You need to look at the enrolment of a child on the autistic spectrum as a three step process. Completing the enrolment form is only one small part of these steps. The three steps includes;  Step 1 Preparing the environment and review the educators practices, Step 2 Preparing for the transition from home to the centre, Step 3 Building relationships with families. Let’s look at these steps in more detail.

Step 1 Preparing the environment and review the educators practices

• How does your room look and feel for an autistic child? All educators need to critically reflect upon the room and outdoor play area. This involves closely examining all aspects of events and experiences from the autistics child’s perspective.
• Educators need to ensure the room routine flexible to meet the needs of the child.
• Nominated Supervisors need to ensure educators understand Autism & how children on the autism spectrum process information.

Step 2 Preparing for the transition from home to the centre

• Create social stories with the parents. Ensure they include the child preparing for their day in the morning at home, their trip to the centre in the car and what the child’s first day looks like.

• Ensure the room is not overstimulating. When the child settles in you can progressively add more to the physical environment.
• Work with the parents and professionals in your local area to discover if you need other resources to meet the child’s needs

Step 3 Building relationships with families

• Get to know the family, their situation, goals, challenges and achievements. Again, critically reflect and try and see from the parent’s perspective.
• Give families a visual matrix to complete for their child.
• Find out what services the child is attending and gain written permission for the service to liaise with specialist and inclusion support services.
• Allow for a gradual transition. The child and parent/ carer may attend the service for 2 – 4 hour visits for 2 weeks leading up to their first day of care.

Change, can be overwhelming for people on the autistic spectrum. We need to remember the everyday hustle and bustle that most people view as ‘normal’, is difficult for children on the spectrum. With this in mind, children need to a part of the transition preparation so the change is not a surprise for them. Don’t forget you are not alone and there are many services in your community and state/territory to help you identify and develop a range of support strategies that can make the transition process smooth and successful for your new children on the autistic spectrum.

Inclusion Support Goal Steps

We can use ‘Inclusion support goals’ when working with children with Autism. These goals should be made up of real life situations and routines where the child is displaying challenging behaviours.  You choose, plan, practice and evaluate using the challenges that children are facing on daily basis.

Start slowly, begin with very small steps, celebrate and build on each achievement and don’t give up.

Step 1 Choose an everyday event or part of a room routine which the child is finding challenging, exhibiting behaviours or that you feel will support the child’s inclusion ie transition from home to the centre or participating in small group activities.

Step 2 Plan with the families, other professionals and if possible the child the steps they need for the goal. Start simple – no more than three steps at a time. Later you can build upon these steps and include more.

Step 3 Prepare all educators and ensure that everyone s consistently implements the plan. If everyone is not following the same practice it won’t work and becomes confusing for the child.

Step 4 Practice the plan. Make sure it includes preferred language, checklist and visuals/photos so the child can readjust when needed, have some space and have the option to communicate using verbal or non-verbal communication. For example, when a child needs a break from group activities they can bring the visual that represents quiet time or can say “Quiet time now”.

Step 5 Reflect on the work goals with the child, family and educators after they have been implemented and have practised it a few times. Offer support and add another step to the work goal. Try to see it from the child’s perspective and evaluate its success.

If the behaviour is serving a purpose, we cannot take it away, but we can replace it.

To prompt positive behaviours from children with Autism we must support the child to build those behaviours.

This cannot be done unless a trusting relationship is made.

Making relationships with children on the spectrum may require you to think a bit differently. See the world from the child’s eyes so that you can experience it with them.

Strong relationships can be built when there is emphasis on the development of children’s play skills and their response and enjoyment to an educator’s emotions, feelings and tone of voice.

Educators need to be genuine in their interactions and be sure none over stimulate the child.

Really look to see what the child is seeing and what interests them by getting down to the child’s perspective and joining in their play.

When interacting it’s important to be attuned to a child’s state, motives and feelings. Educators do this by reading, acknowledging and responding sensitively to the child’s verbal and non-verbal cues that communicate, for example, an interest, a need, or an invitation to interact and play.

Teaching can be brought into every social exchange with children as long as you’re following a child’s lead and offering an exciting interaction. Children with Autism often learn better in small quick bursts.

