Altogether Autism PL session

 Altogether Autism 

What is Autism? 

Life long condition, born with Autism, diagnosed at possibly 3, provide strategies does not have cure. Experiencing the world in a different way. 

ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder 

Disorder: negative 

Takiwātanga: Maori way of explaining 

In my/his/her own time and space, positive maori view about Autism. 

Te Reo Hāpai: book written by Nā keri Opai 

Characteristics (Social communication, interaction, restriction/repetitive thinking, behaviour, Sensory) 

Don't really way high functioning/low functioning, more like on a spectrum 

uses levels 1-3 

We don't call it Aspergers, all under Autism. Depending who is diagnosing and what manual they are using. 

Girls- they mask it and they are diagnosed later than boys. Girls tend to imitate others' play. 

Around the teenage years, they can't mask it later. 

Focus on the strengths 

Executive Functioning 

Help to be organised, plan, remember instructions, understand complex or abstract concepts, deal with change. Working memory 

Calming down activity 

What does Anxiety look like? Avoid new situations, no friendships/relationships, Misunderstood and seen as 'difficult' 

Children indicating how they are feeling, and what colour they are now, and after intervention/calming down 

Meltdown or Tantrum 

Meltdown is a medical event. The person does not have control over the behaviour. They can hurt themselves or others. They wanna hide, don't want to be the centre of the attention. 

Meltdown Stages 

1-Build up: pacing, fidgeting -trying to cope with the stressors and anxiety 

(Intervene early, introduce a break,  safe calm down place, physical activities tearing paper, squeezing the ball, staying calm, don't touch the person) 

Meltdown strategies 

Protect everyone, use a few words, protect the child's mana, exit strategy, no power struggle 

Recovery (either catch it before happening or after) 

Relax, Reconnect, Reflect, Recharge, Re-prepare 

Talking to other children who are autistic about the incidents too so that they will feel connected again. 

Shutdown- a child doesn't  internalise it 

Draw pictures and let the child know the change or what is happening now and next 

Behaviour=Communication 

Form of communication. 

Helping them to be independent. If they can't get their needs met, and can't communicate, the behaviour happens. 

Can't -find out whys. Is there a stressor? Is there a need to meet him? Skill deficit? Does he know how to tidy up? 

Sensory-friendly environment 

Sensory sensitivity- can't focus on one sense 

Check the physical part first 

Vestibular: Sense of balance 

Proprioception: knowing where the body parts are in the space (Spatial Awareness) Body GPS 

Hypo- need more of that 

Hyper- too sensitive, need less of it 

Interoception: internal senses, something that is happening inside your body 

knowing how the body is feeling 

Becoming anxious- they don't make the link between feeling anxious and why it is happening/ what is making them feel like that 

Creating a sensory profile 

Stimming: repetitive body movements, movements of objects

To calm us down and soothe us 

Stigmatisation- does this matter? 

Need to give the same feeling 

Stimming -appropriate at any age 

Communication

Strategies for communication 

You have the person's attention

Avoid complicated instructions

Keep your language clear, polite

Allow them time to process 

Visual cues 

Have important conversations in a quiet area 

Profile books to communicate with other colleagues about the child 

Visuals

First and then visuals 

First(Less motivated) and then (Motivated activity)

Social Stories 

Transitions, individualized, simples sentences 

Going on a trip, new situations 

Video Self-modelling 

Around routines, transitions, new situations, learn a new skill, break it down to the step  

Diabetic course at the hospital

As we have a child who has a type 1 diabetes, I went to do the training at the hospital. I have had a child with Type 1 in a previous centre and have done the same course before so I was familiar with the contents but it was very refreshing to do this again and bring back the memory. I have also learnt some new things, and this time we were able to do the GlucaGen training as well.

Inclusive practice: Using NZSL in the classroom

This year I have a girl who is deaf with cochlear implants in my class. One of my passions in teaching is to teach our children New Zealand Sign Language, and I have been learning NZSL for the last 5 years. Although I am not fluent in NZSL, I love learning this beautiful language.  For the last 6 weeks, I have had a private tutor and have been learning it properly again, and especially at being able to form a sentence in NZSL.

