Weekly Staff Bulletin

Autism Practices

Learning Specialists & Leading Teachers

Support for Parents:

Whenever you are supporting parents, it is important to remember the basics, JSA supports and the importance of working together with parents. 

JSA supports:

  • Remember to consult welfare. The JSA welfare team are always great to consult about issues. This way you can feel informed when supporting parents. 
  • Consult talk with the JSA therapist team. Their knowledge and support will help through discussions with parents.
  • NDIS navigator, If you receive any NDIS questions refer them to our NDIS navigator. 

The Autism Basics 

Know your basics it is a lot easier to talk to parents if you have a good knowledge of autism read the following is taken from the “Home Autism Handbook”.

The Triad of Neurology Theory of Mind 

Theory of Mind is the fundamental human ability to “Mind Read”. Impairment in theory of mind is a key feature of autism. From approximately the age of 4, typically developing children develop the ability to understand that other people have thoughts, beliefs, intentions and desires of their own; that they have their own minds, and we are not all connected with one shared mind. 

Implications of impaired Theory of Mind: 

  • Difficulty in understanding that others are thinking and feeling something different to themselves 
  • Difficulty in understanding that other people’s feelings, thoughts and beliefs impact how they behave 
  • Challenges in developing the concept of ‘self’ and ‘others’ 
  • Lack of ‘self’ awareness results in challenges in developing personal episodic memories and therefore recalling personal experiences 

Executive Function 

The Executive Function is a theorised cognitive system in psychology operating from the frontal lobe of the brain. It explains some of the impairments found in autism. 

  • Implications of impaired Executive Function: 
  • Difficulty in planning and organisation (including initiation) 
  • Challenges in level of impulse control (can be very impulsive) 
  • Inhibition of dominant but incorrect responses (may know the correct response, but will provide you with a preferred response) 
  • Difficulty in ‘Set maintenance’ also known as the ‘maintenance of attention’ on one set of stimuli or a task for a prolonged period (difficulty in maintaining focus/attention) 
  • Impaired flexibility of thought and action (rigidity) 

Central Coherence 

We refer to a ‘weak’ Central Coherence rather than an, ‘impaired’ one. Central Coherence is the ability to draw information together to give meaning to context. 

  • Implications of weak Central Coherence: 
  • Failure to grasp whole picture 
  • Concentrates on details – if details change so does the whole picture 
  • Difficulty with identifying which details are important 
  • Difficulty with generalising 
  • Difficulty with sequencing 
  • Inability to see relationship between different information
  • Failure to understand meaning between events and connect them to make consistent patterns 
  • Difficulties constructing high level meaning behind events. 

The Impact of Triad of Neurology in the Everyday Environment Learning profiles of people with autism may present with the following: 

  • Academic inconsistencies 
  • Spiked profile – high level of skill in particular areas/interests 
  • Strengths in logical areas i.e. Maths/computers 
  • Focus on details rather than interrelationships 
  • Difficulty with generalisation 
  • Difficulty with higher order cognitive function e.g. planning, organisation 
  • Restrictive range of interest 
  • Obsessions
  • Perseverations
  • Motivation in certain topics of interest 
  • Emotional vulnerability 
  • Difficulties in understanding own and others feelings 
  • Inappropriate responses 
  • Poor concentration 
  • Distractibility and off task behaviours 
  • Sensory issues 
  • Difficulty with change, including routines, personal changes (like puberty) and changes in classroom arrangements. 

Impaired social understanding, including a lack of understanding in social situations, lack of appropriate social skills, and difficulty with eye gaze for all of these reasons, specific autism friendly structures in place in the environment, in how we how we interact, give instructions and support people on the spectrum can have a significant impact, including in the following areas: 

  • Supporting sensory processing difficulties 
  • Supporting organisational skills to manage everyday tasks 
  • Supporting the reduction on reliance on verbal prompts or cues 
  • Supporting the reduction of stress/anxiety as a result of the demands on the individual 

When we provide an environment that is structured and organised to meet the individual’s needs of the person with autism, and provide activities and experiences tailored to their needs, we are able make a difference. These strategies and supports are based on best practice in the field of educational supports for people with autism, as are outlined in this handbook, are adapted for the home. We start with a letter to my family, from a person with autism.