Focus on adaptations to the environment that enable young people to feel safe within the school environment and promote their general wellbeing. Understand their stressors and how to respond to meltdowns in school if they occur (please see: Trauma | Autism Barriers to Education, which includes The Nest Approach to supporting autistic children with meltdowns).

Provide a more personalised curriculum allowing flexibility in the organisation of the learning environment and the school day. For example, you could offer access to a low stimulus, distraction-free base either within or outside of the classroom for certain tasks.

Consider the young person’s all round development and use trackers such as the AET Progression Framework (see Assessments section) to identify strengths, support needs and monitor progress in response to intervention.

Use of personalised visuals (e.g. timetables, tasks plans, timers). If a young person has a personalised Visual Timetable they will need to be told as early as possible about any changes to their routine. Discussing the day’s events at the start of the day allows the opportunity to identify potential difficult times and ensure additional support is available. Visual supports (autism.org.uk)

Use of a Sensory Checklist and environmental adaptations to minimise impact of sensory distractions and sensory processing differences (e.g. opportunities to work in quieter spaces with reduced distractions when completing focused activities, access to tailored sensory activities or resources). This sensory audit resource was coproduced with Bury young people. Click here to access it.

Support to better understand inferencing, idioms and metaphors (e.g. using resources such as Test Your English Idioms, Black Sheep Press - Idioms).

Use of Blacksheep resources such as Emotions, and Practical Pragmatics to support development and understanding of emotions.

Use of Interoception based resources to support young people to better understand their internal signals and how their body is feeling (this is closely linked to self-regulation).

 Zones of Regulation is a structured intervention to support the development of self-regulation and emotional control.

Use of visuals/personalised strategies to support emotional regulation (see SEMH section).

Develop peer support and understanding

Whole class presentations can be found here, alongside resources for staff, parents and young people to challenge misconceptions and celebrate neurodiversity: Powerpoint Presentations | Neurodiversity Celebration Week (neurodiversityweek.com) and  Student Resources | Neurodiversity Celebration Week (neurodiversityweek.com)

The Umbrella Gang is a series of comics about neurodiversity and can be accessed for free from here: https://www.adhdfoundation.org.uk/2022/11/17/the-umbrella-gang-comics/  

Circle of Friends  is a group intervention that enhances inclusion through peer support. The Circle of Friends approach works by mobilising the young person’s peers to provide support and engage in problem solving with the person in difficulty.

Develop collaboration skills alongside young people, using neurodiversity affirming resources such as:

• The Brick by Brick programme by Play Included is free and uses Lego to develop social connection and interaction. It is recommended for use with autistic young people rather than Lego Therapy.

• The Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model is a model to help supporting adults focus on identifying the problems that are causing concerning behaviours and solving those problems collaboratively and proactively.

• The ‘EST’ (Empathise, Sharing Context, Teamwork) of the NEST approach.

Promote self-advocacy to support young people to learn how to develop new skills for themselves, using the following workbooks and Neurodiversity-affirming resources:

• Digital workbooks by AUsome, such as Standing Up For Myself which teaches autistic children (aged 9-15) about consent, personal space, and how to advocate for their needs.

• Sea Bridge neurodiversity affirming resources.

Other helpful resources include:

• Spectrum Gaming’s Padlet: https://padlet.com/spectrumgaming/AutismResources

• Book list for children, teens and adults: https://notanautismmom.com/2020/07/20/autism-books

• Autism and social skills webinar for staff, which explores impact of more traditional social skills training has on autistic young people and their wellbeing (such as masking).