As the girl has cochlear implants and can hear with the device, she does not rely on using NZSL so much however she knows quite a lot of signing and her family would like her to develop more knowledge in NZSL so it has been great to work with the family and that I regularly sign in the classroom with the children.

Some of the changes I have made in my class are
Having a visual classroom schedule and have the pictures of the signs next to it. This also reminds me to sign if I forget a particular sign.

I also have a sign of the day so we can all learn different signs.

















Other children have started to understand why I use sign with the girl and why I wear the microphone so she could hear. Now we are trialling using a microphone that children can hold so that she could hear if someone is talking in a class discussion.

After reading Ako article about NZSL in a classroom/school , I felt very inspired and that I agree that hearing children should be learning NZSL together with a child who is deaf. I always think that people who are deaf should have access to their language so that we could communicate with each other. The children in my class will learn many signs this year and this will help them understand how different we are and how unique we are to each other, and to help us communicate, NZSL is an important language to learn for everyone.

At the moment the children are learning to sign Te Aroha in sign and te reo Māori.  They love singing and learning new songs and I can see how the girl is very responsive when I use sign. She watches my sign and copies it. She also teaches me some signs that I don't know. It is truly the word of "Ako" where we learn from each other. She has a place in our classroom and has developed a great sense of belonging in our class.

Celebrating Matariki with whānau

This year, we have celebrated Matariki together with our whānau. We made pizza and had shared kai. Many whanau brought a lot of food for us to share. It was so wonderful to be able to see our whanau, talk to them about their children and enjoy this time where we shared love for each other. We have read the book called "Matariki Breakfast" and from that children have learnt about what people do for Matariki and it is to spend time with the people we love. 

I have asked parents to write down their aspirations for their children on a star shaped piece of paper. This allowed me to know what the parents thoughts and how they want their child to grow into the future. I also thought about including some of these into the report writing highlighting what types of dispositions they have developed over time. 

Parents' aspirations 

Supporting a child with needs

Reflection 

New year and adapting a new routine in the classroom

After listening to Anaru's workshop last year, I really wanted to incorporate his idea about classroom paepae. He explained how clasroom paepae welcomes everyone in the classroom, celebrates the biculturalism, and settle down the children in the morning for learning.

For my new entrant classroom, I wanted it to be simple and easy to learn for the children. I printed out and laminated the labels that said "kaikarakia" and "kaikorero". In the morning, children might express their interests in being these roles, and I help them with the words that they said. Kaikaraki will greet to the children and start the karakia. At this moment, we are learning the karakia. I say one line and the children repeat after me. Kaikorero thanks the kaikarakia and greet to the children and the teacher and do their pepeha.

It has been really wonderful to have this ritual and everyone respects this time. When we did not do the karakia on one morning because we needed to go to the assembly, one child said "Yoshie, you forgot to do the karakia!" so this tells me that it is a part of us and our day and it also reminded me that we need to do this everyday. If we needed to go somewhere, then we will start the paepae a little bit early so we will have enough time to do this.

I am hoping that we will be able to do this without so much of my help later this term or in term 2. I would love to see our children leading the paepae.

Since the last post about settling a child into the class

Since the last post about the child struggling to settle into the class, I am happy to say that he has transformed himself. It is almost like he is a different child now. He loves to come to school with a smile on his face and actually does not want to leave the class in the end of the day.

On the last day of the term, we sadly did not have an assembly, but I gave him a toolkit award for his developing independency, being able to manage himself in the classroom, and making friends.

During the term 1, I have developed some strategies to support him.

The first thing was it was important that his mum does not stay too long in the classroom so that it does not give him too much anticipation for him. When mum come to drop him off in the class, she says a simple goodbye, and a hug, and tells him that she will be back. Although he used to cry when mum left, but it did not take much time at all for him to engage in something.

I have made a book for him to take home. The book was consisted of things that he was doing at school. I had photos of him and simple sentences of what he was doing. I had one in the classroom so that he could have a look whenever he wanted.

With another teacher's suggestion, he brought a soft toy of a panda bear everyday. It was important that first he develops a sense of belonging in the classroom. When there is no sense of safety or security, children do not learn. I asked if he wanted to bring a small soft toy or something that belonged to his mum, he chose his item of the panda bear. It was really nice to see the panda bear always sitting next to him giving him emotional support everywhere.