Eventually social play will become fun and interesting because of your presence and the start of a rewarding, beautiful relationship can be built.

Entering play scenario

An educator worked with a child who was nonverbal, no eye contact, no communication, and many educators said “he has no interest and doesn’t show any play interest at all.” The child would walk around flapping their hands and when outside would crawl around on the floor exploring the ground and nature. He would eat things from the ground like sand and leaves during his explorations.

One-day the educator got down on the floor and crawled around and followed the child for over 20 minutes looking at what he was looking at, sharing quick eye contact and occasionally the child would become interested in the educator’s presence.

The educator soon discovered he was following the ants back to their home nest, crawling the same tracks as the ants. From that point the educator followed the ants. With prompting and lots of positive encouragement the child started to follow the educator and made eye contact. That was the “in” with the child. When we say “in” we mean finding the child’s strength and interest, just like the EYLF says.

You can only enter their world by being a part of their world, and if you start by imitating the child’s behaviour to see what they are interested in, you might be surprised. From this point we are able to build a relationship.

Connecting first, communicating second bit by bit, the educators learnt what interested the child, and then extended on his learning by focusing on this interest.

Try and imitate what children get excited about, get down to see it from their perspective and try and understand what it is they are focusing on.

Step into the world of a child with Autism and see what they are seeing.

How many times do we try and control children in an environment that is not suited to their learning or interest.

Step 3 – Write ideas to create curriculum for this child

Step 4 Implement these ideas.

Remember the guiding principle is ‘Meeting the Child’s needs.” Edward’s needs are he wants to be a part of this learning environment and do what the adults are doing. Edward needs to:

• Be listened to. He needs to tell you and everybody how much he knows about his world
• Create experiences that are challenging and aligned to his interest
• Have systems in place to support communication.

Step 5 Evaluate with families and key support services and adjust

Step 6 Repeat

Most siblings of a person with a disability will be able to say there were good and not so good parts to their experience. Those who can look back and see benefits in their situation say they have found inspiration through their brothers and sisters, become more tolerant, more compassionate, more aware of their blessings and, in many ways, more mature than young people who have not had these experiences. They say growing up with their brother or sister gave true meaning to their lives, that “they made me who I am”. Some children, however, have a more difficult time. They can experience confusion over the feelings that arise. On the one hand, a child may feel loving and protective toward their brother or sister, but at the same time feel a mixture of more difficult feelings such as resentment, fear, guilt, embarrassment and sorrow. As children, they are likely to lack the understanding, emotional maturity and coping skills required to deal with their experiences. As a result, they can feel isolated and confused and become ‘at risk’ for a range of emotional, mental and physical health problems, which can continue into adulthood.

NOT ALL siblings will experience concerns and, with an increased understanding of the issues for siblings, it is fairly easy to support children so their adjustment can become more positive. You can’t remove some of the stresses, but you can help children manage them. Most children can deal with stress better if they feel listened to and understood.

Only once you understand Autism from different perspectives can you support the child and their family.

www.siblingsaustralia.org.au

This may appear a little weird at first, but let me explain. The process is called counter-transference and was initially written about by Freud when he noticed feeling the same way as his patients as they somehow transferred their feelings to him. This was further explored by other psychoanalysts in the 1950s and has developed into a process of assisting patients and clients of psychoanalysts.

Let me give you an example you will recognise. Imagine an educator comes into work and they’re moving house or going through a messy personal issue like a divorce. Their emotional energy gets transferred over to the children and then the whole room is a mess, behaviour problems, off the air children, educator breaking down and crying and complete chaos. What has occurred is the educator has transferred her emotional state onto the children. Anyone who spends some time in the room will begin to feel the same way as the children, as the educator’s feelings are transferred to them as well.

How can we use this technique?

When a child can’t talk or has language that is difficult to understand we can use this process to help understand what is happening. The child’s feelings will be transferred to us too.

As educators we need to constantly see things from a range of perspectives. This particularly applies to children with Autism and their families.

Allow yourself to become a part of a child’s world, take the time to know and work closely with families to support them to achieve the best results for families.

