Minutes of Autism Forum meeting at Alexandra School 28.5.02

Present:

Susan Stalley, Nicki Mitchell, Rachel Viney, Liza Scott, Nichola Whelan, Pushpa Mistry, Angela Grattan Alexandra School.

Catherine Sutcliffe SALT Alexandra School

Bridget Reilly Cedars Middle School

Geraldine Santiago Access and Development Team LB Harrow

Penny Curry, Denise Feasey, Gemma Waters, David Fettes, Mandeville School

Julia Torode Sensory and Communication Team LB Harrow

Hilary McDermott Grangewood School

Jackie O'Harlan, Simon Sackwild Shaftesbury High School.

Appologies from: Liz Bannister Jonathon Budd, Stephanie Hilton, Colnbrook School. Debra Raye Educational Psychologist LB Harrow

The focus for discussion was interactive communication.

Some colleagues had tried the techniques of "Intensive Interaction" described by Dave Hewett. This system is based on mimicking the close mother/carer: child relationship, establishing trust and then using that to extend communication as a baby does when learning to communicate. The "teacher" will take the lead from the pupil, copying their communicative noises. Penny has tried it with one pupil who shouts to get attention, becoming physically close to her when she shouts but is still in the early days of trying this as a way of building a relationship. She will report back at a future meeting.

Denise talked about a workshop run by Wendy Prevezer a musician and a speech and language therapist at Springhallow school on a musical approach to developing communication skills. It gave a brief overview of an approach called Musical Interaction developed at Sutherland House School in Nottingham. The main principles involve tuning in to each child, to engage them in shared play as a basis for interaction. Sue Stalley will ask if we can get her to speak to our group.

David described Non directive communication therapy, a special time when e.g. if a child is playing in the sand, you might in a gentle way comment on what they are doing and put their play into words. Helen Cockerell also uses symbols. She makes it clear that it is a special time and counts down the end of the session. The room is set up with the play toys for that session. It enables the child to seek attention in a positive way.

The Occupational Therapist at Mandeville school has been using deep pressure massage rather like a squeezing machine to calm some children. It has been likened to "swaddling" a young baby, which helps to orientate its body in space. This needs to be done by an OT who would assess the suitability of this treatment first.

Many schools are using PECS symbols to help children interact with adults and each other.

Liza described a system they are using in Queensland to help interaction, when the children use "carrier phrases". The symbols are colour coded so the child is helped to select an appropriate sentence e.g. Julie (orange) can I play with you (blue) please (yellow). The children carry the strips with them.

Penny described how she is trying to encourage 2 children to ask for something from another child rather than snatching it. She gave each child the others favourite toy and then closely supported by an adult got them to exchange symbols for the toy. It is still in early days.

Julia described the Buddy system in mainstream. Buddies are trained to work with special children and to teach them to play games.

Other suggestions to try and get the autistic child to interact with others in a mainstream class:

Take pencils round to each group

Give out the exercise books

Give them a responsibility or a job to do.

Social skills groups usually run by a SALT.

The meeting closed with a tour of Alexandra School.

Next meeting at Shaftesbury High School, Headstone Lane, Hatch End. Harrow. It was suggested that we try and keep to the week before half term, each term so that as a group we would be able to anticipate meetings. The date therefore agreed was Tuesday October 15th. Simon agreed to send out the invitations and a map nearer the time.

appendix

Penny Curry

Intensive interaction

The following methods are mainly used with one child. 'Jan' is five years old, diagnosed autistic with severe learning difficulties. She lives in an over crowded highrise flat. She came to us from a special nursery. When she first came in to class we recognized that she needed a lot of personal space. She spent her time looking out of the windows into the playground. She continually tried to open the door, she was frequently distressed and exhibited inappropriate behaviour such as biting, scratching and screaming.

The initial method used to gain Jan's trust; choose a time when she was calm and involved with her own activity, such as finger flicking, then the adult sits in front of her and encourages eye contact however brief, Jan would be making her own sounds which were copied. At first the response was the flicking stopped. Fairly quickly she began to give sustained eye contact and responded to more exaggerated sounds with smiles and giggles. Jan also allowed touch at these times and took part in tickling or 'row row the boat' games. The physical interaction gave additional opportunity for Jan to respond. The adult, supports the activity for a few seconds, stops and waits. Jan then indicates she wants 'more' by either moving herself or vocalizing, at which time the adult says; 'you want more!' All the time the adult is smiling and fully focused on the child. It is fun and that is so important!

Over the weeks, Jan has extended her sounds to have a sing-song quality which we copy. Using eye contact she has began to seek out an adult from a distance then she calls out, or shouts. Every, time she calls someone in the room replies, using similar sounds.

Apart from developing interaction with Jan we are working on providing her with an appropriate means of gaining adult attention.

To date the inappropriate behaviours have lessoned, Jan is much more settled in class. When she does become distressed, she is able to calm more quickly. She will come independently to activities albeit for a brief time however this is a great improvement.

We have discovered this beautiful affectionate child; she can be a joy to share time with.