Autism, Asperger Syndrome and related conditions newsletter

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Exclusive Interview with Clare Lawrence

Clare Lawrence is the author of the new title Successful School Change and Transition for the Child with Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for Parents as well as How to Make School Make Sense: A Parents' Guide to Helping the Child with Asperger Syndrome both published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Clare Lawrence is a teacher and mother of two children, one of whom has Asperger syndrome.

Clare is a graduate of Oxford, York, Northumbria, Sheffield Hallam and Birmingham universities. She has a University Certificate in autism spectrum disorders and a post-graduate certificate in Asperger syndrome. For the last four years, she has been working closely with schools and exploring practical solutions on how to make school make sense for children with Asperger syndrome.

Your new book Successful School Change and Transition for the Child with Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for Parents focuses on transition, briefly why is moving school a particularly daunting prospect for children with Asperger Syndrome and how can this transition be made smoother?

Moving to a new school can be a pretty daunting prospect for any child – I think as adults we may forget just how daunting! Unfortunately, for someone with Asperger syndrome it can be doubly (or triply) difficult. Changing schools means losing the familiarity and routines that have been so carefully and painstakingly built up and plunging back into the unknown. Instead of familiar teachers and support staff whom he (or she) has come to know, at the new school a pupil with AS may be faced with four or five different teachers a day, each delivering a different subject and having different styles, expectations and rules. Instead of a familiar environment, he may be faced with the challenge of repeated movement from place to place, from room to room. Each room will have different lighting, different smells, different background noise. In each, he has to work out where to sit, what to do and to try to predict what will happen next... and that's after he's actually found the room! He may lack the communication skills to be able to say he is confused or be able to ask for help and he is unlikely to be able to tap into the kind of 'collective understanding' that his peers are using. He has to deal with break times and lunch times when it may be far from clear what he is supposed to do with himself, and he may have to deal with a less than kindly attitude from some of the other pupils. Everything about a new school may be very daunting indeed.

This transition can be made smoother if he is given time (which is a scarce commodity in most schools), space (ditto!) and plenty of opportunity to prepare. Accepting that the transition may be a challenge is a great place to start. If the child with AS, his parents, his current teachers and his new teachers and support staff all accept that there may be problems they can begin to take the issues seriously and, most importantly, they can all work together to come up with solutions to make the transition smoother.

The Lamb Inquiry has called for greater parental involvement in education. As both a parent of a child with Asperger Syndrome and a teacher what are your tips for parents wanting to become more involved with their child’s education?

Keep trying! Yes, it is hard and many parents do feel 'shut out' of schools (particularly if their own experience of being at school was not a particularity happy one), but the more they can get involved the more they can 'interpret' for their child. Often all that is needed to head off a problem is for someone to spot a misunderstanding and sort it out before it gets out of hand.

One of the great things about current times is that communication is so much easier, if we just use it. An email about an incident is quick and easy to send, and much less official than a letter used to be. A child with AS can text a parent or support assistant if he needs information or advice urgently. A teacher can email a homework assignment home, or send early warning that there will be a different teacher taking a class the next day. AS may involve a communication difficulty, but the technology is there now to help overcome it.

What do you think are the main challenges for teachers working in a mainstream environment and what are the rewards?

In both cases, meeting the needs of the pupils. There are many and varied needs of different pupils – the gifted, those with English as a second language, those special educational needs, those with disabilities ...those with all four! Pupils needs don't fit neatly into boxes, and it is a hugely demanding job meeting all of their needs, and getting the learning across as well. On the other hand, like a circus performer spinning twenty plates, what a buzz when you get it right! Our understanding of what 'inclusion' means is becoming so much more sophisticated. In the old days a child with a difference or a special need was expected to fit in as best he could, to be integrated into the school as a whole. Now it is understood that a school has a duty to differentiate to allow for the needs of various children and to adapt its ways to accommodate different pupils (and staff.) The personal rewards for getting that right are enormous.

How has support given to children on the spectrum changed since you first started work as a teacher and what are you hopes for this in the coming years?

I don't think anyone had even heard of the autistic spectrum when I started – certainly no-one ever mentioned it to me! That has changed, I hope. I think all staff in schools are becoming more aware of the spectrum and better informed about how to help pupils with ASDs. However, there's still a way to go. My hope for the coming years is that this first generation of adults who were diagnosed young and who have had a chance to grow up understanding their own condition are given an opportunity to be heard. They are the ones who can tell us most about how we can avoid the pitfalls and about how education can be made better for pupils with autism and Asperger syndrome, and we need to listen to them.

What are you currently reading in your spare time?