Calmness and mindfulness is an open and friendly willingness to understand what’s going on in and around you. It means living in the present moment (which is not the same as thinking about the present moment) without judging or ignoring anything or getting carried away by the pressures of everyday life. When you are mindful while waking up, eating lunch, playing, or with every major and minor conflict, your mind is not elsewhere but right there in the moment.

You save energy, as you are aware of what is happening while it is happening. This mindful, friendly presence changes your behaviour as well as your attitude toward yourself and other children. Mindfulness is feeling the sun on your skin, feeling the salty tears rolling down your cheeks, feeling a ripple of frustration in your body. Mindfulness is experiencing both joy and misery as and when they occur, without having to do something about it or having an immediate reaction or opinion.

Mindfulness is directing your friendly awareness to the here and now, at every moment. But mindfulness practice involves some effort and intentionality.

Calmness and mindfulness
can be learnt.

BE A FROG. You could introduce an exercise as follows: “A frog is a remarkable creature. It is capable of enormous leaps, but it can also sit very, very still. Although it’s aware of everything that happens in and around it, the frog tends not to react right away. The frog sits still and breathes, preserving its energy instead of getting carried away by all the ideas that keep popping into its head. The frog sits still, very still, while it breathes. Its frog tummy rises a bit and falls again. It rises and falls. “Anything a frog can do, you can do too. All you need is mindful attention. Attention to the breath. Attention and peace and quiet.”

Calming activities for children with Autism

Consider implementing some of the following calming activities:

• Working in a tent
• Resting on beanbags
• Gentle bouncing or rolling on a small exercise ball
• Rolling up tight in a blanket or having a weighted blanket to wrap around
• Slow rhythmic movements- tyre swing, rocking horse, facing each other holding hands rocking to and fro
• Doing “heavy work” rolling tyres, dragging weighted bags
• Offering a fidget toys basket with items that can be pulled, squeezed, and manipulated
• Giving children bubble wrap to keep in their pockets during group times
• Singing or listening to calming action songs
• Sitting and reading child’s favourite stories.

Calming sensory seekers

To calm children seeking sensory input, activities that are not typically calming will often help regulate a child’s sensory needs. Then a child may be able participate in a calming activity.

Some of these activities can include:

• Bouncing on a ball
• Swinging on a tyre swing
• Spinning around and crashing on a mat
• Rolling around on the ground
• Playing games like musical freeze
• Throwing around a balloon

Different strategies will work for different children.

Before the behaviour

Educator tells children, “Time to pack away, put the trains away.” There was no warning provided. The other children follow instructions and begin to pack away the train set. Ben was playing with this and instantly reacts to the request.

The behaviour

Ben begins throwing the materials, runs around the room and returns hitting another child in the face with a train. The child who was hit was packing away the train set.

Step 1 Manage the behaviour

The following doesn’t help child or educators.

The educator tells Ben that it wasn’t the right thing to do and to say sorry. Educator encourages Ben to ‘use his words’. The educator who initially started the packing away transition comforts the child who has a red mark on his face. The other educator is unsure of how to respond so continues to transition the other children to the group time mat.

A better approach – What could have happened?

Educators could have:

• introduced warning bells, visual cards or clear instructions the child responds to support the transition of packing away
• allowed children to pack away in stages and let Ben leave his track out for later
• used a visual board with two steps – ‘first’ and ‘then’ showing images of what will be happening.

• added a picture of a train to Ben’s visual routine
• supported Ben with routine of packing away and involved him in preparing group time to eliminate meltdown occurring.

Step 2 Identify the purpose of the behaviour

Now that everyone is busy and out of Ben’s way he can continue to play trains.

Step 3 Plan of intervention

Critically reflect on the situation to see that no warning was given to Ben and that he was only aggressive to the other child because the educator didn’t carefully plan the transition and implement the types of steps discussed above.

Step 4 Replace behaviour

When a child has a meltdown provide an area for the child to self regulate. Rather than stopping the behaviour replace it eg let a child throw beanbags at the brick wall or into a bucket.

Step 6 Reward for replacement behaviour or following tasks using supports.

When a child packs away they get to choose a sensory item from their reinforcement kit.

Some children will demonstrate aggressive behaviours. These may be verbal or non‐ verbal.

In this situation there’s not much you can do to stop it other than letting it burn out.

