AUTISM FORUM
6-02-02 Autism and Outdoor Play
COLNBROOK SCHOOL (HOST)
MANDEVILLE SCHOOL
ALEXANDRA SCHOOL
GRANGEWOOD SCHOOL
OAKLEY SCHOOL
HARROW SENSORY & COMMUNICATION TEAM
A tour of Colnbrook School's outdoor play facilities was followed by discussion of the following aspects of outdoor play;
1.Break up the playground into discrete areas
Many of these correspond with standard Early Years practice but with the added criteria of being Autism Friendly.
a)Quiet Area with tables/benches
Colnbrook has play-table benches "Picnix Game boards" by Fawns (Tel 01252 717582)
These have game boards built in to the tops eg snakes and ladders and a road plan for toy cars.Strong chunky cars/trucks
are put out and the rule is to keep them on the tables.The area is supervised and the turn taking games need more supervision.
Some schools provide small construction such as duplo in a quiet area.
For some children the chance to sit quietly in a defined space rather than engage in possibly stressful interactions should be facilitated.
b)Role play Area- a defined area could themed eg as a postoffice or dressing clothes provided.
c)Large Construction Area- milkcrates have been used successfully for construction.Issues are storage and supervison to prevent throwing .
d)Bike/trike areas - tyres bolted together could be used to make tracks.Other schools had tyres sunk into playground.Some had holes drilled in the tyres to aid drainage.
e)Active Play- marked hopscotch games and a circular marked running route .Football goals,netball/basketball hoops fixed to wall.
f)Playground Apparatus- eg slides,tyre swings,swings .In some cases permission had to be gained from the LEA for swings.Climbing frames,
g)Art/Literacy Play- chalk provided to draw /write on paper taped to ground ,on playground or on free standing/fixed chalkboards. Issue could be chalking on walls.
Water painting-could be used to "paint" walls! Making kites.
h)Outdoor buildings used for play
These could be eg an 8 foot x 6 foot open wooden cabin or a mobile classroom/music room.
If the door is clipped open good visibility for supervison is possible.
i)sensory garden
2.Dinner time clubs
Some schools had a "club" a day eg a craft club cutting kitchen rolls to make bracelets/sand and water/musical instruments /dance in the hall or in a mobile classrrom
Sometimes these clubs were held just outside a classroom door.
Other clubs could be much as mainstream ones eg "choir".
Teaching playground games such as What's the time Mr Wolf.
Teach team games such as football,rugby,tag rugby. Tag could involve the chaser taking a cloth + velcro tag from the chased child's arm or waist
and is more visually understandable then just chasing.The general principles of Teacch can be used to help teach games.
Another version was cat and mouse where the last person caught by the cat became the cat in the next game.
Building up the skills for team games requires direct teaching . This can be carried out in the playground alongside
the actual games and may include using social stories as well as teaching physical skills eg ball skills.
In the integrated situation buddies support child in simple running holding hands games.In other schools peer tutoring had been tried and sometimes children with challenging
behaviour had made good peer tutors.It was not an easy option however eg the "tutors" may simply play with the toys themselves and so there needs to be planned
peer tutoring programme. Reverse integration happens in some schools where children from a mainstream school come in for eg art or music. It was considered that
it might be helpful if it could be done in the playground too so that social play could be role modelled. Any volunteers to be first?!
3.Communication- rules,social stories and PECS
Social stories are used in teaching the social skills needed for team games eg that you might feel sad if lose but that if you try hard next time you might win.
Playground rules expressed in a positive way had been used on large laminated sheets using Writing with Symbols .Examples were "play nicely with friends"
"take turns", "play games,not fighting",along with other positive suggestions "use the apparatus" ,"run and chase","draw, write and colur", "play a pretend game".
PECS has been used on return from playtime to express feelings with respect to a playground incident.
PECS is also being used to make choices and initiate interaction in the playground eg the staff at one school have keyrings holding laminated plastic rectangles.
On each rectangle is fixed a symbol held by velcro. The child can approach and request something by finding the desired symbol and giving it to to the staff member.
examples of symbols used in this way were swing,drink,toilet,slide,trike,chase. Later children may have their own keyrings.Other visual supports that could be used included
the PECS WAIT token and other large symbols that staff could used to help a child understand what is being requested.
4.Issues included;
a)Storage
Some schools could not leave materials out overnight.
b)Wet Weather
It was considered harder in winter as not so much stuff could be taken out.Some schools had difficulty with waterlogged grounds in wet weather
Some schools went out in almost any weather and were aided by having open cabin type structures. Also wet weather gear for children and staff was organised.
Where the weather had been bad over a long period schools utilised the hall or soft play areas or brought PE equipment such as a trampette or parachute into
class to give the children some active play.
c)Challenging behaviour
This was thought often to be related to the idea that the children don't know what to do or how to do it and thus teaching them playskills and social skills
in the context of the playground should reduce this.
d)Staffing
This varies school to school depending partly on the differing needs of the school populations and the staffing available.It was
thought to be crucial to have good staffing levels at playtimes to move beyond simple prevention of challenging behaviour
towards engaging the children in quality outdoor learning. The balance during playtimes between directed teaching and the
facilitation of generalisation of learning and choice making/leisure skills/self occupation was considered.
It may be that children need to experience each thing with support in a fairly structured fashion before they can make an informed choice.
The test of the success of any intervention eg teaching games was that the children played the games at playtime at times when there was no
direct teaching going on.
e)Training- of all staff including SMSAs in developing outdoor play skills.
f)Funding -the money available to schools to develop their playground provision differs. Some schools had obtained grants through
eg Children in Need , or the NOF .
References
"Autism and Play-"Jannik Beyer and Lone Gammeltoft (1998,Jessica Kingsley)
Future Areas for Discussion
1.Behaviour Management
2.Communication
Next Meeting: Wed 29th May 2002 at Alexandra School Harrow
The meeting will focus on interactive communication.