Saturday April 2nd is Autism Awareness and a wonderful opportunity to raise understanding of ASD.

As it is on a Saturday, I would love you to start planning now what you can do Friday April 1st in your school, preschool.

That is 2 weeks away at the time I post this Blog
Hope these 9 Key Tips to Promote Understanding in the Classroom might give you some ideas

9 Key Strategies to Promote Understanding in the Classroom

1. You must first have permission from parents to discuss the child’s ASD in the classroom.

Conduct the ‘My Life in a Box’ activity. This is a fantastic activity for the whole school. ‘My Life in a Box’ is where for News each child brings in a box with objects that tell us about themselves e.g. favourite book, places they have been on holidays, favourite food, favourite colour, sport, pets, etc. If the child has ASD or has a sibling with ASD they can include a book about ASD to read to the class. It is VERY important they talk about all the other interests they have first and then say “I have Autism/Aspergers”, or “My brother, sister, cousin, etc has Autism/Aspergers.” Encourage ALL students to bring in epi-pens, asthma puffers, cultural objects or family traditions so everyone has something ‘different’.
Explain ASD at the right level for the class. (I highly recommend All Cats Have Aspergers – early years to secondary love this book). This book is available on the website.
Give real life explanations about the sensory issues that students experience such as touch, movement, smell, etc. “When Johnny walks out the door at lunchtime he finds it hard when people touch him as he moves. When he is bumped into accidentally he may push you away.”