It’s important to respond quickly to ensure the safety of the child, other children, and in a service staff and visitors. Remove all children away from the aggressor if you can. When responding to aggressive behaviours, we must aim to:

• Comfort the victim of the aggressive behaviour
• COMFORT THE CHILD WHO HAS BEEN AGGRESSIVE

It may take up to 20 minutes for the child to be able to reason with you and talk after the outburst. The neocortex in the brain has shut down and raw emotions are controlling the behaviour at this point in time. Be patient and go in with a big bundle of love, care and emotional support.

Sometimes we jump in and accuse the child. A better way to deal with these situations is to reverse time. This will be different depending on the child’s ability to communicate.

NON VERBAL CHILD OR MINIMAL LANGUAGE

HIGH FUNCTIONING VERBAL CHILD

Charlotte didn’t like coming to the centre, but her mother needed a rest. This meant she screamed for two hours, hit her head, vomited then went home. Nobody liked this situation, but her mother really needed a break.

Charlotte’s Meltdowns

A meltdown occurs when the child’s fight or flight part of the brain kicks in and takes over. When this occurs, the other part of the brain used for thinking and reasoning is basically switched off.  For children with Autism this is intensified by all the other challenges the child may be experiencing whether it be sensory, communication or environmental.

What we need to do is look at the child who’s having the meltdown and think, “Wow, he or she must have felt threatened or confused in this situation and the emotional brain kicked in to get them out of it.” The difficult part for us is to work out what the child’s feeling threatened or confused by. We need to see the child’s world through their eyes, not ours.

The transition was causing Charlotte’s meltdowns because she did not understand why she couldn’t just stay at home with Mum.

Professor Linda Harrison from Charles Sturt University has identified morning transition for typically developing children from home to the centre as a very stressful time for them, let alone a child on the spectrum. The morning transition is far more stressful in a family grouping room and she has suggested that we separate into our own rooms as soon as possible in the morning. What is interesting is the afternoon family groupings are not as stressful for the children as they have spent the day with you.

How we worked with Charlotte.

Step 1 The everyday event we chose was to make Charlotte’s transition from home better.

Step 2 Plan with families

Transition can be even more difficult for children on the spectrum and we need to work with parents to help create a picture plan of events that will occur and finish with the child at home with the parents feeling safe.

With Charlotte and her family we created a ‘social story’ book consisting of pictures including her routine from home, transport to the centre, activities at the centre, transport ride home again and back to the safety of mum.

Step 3 Prepare all educators

We made sure everyone knew how the book would be used with Charlotte and where it would be kept.

Initially have no more than two different educators implementing the plan.

Step 4 Practice the plan

It started to work with one small step at a time. Charlotte stopped screaming. But she ran outside and sat by the fence. We realised the room was too loud and she couldn’t cope.

Again slowly, very slowly we introduced her to the room with the help of picture cards ensuring there were activities like drawing included that she really enjoyed.

Step 5 Reflection on the work goals

Early intervention came in later to assist further, for example in coping with the noise, knowing what to expect and looking at the demands we place on children.

Demands include statements like ‘come inside now’, ‘put your shoes on’, ‘sit on the mat’. We need to change the triggers and the way we communicate. We also then looked at the situation from Charlotte’s perspective and wrote down all the things we thought she could be feeling about the transitions.

This led us to try breaking the demand down into smaller steps eg ‘Come inside’ becomes

1) Sit down with Charlotte in the sandpit

2) Play with a bucket like Charlotte

3) Tell Charlotte “2 minutes then pack away”

4) Put bucket in container saying “mine first then Charlotte’s”

5) Make it fun and use positive effects. Children with Autism often need extra effect to gain their attention. Give them a reason to want to look at you eg brush the sand off the bucket and say “oh look at all the sand WOOSH off it goes and BOING in the bucket it goes.” Ask her to copy you eg “your turn now Charlotte WOOSH get your sand off.”

6) Use lots of smiles and positive, calm, quiet talking as educator goes over to the bathroom door encouraging Charlotte to follow.

7) Educator washing hands as Charlotte follows. If needed use same technique as step 5.

Think small steps. Break the big demand down and show her exactly what to do.

One small step at a time with lots of planning. Be patient and learn how to communicate with each child in a way that works for them