Autism and the Post Primary School Programme, Parents, Hazelwood College, Co. Limerick (Book all 4 courses)

Autism and Sensory Processing
Sensory processing refers to the ability of a student to register, interpret and respond to sensory information. This is a complex process involving all the sensory systems (auditory, gustatory, visual, olfactory, tactile, proprioceptive, vestibular and interoception). When sensory processing is working well, a young person can engage in daily functional activities and social interaction. Sensory processing differences are prevalent in autistic young people and can affect every aspect of life and development.
This session examines the sensory processing differences and will demonstrate how such differences impact on learning, leisure activities and choices, social interactions, and behaviour in school. 
Participants will: 
•    Develop a basic understanding of some of the sensory processing differences. 
•    Understand how sensory processing differences can affect the young person’s experience in school. 
•    Gain knowledge of strategies, which will assist in meeting the young person’s sensory needs. 

Autism and Anxiety Management
Post Primary aged autistic students experience anxiety in many situations, with some experiencing significant anxiety difficulties. 
This session is an introduction to strategies that can be used to alleviate the experience of anxiety in autistic students. This will include an introduction to cognitively based strategies and how to develop student centred strategies to deal with anxiety.
This will include:
•    An introduction to cognitively based strategies 
•    How to develop student centred strategies to deal with anxiety.
Participants will: 
•    Understand how the difficulties experienced by autistic students, including sensory difficulties, can contribute to the development of anxiety.
•    Understand how anxiety can escalate and may result in an emotional stress response.
•    Develop some simple strategies to prevent the escalation of anxiety.
•    Understand the basics of cognitively based management approaches.
Course Overview
•    Anxiety triggers and build up.
•    “On the spot” anxiety management strategies.
•    Developing a “stress kit.”
•    Cognitively based approaches and the emotional toolkit

Autism and Life Skills including Relationships and Sexuality Education  
Life skills are the skills needed daily for independent functioning. Often a young autistic people need explicit modelling and teaching of these skills to develop them as they grow and progress through life. Whilst life skills involve practical skills, it is important to include executive function and thinking skills in the list. 
This session will explore practical strategies to support the development of daily living skills including understanding of the changes that occur to the body during the teenage years. Effective teaching of life skills, including relationship and sexuality education, involves close partnership and collaboration between school and parents/carers to ensure teaching is clear and consistent between settings for the autistic teenager. 
Participants will:
Have a greater understanding of how autism impacts on the development of life skills during the teenage years. 
•    Explore methods effective in assessing and teaching life skills to autistic teenagers in the school and home environment.
•    Explore strategies that are effective in supporting autistic teenagers develop life skills including relationship and sexuality skills. 
•    Have increased understanding of how to optimise opportunities to improve and develop autistic teenagers’ life skills within the school and home environments.
Overview:
•    What are life skills. 
•    How does autism affect the development of these skills for autistic teenagers?
•    Explore categories of life skills, including the changes that occur to the body during the teenage years. 
•    Explore some resources effective for developing and delivering life skills including relationship and sexuality education (RSE) to autistic teenagers. 
Life skills are regarded as independent living skills or daily living skills. It is also important to include executive function or thinking skills such as organising, planning, prioritising and decision making.
Categories of life skills include: 
•    Self-advocacy
•    Personal finance
•    Transport and community involvement
•    Leisure and recreation opportunities and activities
•    Home living skills
•    Career path and employment.
•    Relationships and Sexuality Education, including friendships
Effective teaching of issues around life skills and sexuality education involves close collaboration between schools and parents to ensure messages are clear for autistic students. This session will examine the impact of adolescence on young autistic people and examine the broad definition of life skills, within the contexts of work, leisure, and personal care, and how difficulties may directly affect the development of life skills. Participants will be shown how to incorporate behavioural interventions with visual strategies to help autistic teenagers cope with some of the typical issues of adolescence and the acquisition of life skills. 
It will also focus on the delivery of relationships and sexuality education for autistic students.    
Participants will:
•    Have a greater understanding of how difficulties may affect the development of life skills in work, leisure, and personal care.
•    Learn and develop methods to assess and teach life skills in the School and family environment.
•    Be more able to facilitate students to achieve greater independence in relevant daily activities such as play, work tasks, personal hygiene, toileting, and organisational skills. 
•    Have an increased understanding of the opportunities available to improve and develop students’ life skills within the school and home environment.
•    Understand the impact of adolescence on autistic students.
•    Learn some strategies involving behavioural and visual strategies that will provide supports to autistic adolescents.
•    Provide strategies for the delivery of sex and relationships education to autistic students.

Autism and Communication
Communication is a multi-faceted, complex interaction involving mastery in many of the following,
•    Understanding non-verbal cues  
•    Command of tone of voice  
•    Command of facial expressions  
•    Understanding different purposes of conversation  
•    Sense of humour  
•    Familiarity with social courtesies  
•    Making the abstract concrete  
•    Visual structure and predictable routines  
•    Activities that provide support for language abilities  
•    Interactions that provide focus on peers and self-awareness  
•    Generalisations  
Communication can, therefore, be challenging for many autistic young people. Many want to be socially interactive, make friends and form relationships, be included within the classroom and wider community, but find it difficult because of the many social conventions needed to achieve effective communication.
Young autistic people experiencing such difficulties may find it hard to understand the messages being given, such as the meaning others put into their voice, the expressions on their faces, and gestures such as waving, pointing or shrugging.

Participants will have an increased understanding of
•    How communication is defined. 
•   Communication difficulties 
•    Best practices in supporting the young person in the classroom, family home and wider community
•    The importance of visual information as it remains available long enough to enable the young person to focus on it or return to it as needed to establish memory for the message it is communicating.
•    Visual tools provide a non-transient foundation for more effective communication. 
•    How to use the strengths of the autistic young person to help him or her communicate effectively.