SEND TEACHING SUPPORT TEAM
Autism Spectrum Conditions / CHILDREN’S
SERVICES
Pre-referral Tasks for Secondary school students with autism, associated conditions and communication and interaction difficulties.
Below are recommendations of actions that can be taken by school before making a referral to the SEND TST.
The actions are set out in relation to the areas of difficulties that many students with an autism spectrum condition may experience.
Communication
□Use the students name at the start of any verbal interaction to gain attention
□Ask clear and directed questions to raise the student’s awareness that you are speaking to them
□Keep language simple and literal
□Avoid use of idiomatic language
□Avoid rhetoric and ambiguous humour (Explain jokes if necessary)
□Allow student additional time to process language
□Provide carefully considered and consistent responses to presenting language and behaviours.( Behaviours that challenge are often attempts to communicate).
□To reinforce verbal information and instructions:
-Break down into small steps
-Repeat instructions and check understanding
-Demonstrate and model what you want the student to do.
-Use visual supports e.g. a detailed planner, task schedule, written
prompts, colour coded books/files/subjects/rooms.
Social awareness, understanding and interaction
□Make implicit school rules explicit.
□Provide support in group work and clarify his/her role within a group
□Encourage peer support and understanding of needs and differences, including the student’s strengths (raising awareness within the wider school community of their responsibility)Consider the use of peer support e.g. Circle of Friends™
□Model and prompt appropriate social behaviour - help individual to understand how to respond if he/she is upset, angry, worried, frustrated etc
□Provide ‘safe haven’ for break and lunchtimes away from busy outdoor areas and canteen
□Be aware of potential for social isolation and vulnerability
Rigidity of thought and behaviour
□Don’t assume student will ask for help. Check out understanding. You may need to find subtle ways of doing this.
□Keep the classroom environment and lesson structure clear and predictable
□Support the start and finish of a task.
□Break tasks down into sub- tasks. Use a check list.
□Use visual means of demarcating passage of time to help develop time management e.g. Egg timers or visual clock
□Prepare the student in advance for changes to routine within a lesson and during the school day.
□During unstructured times provide student with support or an alternative structured task/activity
□Base teaching on students learning style. Modify tasks to relate to students particular interest or skill; focus on factual responses rather than opinion and perspective taking.
□Modify homework tasks: clear and explicit, not open ended; provide additional written instruction; clarify the timescale to be spent; promote an in school homework club.
□Modify school rules and sanctions, recognising those aspects of behaviour which relate to. Respond calmly and consistently within this flexible framework to presenting behaviours and language.
Sensory differences.
- Be aware that sensory issues (noise, visual distraction, smells, etc) can affect concentration and anxiety levels.
- Consider where the student sits in class. Seat the student according to his needs rather than a standard seating plan: e.g. near or away from a particular student, in own clearly defined work space, away from sensory distractions, where teacher can be seen and heard
- Adapt environment to limit sensory overload
- Reduce stimulation by providing quiet locations for break and lunchtimes away from busy outdoor areas and canteen
- Modify school rules and sanctions, recognising those aspects of behaviour which relate to autism, associated conditions and communication and interaction difficulties. Allow flexibility in relation to the sensory demands placed upon the student; e.g. dress code / attending assembly/ P.E./ Food Technology.