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  

Trying out Yolanda programme

After going to Yolanda's training. I really wanted this to be my inquiry to see how effective it will be for me and the children.
As I was waiting for the resources to arrive, I have found a good site for pictures with alphabets. I cut out just pictures to use for the Stage 2 programme.
I have gone through Yolanda's video and wrote down some steps of the Stage 2 and Stage 4 so that it will be easy for me to read as I go through the steps with the children.
Stage 1 and 2 
Stage 4 

So far I have been trying the stage 2 with the whole class and it is working really great. With my target children for the inquiry, I see them every week to see how much they have retained the letter sound knowledge.

I do feel that it makes children to feel successful as it is very achievable for the children. I felt that organising and managing the whiteboards/pens/eraser were a bit chaotic in the beginning, but I used Velcro to attach a pen and an eraser for each whiteboard and this seemed to work better so that I am not spending too much time giving out the items in the beginning.

I also feel that in the beginning, I needed the script for me to go through the steps of the Stage 2 properly but now I have done this for the last 2 weeks that I have felt more confident at doing the Yolanda programme.

Supporting parents

Child A has been having a little bit of a difficult time at reading, I realised this when she started boking the book and playing with the pages as she read. Her reading was quite slow and I could not understand why she was trying to move the book so much. When I talked to our librarian, she said that it could be that the girl was trying to get her eyes to focus on the texts and maybe it could be that the texts seemed to move as she read. She suggested the child to have the eye test with an optometrist to see if there are any eye tracking or other issues.

The family confirmed that her daughter would need glasses after the eye test and was really grateful that they had found this out and could help their daughter. After she got glasses, it was amazing as she never moved the books like she used. She then explained to me that she could see the words more clearly with the glasses on but without them the words looked very small.

With the glasses on, we kept working at reading with her, but I still felt that something was not quite right as the girl would struggle to read words like "on" and  "like", the words that children would have learnt to read at the magenta level. Talking to the librarian again about the problem, she had given me some strategies to use with her. The great thing was that the girl has amazing letter-sound knowledge which helps her to read words letter by letter when she is not able to recognise a word.

Strategies that the librarian suggested was
to use a card that has an indent so that the child can focus on one word at a time when reading
to work on the sight word chart and read it every day (the recognition of the words needs to be instant)
The sight words can be practiced on different ways, we have been using windows to write on with a window marker which she really enjoys.
Her eyes are working really hard to focus so if she is getting tired at reading, a teacher/parent can read the next page so she can rest her eyes and read the page after.

I also had a time to sit with her mum to talk about these strategies so that we are doing the same things at home and school. The mum really appreciated the support that we are providing and recognises how individualised the support has been. She continues to say how the experience has been very different from the previous school that they were at and talked about the importance of play in the classroom and how happy the girl is at our school.

This all has been really positive and important to reflect on. Working as an early childhood teacher for the last 10 years, I know the importance of building relationships with whaanau. All children are different and we need to understand their unique individual needs so that we can support them. Involving parents in this case has been easy and it is wonderful that we are able to provide the same support at home and school.

Learning NZSL alphabet with children

As a part of my teaching inquiry, I have been adapting the use of New Zealand Sign Language alphabets to increase my target group's letter identification knowledge. I developed a video where I am signing the alphabet incorporating the use of big alphabet butterfly cards. I play this video everyday in the morning to watch with the children and sign together.

With the target group, they would watch this video everyday on the Ipad accessing from the QR code that I developed. Sometimes, I found it easy for the children to access it on the desktop computers as they could hear better with the headphones.

I am quite surprised about the results that the children have developed through the use of NZSL alphabet.
Here is the data result

Student Name	Start Date	Baseline Data	End Date	End Point Data	Improvement	Comments
Child A	11/6	LD- 4	10/8	LD-17 Sign-14	13
Child B	11/6	LD-9	10/8	LD-17 Sign-2	8
Child C	11/6	LD-28	10/8	LD-45 Sign-39	17
Child D	11/6	LD-5				not collected the data yet
Child E	11/6	LD- 21	10/8	LD-37 Sign-23	16

I am happy to say that there has been a significant increase in children's letter knowledge using the sign language alphabet and their actual development in letter signs. 

One of the main issues that some children face is that it is really hard to transfer this letter ID knowledge in reading or writing. I have been doing some work as a class using NZSL alphabet to emphasize how a word is made up of letters. 