One of the things that he struggled was coping during morning and lunch break. It must have been quite an overwhelming experience as a number of children play in the playground and the court. I made a chart of duty teachers as he kept asking who would be the duty teacher for a break/lunch break. I could see that he was worried about it so having a visual chart helped him cope with his anxiety and calm him down a little bit. He would hang out with a duty teacher rather than children, and it took a while until he made his own friends and started to play together. Thanks to all the children who have supported him settle into the classroom, it encouraged him to develop really good friendships with his friends.

When he first started, he would use words like "I can't do it", "I want you to stay here."  It seemed like he wanted all my attention, and he felt just uncomfortable or not able manage his feelings when he was doing thins on his own. I would tell him that I need to spend time with other children too, so I would come back in 5 minutes and have a look at what he is doing.

Now, he is able to work individually, and he spends a lot of time on a task that he was given to achieve high standard work.

A lot of efforts went into making such big changes in his life. Lots of practices of many things like coming to school, sitting on a mat, playing together, managing his belongings, working together, getting to know other people in the classroom, and trying something new.

I am so happy that he is now settled into the class, and I hope that he can support new children coming into our class next term.
We often talk about how it felt on the first day of school, we might feel scared, nervous, or shy, excited....whatever we felt, it is ok to feel that way, and we are all here to be kind and support each other.

What is resilience? and How to develop resilience in children...

My recent teaching experiences in supporting a child transition into the class has made me think about why some children have resilience and others might not and how the resilience can be developed in children.

I have been supporting a child and his mum in the transition to the class. The child has never been to early childhood centre so this has been very challenging for the child as well as the mother who has not separated from the child for a long period of time.

First step was for the child and his mum to know that this is a safe place. It is important that the child develops a sense of belonging in the class so that the child can learn. To do this, it was significantly vital that I develop a secure relationship with him and his mum.
I have made a book about coming to school which included what he could do at school, who was there to help him, and routines of the day.

Te Whāriki (New Zealand Early Childhood curriculum) talks about the importance of the link between the home and the centre (school), so I talked to his mum about him bringing something that can comfort him, this could be mum's scarf, teddy bears, or something to snuggle with.

A part of the Well-Being strand from Te Whāriki discusses the development of confidence in independency, and positive attitude towards self-help/self care skills, and without feeling safe and comfortable, children will find it very hard to manage themselves.

I have been buddying him up with his friend to go to the toilet, and letting him know about what will happen today at morning tea/lunch break as I have found that the routine changes can upset him.


I have read the article called "Building resilience in children" by Beyond Blue Organisation, and collected some ideas about how to support the child and his family.

What is resilience?
Beyond blue defines reliance as "managing and responding to emotions in a healthy way".

Talking about feelings and children able to articulate those feelings are important.
-Ask open ended questions.

•  "What's the best thing that happened today?"
• "What was the toughest thing....?"

-Talking about feelings and acknowledging those feelings 

• "I can see you are upset/sad."
• "It is ok to cry." 

Children need to be able to identify their emotions. 

-Regulating their emotions

• Putting in words to how others are feeling 
• Develop healthy thinking habits (positive self-talk, self-compassion, sense of optimism, positive attitude). 

*Beyond Blue defines "healthy thinking habits" as "looking at the world in a balanced way". 

Healthy thinking teachers children to know how their thoughts affect problems and feeling in everyday life. 

Since reading this article, I have changed the rest time routine to a meditation session where positive talks are encouraged. We sit together in a circle and meditate. We listen to the music and clam ourselves down.
We then talk to ourselves positively. Words we use are "I can do it." "I keep trying." "I am giving it a go." I use examples of what I saw that day where a child was trying or giving something a go. I talk about how we can solve a challenging situation when we feel frustrated or feel like a negative thought was in our heads.

We have recently incorporated some yoga poses into the meditation session too. The children really enjoy this.

2 weeks has passed since the child has started the transition to school, and the progress that this child has made is astonishing, and it is all about practicing, getting used to the routines, having the strategies to cope with some challenging situations, and most importantly developing a secure relationship with the child and his mum. It is amazing to see the change in him. No more tears in the morning!!!

PTCs

Adding PTC labels.