Creating Autism Champions

Autism Awareness Training for Key Stage 1 and 2

Joy Beaney, Haitham Al-Ghani

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781785921698
• eBook ISBN: 9781784504410
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Counseling

Raising awareness and understanding of autism has school-wide benefits, such as helping to improve the attitudes of pupils and staff and allowing children with autism to thrive socially, emotionally and educationally alongside their peers. This comprehensive resource provides a whole school programme for raising autism awareness and promoting inclusion.

It includes training for staff in the knowledge and skills they need to support pupils, a sample school assembly, and lesson plans for teaching groups of pupils to be 'autism champions'. This programme also offers photocopiable worksheets and online presentations to use as part of the staff training, school assembly and peer awareness lessons. There is advice for involving children with autism and their parents in school activities. Easily adaptable for different age groups, this is a ready-made resource for schools committed to promoting autism awareness and whole school welfare.

PART 1

RAISING PEER AWARENESS

Assembly Notes and Lesson Plans

The PowerPoint presentation for this part can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/voucher using the code BEANEYAUTISM.

PEER AWARENESS
ASSEMBLY NOTES

Autism Awareness for the Whole School

PEER AWARENESS ASSEMBLY OR INTRODUCTORY LESSON PLAN

Lesson title: What is Autism?

Introduction

The ready-to-use assembly slides can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/voucher using the code BEANEYAUTISM and shown on the screen to pupils. If you would like the children to be more involved in delivering the assembly, slides could be printed out for the pupils to hold up. Notes are provided to enable staff to deliver the assembly with confidence.

If you do not wish to deliver this material as an assembly the information can form an introductory lesson about Autism for the class or a small group.

Learning objectives

•To introduce the term ‘Autism’.

•To promote awareness and acceptance of pupils with Autism.

•To explain how pupils can help their peers with Autism.

Resources

•Laptop

•Projector

•Assembly PowerPoint slides (slides 1–19)

•Mozart CD

•Resource 1: A-U-T-I-S-M assembly cards — write how children can support their peers on the reverse of letters (the downloadable versions of the cards are enlarged to give one letter per page, so I’d suggest downloading and printing this resource rather than photocopying it)

•Arrange 6 chairs facing the audience

Teaching and learning activity

Introduction: Explain that the aim of the assembly is to raise awareness of Autism. Ask pupils to raise their hands if they have heard of Autism. Explain that 1 in 100 people have Autism.

Peer Awareness Assembly and Lesson Plans - Slide 2

Teacher’s script: Autism affects how a person communicates and interacts with other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. Having Autism means you have a different way of seeing the world that can sometimes makes it difficult to understand people. People are born with Autism – you cannot catch it from another person.

Peer Awareness Assembly and Lesson Plans - Slide 3

Teacher’s script: Everyone is different and Autism affects people differently. Some people may have mild Autism and others have Autism that is more severe. Some children with Autism may be very smart. Some children with Autism don’t seem to want to communicate with people and may not talk. Some children with Autism want friends but don’t know how to make friends.

This is why it is called an Autism spectrum.

Peer Awareness Assembly and Lesson Plans - Slide 4

Teacher’s script: In our school we may see children on the Autism spectrum.

People with Autism can find change difficult to cope with and get anxious if their routine changes. They may be very sensitive to things around them in their environment and, for example, might find sounds in the classroom or everyone playing in the playground too noisy for them. People with Autism have difficulty understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings. Some people with Autism can find it difficult to express when they are feeling anxious, angry or frustrated in an appropriate way so may react aggressively.

Activity: Choose 6 children to come to the front of the assembly hall to hold up the large letters spelling ‘AUTISM’.

Turn the cards over one by one to reveal how they can support a pupil with Autism and become a champion for Autism.

Peer Awareness Assembly and Lesson Plans - Slide 6

...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Raising Peer Awareness: Assembly Notes and Lesson Plans
• 2. School Staff Notes for Autism Awareness Training
• 3. Developing a Supportive Team
• Further Resources
• Join our mailing list
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright
• Of Related Interest