Individuals on the autism spectrum may have the most success when they are engaged in something that they have an interest in.   An autistic person may struggle with staying engaged and focused on tasks or activities if they are not of interest to them, especially if these tasks appear visually overwhelming, are new, or they are above or below their perceived level of ability. Whilst this may be true of everyone, the degree of disengagement and concerns that can arise for an autistic person and otherwise neurodivergent individuals because of this can be significant. So, what can we d ..read more

Part 3 Read Part 1 and Part 2 Some high school teachers did not explain things in a way that meant anything to my daughter, and she still struggles with why an English teacher was so hung up on her being able to determine why the author of a piece of work mentioned there were blue curtains. Why were they blue and what did it mean? In her literal way of thinking it was because they were blue and maybe that was the author’s favourite colour? She struggled with the inference that it was representational of the grief and sadness in the writing. She does not forget these things easily if at all. Th ..read more

Part 2 Read Part 1 At school my daughter did well, and loved it, had a great bunch of friends some of which she had known since play group, and was always at a friend’s house or had friends over. Although she frequently would come home and tell me that she “hated” all her friends, which confused me somewhat! I soon realised it was not her friends she hated but the fact they did not do things in a way that made sense to her and were often, as girls can be, doing things behind each other’s backs and not following the rules and conventions that were important to my daughter. With her also having ..read more

Part 1 My children are all amazing humans. They beat their own drum and dance to their own beat. In other words, they do their own thing in their own way, are all so completely different to each other and are also very different to all other equally amazing humans. Just like the rest of us! One of my amazing children was diagnosed this year at 21 years of age as being autistic. She is still that same amazing human she always was and will continue to be, she just has a new tribe now too. She knows that she fits somewhere other than our home and with her group of close-knit friends (some of whom ..read more

Anxiety can affect every human being at some point in their life. We have all experienced times when our pulses race, our palms get sweaty, thoughts become unclear, and we are unable to move forward for a moment in time to reach a goal. For autistic individuals however, this may not be a moment in time, but nearly every moment, as a person strives to fit into a world that may not make sense to, or that may not fit, them. What is anxiety? Anxiety is a physiological (bodily) and psychological (mental) response to stimulus from the world around us: Everyone experiences anxiety Some people may ha ..read more

Download the full Inclusive Learning Environment PDF here Download the full Inclusive Learning Environment PDF here The post What to consider when creating an inclusive learning environment appeared first on The Spectrum ..read more

For anyone who is considering whether or not to disclose a diagnosis of autism to an employer, there are bound to be a lot of questions. In this Q&A session, we deal with some of the most common questions that people with autism have when making this important decision. What does disclosure mean? Disclosure is when you let your employer know that you have been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. Individuals with autism in the workforce are very often faced with this choice of whether or not to disclose to their employer that they have a diagnosis. The decision is ultimately one that ..read more

What are functional skills and why are they important? Functional skills are those that are required for daily living activities. These are the everyday tasks and routines that people undertake on a regular basis as part of domestic, school or working life. Daily living activities can include preparing meals, self-care, sleeping and toileting, all of which require functional skills as well as the ability to plan and stay on task. Developing functional skills contributes to quality of life, both in childhood and later on. For older teens and adults, in particular, they are an important componen ..read more

Mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder or OCD, are not part of the autism spectrum and should be considered as separate mental health conditions. Nevertheless, it is the case that a larger number of people on the autism spectrum will live with a mental health condition at some point in their life time. In the case of teenagers and young adults on the spectrum, some of the characteristics of autism may contribute to their developing a mental health condition, with these co-occurring conditions not appearing until they reach this stage of their development. At t ..read more

The Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) conducts research into autism with the aim of providing evidence-based outcomes that can be translated into practical solutions. The document entitled Creating Autistic Inclusive Environments is a product of this research, and focuses on what is required in order for workshops, conferences and conventions to create an inclusive environment that caters for the needs, desires and preferences of all attendees. These guidelines are also designed to reduce the anxiety of people with autism who are attending such events. The report ..read more