When I am reading a big book of shared reading, and I see the word 'Cat', we talk about the letters C, A, and T in sign, and how the each letter makes sounds. When we put these sounds together, it makes the word 'Cat'. I think in general, there has been a better understanding on this as a classroom as after this discussion, some children go away and come back with the word they made. They are interested and are using their knowledge to explore. 

I would really like to see where it would go using this strategy in reading as well as some children find it really hard to look at the first letter of a word and sound it out. 

In writing, one of the target children has done really amazingly using the developed letter ID knowledge. The child was able to write down all the sounds he heard/sounded out and wrote a sentence on his own. This was his first time to do this. 

I really believe that there is a benefit in using the sign language alphabet. It provides visual support that children can rely on. Some of the letters of the alphabet resemble the shapes of the letters. We often talk about this. 

Using New Zealand Sign Language is beneficial for hearing children. Dr Sutherland from University of Canterbury talks about the benefits of bilingualism (spoken and visual languages) and describes its educational benefits, cognitive development, economic benefits, and growth of communities.

Our children have been learning New Zealand Sign Language since Term 1 and it has been amazing to watch them acquire a new language. The children feel really proud of using this language and understand why we use sign language. Using sign language also helps children develop their fine motor skills and planning of their movement which essentially links to cognitive development. 

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!!!

Mindfulness

I have been trying something different after the lunch play time. We have always done resting after lunch as children come back into the classroom after their big play.

Last week, some children saw a photo of a child meditating and they pretended to meditate. Then, I thought maybe we could do a meditating session in the classroom.

So one day last week, I put on a piece of meditation music, and sat on the floor with my hands on my knees just like the photo they saw. Before I even say what we were going to do, one boy called out and said "Meditating!"
We sat in a circle and stayed silent. We listened to the music.

I talked about feeling quiet inside us, and relaxing our body. We talked about seeing ourselves in a positive lens. We say to ourselves "I can do it." "I keep trying." "I am giving it a go." 

I talked about a situation that I saw that day in the swimming session where a boy said "I can do it!" after trying so long to achieve his trick. 

In order to develop children's resilience, they need to view themselves in a positive way. When something is challenging or difficult, it is important to keep trying and perhaps try in a different way. We can take a break and come back to it so we can see things so it might give a different perception. 

After our meditation, we moved on to a writing session, and I felt that the children showed great focus and worked very hard. I wondered if meditation had something to do with it!? 

Trying a different approach to writing

I have often wondered how I could make the writing process for the children more fun and engaging. Often, when children come to write, they struggle with coming up with experiences or ideas that they would like to draw and write.

I have come across this amazing teacher's blog called Number Agents by Leslee Allen, and read her writing sessions with children, Storytelling-A way into writing and Exploring greater depth in writing, and I have really enjoyed reading both of them and it really resonated with my teaching through play philosophy.

The next day in the writing session, I sed Leslee's ideas of storytelling and told the story of a princess. The children were very captured by the story and were really interested. As I drew one picture, I told a story, then another picture along with another story. I talked about how the story had the beginning, middle and end. I gave the children their writing books and talked about where the pictures go. After that, the children were on their own creating their own stories.

After they drew the pictures of their stories, I asked them to come and tell me their stories. It was just amazing to hear so many wonderful creative stories. I really enjoyed this process. For some children, I wrote the story for them, and for others I encouraged them to write the story on the next page. They are familiar with this idea. One of the children naturally just wrote a story before I even asked him to write!
It was great to see some children who are not used to work independently work on their own and tried to work through this. When they brought the book to me, I could very much see their logics of writing.
Leslee talks about the pressure that children feel at a writing session, and I felt that this session worked really well because children were not pressured to do something that they were not able to do. Like she says, children were allowed leave the session if they wanted to, but because there is no resistance to leave, they stayed much longer than I thought they would have.
I like the idea about how this was developmentally appropriate. I know it was and it needs to be, so that I can support the needs of the children appropriately.
Most importantly it was so much fun. In the end of the block after their play, each child shared their story with each other, and this was amazingly wonderful. I loved the focus that children had on listening to their friends' stories.

With our focus this year being writing and using digital technology to support children's writing, I was wondering how I could do this. Can I use the Ipad as a tool to tell a story? or to use it as a tool to give us ideas to write stories? (silent cartoons), Can children use Ipad to take photos and write stories? Something to think about for my inquiry.

I will keep using this storytelling idea for writing, this term and see how it will go. It is also important to think about how I can support children during this process.

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