I don't know if it counts, but I'm reading the Jeremy James stories by David Henry Wilson to my son with Asperger syndrome at bedtime (my daughter is getting too old for bedtime stories, but I believe she listens through the door!). They are absolutely brilliant, very subversive and they make him chuckle! For myself I'm treating myself to yet another re-read of The Go Between by L P Hartley. I try to make myself take three or four years between readings and then eke it out in thimblefuls to make it last. It is such a beautifully little book.

Copyright © Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2010

Successful School Change and Transition for the Child with Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for Parents is released this month and is available to order. See the below link for more details.

More details of the book

JKP News

JKP author Phoebe Caldwell has won the Times/Sternberg Award for pioneering autism treatment.

Autism in the news - some of the articles in the media this month

BBC News has published a story about self-awareness and autism.

The NAS backs a 'unique' approach to Autism insurance.

You can now follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook!

Email us with your news, events or feedback at news@jkp.com or visit our website for more on our books.

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This month's author feature on Intensive Interaction by JKP author Phoebe Caldwell

Based on ‘imitation, Intensive Interaction uses body language to communicate with non-verbal (and semi-verbal) people on the autistic spectrum. In order to protect themselves from sensory overload, children on the spectrum retreat into repetitive behaviours, focusing on something that does makes sense. If they cannot find this coherence, they may be overtaken by disturbance involving confusion, pain and heat. The child may lash out or self injure.

Intensive Interaction asks what a child is doing? It looks at all their behaviour - and any activities that focus on a particular aspect of the world outside themselves. The brain may fixate on breathing rhythm, or activities like tearing paper, or themes such as Thomas the Tank Engine, specific computer programmes - or certain tunes or movements. Such behaviours help the child to cut down on the external stimuli, focusing instead on a conversation between their brain and the feedback they are getting from the stimulus. Far from trying to stop such behaviours, we are going to use them to gain access to our child partner’s attention, in the same way as we use a smart card.

Contrary to what is normally understood, children on the autistic spectrum do recognise when we use their own body language to communicate, provided we respond using the repertoire of their personal behaviours. We are shifting their attention from solitary self-stimulation to shared activity, remembering that what is important is not just what they do - but how they do it, since this tells us how they feel. If we just mimic, we catch the child’s attention but after a while there is a tendency to loose interest. Rather than ‘mimicking, we ‘answer’. Using elements of their repertoire we respond in ways that echo their rhythms but also put them in a slightly different way, like jazz where you have a theme and variations.

Our aim is to interact with the child’s brain in a way that reduces their stress level. Eye contact increases, they move closer and are more socially responsive. There are also some cognitive improvements, such as the ability to generalise (within the limits of their disability), refer back and particularly, to be able to copy hand movements. Intensive Interaction is not a cure for autism but allows us to engage with children. It brings calm and pleasure to their lives. Aloneness becomes shared interest.

Copyright © Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2010

Phoebe Caldwell is the author of three JKP titles including Using Intensive Interaction and Sensory Integration: A Handbook for Those who Support People with Severe Autistic Spectrum Disorder®. See the below link for more details.

More details of the book

Content links

• Interview: Clare Lawrence
• Autism Books
• News
• Article by Phoebe Caldwell
• Useful dates
• Unsubscribe info

JKP Autism books

Successful School Change and Transition for the Child with Asperger Syndrome:
A Guide for Parents
Clare Lawrence

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Managing Family Meltdown:
The Low Arousal Approach and Autism
Linda Woodcock and Andrea Page

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The One and Only Sam:
A Story Explaining Idioms for Children with Asperger Syndrome and Other Communication Difficulties
Aileen Stalker

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Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child :
Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting
Nancy Williams

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Motivate to Communicate!:
300 Games and Activities for Your Child with Autism
Simone Griffin and Dianne Sandler

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A Spectrum of Light:
Inspirational Interviews with Families Affected by Autism
Francesca Bierens

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Autism and its Medical Management:
A Guide for Parents and Professionals
Michael Chez

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Fuzzy Buzzy Groups for Children with Developmental and Sensory Processing Difficulties:
A Step-by-Step Resource
Fiona Brownlee and Lindsay Munro

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Practical Behaviour Management Solutions for Children and Teens with Autism:
The 5P Approach
Linda Miller

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Getting to Grips with Asperger Syndrome:
Understanding Adults on the Autism Spectrum
Carol Hagland

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Working with Adults with Asperger Syndrome
A Practical Toolkit
Carol Hagland and Zillah Webb

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22 Things a Woman Must Know:
If She Loves a Man with Asperger's Syndrome
Rudy Simone

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Can the World Afford Autistic Spectrum Disorder?
Nonverbal Communication, Asperger Syndrome and the Interbrain
Digby Tantam

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The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome:
Tony Attwood

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Useful Dates for your Calendar

Email us with your news, events or feedback at news@jkp.com or visit our website for more on our books.

Please feel free to forward this message on to anyone who might be interested, or want to join our mailing list.