feel super lazy and tired. When we feel this way, we might do things to get us back to that green zone. If we are really lazy and tired, we might do a big stretch or splash our face with cold water. If we are feeling too excited, we might go for a jog, jump on a trampoline, or go to the gym. Some people with autism have a hard time getting to that green zone. They might do things that are often called behaviours, like jumping up and down, flapping their hands, humming loudly, or walking on their 6
toes. What they are doing is helping themselves get to the green zone, because it feels good to be calm and ready to learn! The best way that you can support these individuals is to let them keep on with their actions, and refrain from making fun of them. We all self-regulate to some degree. We might tap our feet when we re sitting in our desks and are feeling excited. Perhaps we doodle or fidget with a pen when we re feeling bored. People with autism are no different, it s just the way they self-regulate may be more obvious than others. Wrap-up: Once you have completed the activities with your students, have a quick chat about what they have learned overall and how they will be more mindful of their classmates with autism. This is a great opportunity to ask a student on the spectrum who is comfortable sharing their experience to talk about what autism means to them too! You can close your exercise by showing the short #GetToKnow project video featuring Adarius Bowman and the Autism Edmonton team as well. Talking points Autism is a vast and complex spectrum. Autism looks different for every single person that has it. The best way to learn more about autism is to #GetToKnow a person on the spectrum! Remember that people with autism have feelings just like you, and being isolated hurts. The best thing that you can do is be supportive, patient and a true friend to a person with autism. #GetToKnow more about your classmates, and look out for each other! Thanks for learning more about Autism! Don t stop here, get out and #GetToKnow your classmates! 7
For more resources to support individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, please visit: Adarius 4 Autism www.adarius4autism.com Assist youth diagnosed with Autism by offering needs-based training to ease the transition to becoming a contributing member of society. Autism Edmonton www.autismedmonton.org Support services, and programs for individuals and families living with autism. For youth: Occasio, a social-respite program for individuals with autism ages 10 years and up. For educators and parents: Next Steps Guide, an online guide to autism related resources. 8