SEND – suspected ASD

[kdilworth]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share any ideas/knowledge they have of how to help and support a child with suspected (but not diagnosed) ASD? The child in our setting is high functioning and verbal, but she struggles to socialise and to regulate her emotions. She doesn’t really play with the other children, and can lash out at them violently when things don’t go her way or they get too close to her. We also have issues with screaming, not taking instruction, not listening etc. She often plays by herself and only really joins in with activities she enjoys.

We have recently had a TAF meeting with mum and a child/family practitioner, but in all honesty I felt we offered more ideas for strategies than the practitioner, and none of us feel we are experts on this front. Obviously we have a SENCO who shared a couple of ideas, but I wondered if anybody on here might be able to help.

Strategies so far are: First and Then boards/visual timetable, Colour Monsters book and puppets for emotions (Nicky’s suggestion) and some supervised small group work to encourage her to build relationships, learn to share etc.

Any thoughts or ideas anybody has about other strategies we could employ, or places to look for them, would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[NIckyb]

Hi Katharine

How old is the child in question?

I would suggest that for this child lots of short bursts of 1:1 activities with an adult in a low level distraction area might be helpful. I would keep her targets small and very specific

Using items from home in a special box that she could help to decorate might be nice for helping her to calm down . – Go and get the box and share with ‘safe adult’

The Book ‘Special Needs and Early Years – a practitioners guide by Kate Wall ( 2011) has a chapter on intervention programmes which might give you some further ideas

Nicky

[zoejestico]

Hey,

I have previously worked with a child with the exactly the same behaviours.

We started initially by taking the child to.a quiet area and playing games with lots of ‘your turn my turn’ lots of sensory games, like blowing bubbles, squeezing balls. After a while of this we invited another child into our 1:1 sessions to play some turn taking games, once this was successful in our quiet space we then continued these games in the room where gradually other children came over. This really seemed to help the child by creating those initial bonds with children.

We set a space in which during circle time he knew he could come and sit down on a comfy chair if he wished, this then allowed him to make his own decision to wether he wanted to sit down and join in!

Please feel free to email me if you would like any activity ideas etc! I worked with this particular child for over two years! I have also recently completed my social emotional and mental health training for children, so I possibly could share with you the lesson plans, depending on how old your child is.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by zoejestico.

[sarahcampbell]

Yes I agree with 1:1 time in a quiet space I have used a tap tap box so sing a little song and tap a box then look inside and choose an object ( a fiddle toy ) then put it back and let adult have a turn and repeat. Do lotto matching games too. Animals down a tube is another good one. Lots of praise when child is doing something good. Sit with child within the setting to help engage them at an activity it’s called intensive interactions, this will help to develop interaction skills such as eye contact, facial expressions, copying sounds and sharing attention. It really helps with behavior issues.
Also carrying around pictures of preschool routine so you can talk about what you will he doing next and they can see visually.

[LM1234]

Hi, I hope things are going well with this child!

Yes, I definitely agree with the 1:1 adult activities. I always try to engage in short bursts of joint attention activities between myself and the child (my turn/ your turn, imitation games, intensive interaction etc) in a quiet space. Within this time I really try to focus on eye contact and positive communication including praise and lots of enthusiasm and encouragement.

As also suggested, visual cues can be a really great resource and I tend to use these throughout the whole routine, including instruction cards where needed. I tend to make many parts of the routine or behaviour that I would like to encourage into a song (“were doing good waiting” etc if you are supporting the child to take turns. If they are becoming particularly frustrated during particular activities (preferred interests) I sometimes make a separate box/tray/set up for them with their picture on. For example, a child I have worked with had a very strong interest in shapes. Whenever we had a shape activity in the room he would like become very upset as he wanted ALL of the shapes to himself and had to arrange them in a particular way. So providing him with his own box allowed him to do this whilst learning that the shapes on the table were for everyone.

I have found that distraction is sometimes the best intervention when a child with similar needs becomes frustrated and I find it very helpful to have a busy or fiddly box at hand for when this happens. I may move the child slightly away from the situation and engage in singing or distraction games or allow them to explore the garden before supporting them to return.

Another intervention I have used before (which I cant remember the name for) consisted of two identical boxes of resources which can be changed or can have whatever you like in it. The aim is for the adult to model positive play through these toys parallel to the child and slowly encourage them to engage in the same place. After several sessions, I then get a third box with the same resources and support the child to engage in this with me and another child aswell which slowly supports interaction with other children.

Lara 🙂

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