How to Use Food Chaining to Expand Your Child’s Diet
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How to Use Food Chaining to Expand Your Child’s Diet

Food Chaining To Help Children Try New Foods After living and working with children who favour beige foods I have only just stumbled across the idea of food chaining. If you are a parent of an autistic child, you may have experienced similar challenges with feeding your child. Some autistic children have a restricted diet,…

10 Tips for Reducing Processing Demand
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10 Tips for Reducing Processing Demand

Tips for Designing Activities To Reduce Processing Demand As an experienced special needs teacher in the United Kingdom, I have learned that it is crucial to design activities that meet the specific processing requirements of my students. There have been discussions about autistic energy and Spoon Theory. This seems to relate to the capacity of…

10 Special Education Teaching Styles
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10 Special Education Teaching Styles

10 Special Education Teaching Styles & Approaches Special education is a broad term that encompasses the provision of education for pupils with special educational needs (SEN). SEN can include learning difficulties, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, communication disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and autism spectrum disorders. According to the 2001 SEN Code of Practice, there are…

15 Ideas For Home Made Sensory Toys
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15 Ideas For Home Made Sensory Toys

The Best Home Made Sensory Toys for Autistic Children For autistic children, finding easy DIY ways to engage their senses and promote self-regulation can be incredibly beneficial. Home made Sensory toys are a great tool for providing stimulating and calming experiences, and homemade sensory toys can be even more valuable because of their personal touch and…

What is Autistic Nesting?
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What is Autistic Nesting?

Autistic Nesting: What Does It Mean & What Is It For? Autism, a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by differences in social interaction and communication, is often accompanied by unique sensory experiences. One such behavior that has attracted limited attention but makes perfect sense is ‘Autistic Nesting’, a fascinating aspect of the autism spectrum experience. This article…

Signing for Autism: A Comprehensive Guide
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Signing for Autism: A Comprehensive Guide

Using Signing For Communication With Autistic Children One of the common elements of autism is difficulty with communication, including delayed or limited speech, and expressive and receptive language impairments. Many parents of autistic children wonder if teaching their child sign language might help improve their ability to communicate. This comprehensive guide covers everything parents need…

Infantilizing Autism: Why We need To Stop

Infantilizing Autism: Why We need To Stop

Infantilizing Autism & Autistic Adults There are many misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding autism in society today. One of the most pervasive and harmful is the myth that autism solely affects children. From nonprofit organizations to the media and even policymakers, the narrative around autism is overwhelmingly child-centric. Autism has become infantilized in the public consciousness,…

Creating a Calm, Low Arousal Environment for SEN Pupils
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Creating a Calm, Low Arousal Environment for SEN Pupils

Understanding Low Arousal Environments Before we dive into the specifics, it’s important to define what we mean by a “low arousal environment.” At its core, such an environment minimises sensory, cognitive, and emotional overstimulation. This can be achieved through a variety of methods, including controlling physical elements like light and sound, managing classroom activities, and…

Vocal Stimming and Autism: Understanding and Supporting Your Child

Vocal Stimming and Autism: Understanding and Supporting Your Child

A Guide to Vocal Stimming and Autism As a parent to Autistic children and an SEN teacher, it’s essential to raise awareness and understanding about the different aspects of autism (ASD). One such aspect is “vocal stimming,” a term that refers to self-stimulatory behaviours exhibited by autistic individuals, it may also be called verbal stimming….

Supporting Children with Dyspraxia in the Classroom: An In-Depth Guide for Teachers

Supporting Children with Dyspraxia in the Classroom: An In-Depth Guide for Teachers

Supporting Children with Dyspraxia in the Classroom What is Dyspraxia? Dyspraxia, also known as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), is a neurological condition that affects physical coordination and can impact a child’s fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and planning abilities. These challenges can affect a child’s performance and wellbeing in various areas, including academic achievement,…

Sleep Issues & Autism: Guide for Parents and SENCOs

Sleep Issues & Autism: Guide for Parents and SENCOs

Sleep Issues and Autism: A Guide for Teachers, SENCOs and Parents Sleep plays a crucial role in child development and daily functioning. However, for children with Autism (ASD), achieving consistent, restful sleep can be a challenge. Understanding the intersection of autism and sleep issues is essential for educators, as it can have significant impacts on…

Aphantasia and Autism: A Comprehensive Guide

Aphantasia and Autism: A Comprehensive Guide

Aphantasia and Autism For Parents and Teachers. Understanding the nuances and complexities of neurodivergence is an integral part of supporting children with different cognitive processing abilities. Two such cognitive phenomena that have gained increased attention in recent years are aphantasia and autism. This article aims to provide parents with a comprehensive understanding of these conditions,…

Teaching Self-Advocacy For Students with SEMH
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Teaching Self-Advocacy For Students with SEMH

Self-Advocacy Through Communicating Needs. Children can experience social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) issues at any stage of development. These challenges can stem from specific life events, like bereavement, trauma, illness, family stresses, or bullying. In other cases, the underlying causes may relate to longer-term factors such as learning difficulties, challenges with social skills, prolonged…

Autism and Clumsiness: A Comprehensive Guide

Autism and Clumsiness: A Comprehensive Guide

Autism and Clumsiness: Why Does my Child Keep Falling Over? Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a developmental disorder that affects children and adults in a whole range of ways. It is known as a “spectrum” disorder because its symptoms and severity vary among those who have it. I really liked Donna William’s Autism…

Teaching Turn Taking to Your Child
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Teaching Turn Taking to Your Child

Turn-Taking and sharing Activities for Toddlers Turn taking is a pivotal social skill that children must acquire early in life. It’s an essential component of social interaction, allowing them to effectively, and positively, engage with others. Turn taking is a behaviour for learning that helps in activities where the child needs to share attention, participate…

The Best Free Autism Courses For Teaching Assistants
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The Best Free Autism Courses For Teaching Assistants

The 5 Best Free Online Autism Courses for Teaching Assistants in 2023 A common question I am asked on our Facebook page is “What are the Best Free Autism Courses for Teaching Assistants?” I will share the professional development courses our TA’s have been accessing this year. There is a lot of evidence about effective…

The Impact of Lockdown on Autistic Children’s Mental Health
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The Impact of Lockdown on Autistic Children’s Mental Health

The Impact of Lockdown on Autistic Children The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have had a profound impact on’s lives, including children and adolescents. At the time of writing this article, June 2023, we are seeing the challenges and outcomes of this upheaval including much-reduced attendance. It feels like there has been a subtle shift…

Autism and Behaviour from a Neurodiversity Affirming Perspective
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Autism and Behaviour from a Neurodiversity Affirming Perspective

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental difference that is characterised by a spectrum, or fruit salad of different elements. These can include difficulty with social interaction and communication. Increasingly this is looked at through the lens of “Double Empathy”. You can read more about this in Pia Hämäläinen’s book here. However, autism is not a disorder…