1. Supporting Transitions Big and Small for Individuals with Autism

2. Understanding Transitions from the Individual with autisms Perspective. Transitions are inevitably a stressful time for children (adults) with autism and they need to be managed carefully and with skill. Give warnings of transitions and try to ensure that regular transitions such as coming into school, going to dinner or using the toilet, happen at a set time in a set pattern. Martin Hanbury 2005

3. Transitions one way of improving access to services for adults with autism is by focusing on managing the transition to adulthood so that young people have access to the services they need from the start of their adult life. (Fulfilling and rewarding lives)

4. Understanding Transitions From the Persons with Autism Point of View. remember the pain I felt on the eve of my 10 th birthday. Changing from nine years old to ten years old. It seemed such a huge insurmountable change, too much to bear. I cried and cried that night but consoled myself that at least it was the last time I'd have to change the number of digits in my age. Should I reach 99 I was sure the shock of an impending 100 th birthday (3 digits argue) would surely kill me. From Changing Times by Caspa Thomas

5. Transitions Faced by individuals with Autism Micro Changing rooms Moving between activities Changing classes Going to the toilet Working on your own to working in a group Macro  The transition from child to adult  Moving from school to work  Changes in people who support you  Going to new place  Starting work

6. What Makes Transitions Difficult for Individuals with Autism?  Difficulties with Flexibility of thought and Behavior. social imagination. Difficulties with predicting the unknown  Difficulties with social understanding for example the expectations and social rules of a new environment or social situation. Difficulties with using memory Difficulties with sensory, may be overwhelmed by the new.

9. Sensory Transitions:

10. Theory of Mind Implications for Transitions  Imagine what your world would be like if you were aware of physical things but were blind to the existence of mental things. I mean of course blind to things like thoughts, beliefs. Knowledge, desire and intentions, which for most of us self- evidently underlie behaviour Young person with autism

11. Examples of Difficulties with Theory of Mind Difficulties in predicting other peoples behaviour, resulting in fear and avoidance. Difficulty in understanding emotions (own and others ) Difficulty in understanding peoples intentions and understanding the motives behind behaviour.

12. Executive Functioning Implications for Transitions. Executive functioning is the brains ability to take in information, process it,interpret it and make decisions based upon it. Example We wake up warm light hits our skin, we interpret this as the sun is shining and it’s a hot day, we decide to put our summer clothes on. We may make other decisions based upon our interpretation, e.g. to buy extra water, which means setting of early to stop off at the shops

13. Executive Functioning Implications for Transitions. What might go wrong? (a)Appropriate signals (information) not received (b)Doesn’t interpret appropriately (c)Not able to make decision based upon information received

14. Service users View We are used to people saying we cannot communicate, but of course, they are wrong. In fact we have powerful and effective ways of communicating and we usually have many ways to let you know what it is we have in mind. Yes we have communication difficulties, and some of those are linked with impairments. But by far the greater part of our difficulty is caused by 'speaking people' not having the experience, time or commitment to try to understand us or include us in everyday life ( Disabled People using Scope Services (2002:1-2 quoted in Rabiee, Sloper and Beresford, 2005)

15. Executive Functioning Resulting Difficulties  Problem solving:  Shifting attention:  Literal and ridged thinking All of the above impact upon the ability to make transitions.

16. What Can Help Make Transitions Successful for Individuals with Autism?  full participation of young people and their families  comprehensive multi-agency engagement  provision of high-quality information  effective transition planning  an array of opportunities for living life. NAS 2009  Solution focused  Practice resulting from a sound understanding of Autism and its impact upon individuals

17. Planning the Transition  Plan the transition with the individual  Gather as much information about the new place, situation or activity as you can (Try to see it through the individual with autism eyes)  Try to anticipate the possible difficulties.  Look at how the individual managed past transitions, what can be learnt for the present transition from them?

18. Supporting Transitions Give the person with autism opportunity to express their worries, fears and anxieties (what if) Take time to explain (show) the benefits of the transition for them. Build in cues (verbal, visual transition objects, music, smells) Use IT Teach new behaviour Teach new vocabulary You may need to increase the levels of structure normally required

19. Using Social Stories to Support Transitions My New Key Worker After the weekend, I will have a new Key worker. My new key worker is called……………….. This is………….. I can ask my key worker for help I can talk to my key worker if I have a problem My key worker will spend time with me,we will play………and talk about……..

20. Supporting Transitions with Rules The rules in my new class are 1.Sit on my own chair 2.Keep both my feet on the floor when sat on my chair 3.Look at the teacher when he is talking 4.Its ok to make mistakes 5.I will put my hand up if I want to ask a question REMEMBER ALL RULES SHOULD BE RELEVANT TO THE INDIVIDUAL CHILD

21. Using Power Cards Power Cards are a visual aid that uses the child's special interests to help them understand difficult social situations, routines, or the meaning of language.

22. Supporting Transitions with Structure Structures need to be based around the individual and how they require them to be provided and implemented. The structure will provide the following information Where the individual needs to be Who will be there What is the individual supposed to be doing How are they supposed to be doing it When will it come to an end What will happen after that

23. Using Daily Schedules to Support Transitions 1.Tells the person what activities will occur and in what order 2.Schedules make transitions predictable so the individual with autism knows what is coming next 3.Instead of random change the change becomes planned 4.Schedules can be arranged top to bottom left to right

24. Using Transition Lines to Support Transitions. Insert significant dates, events, illustrate with photographs, drawings comments etc.

25. Visual Supports for Transitions,

26. Resources for Supporting Transitions  Autism Education Trust transition toolkit Autism Education Trust transition toolkit  Council for Disabled Children: TransMap - supporting disabled young people in transition Council for Disabled Children: TransMap - supporting disabled young people in transition  Information on transition from Dimensions, a specialist autism service provider Information on transition from Dimensions, a specialist autism service provider  Transition Information Network Transition Information Network  Transition: getting it right for young people Produced by the UK Department of Health Transition: getting it right for young people  Autism spectrum transitions good practice guide Produced by Norfolk's Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Steering Group Autism spectrum transitions good practice guide

27. Thankyou for Joining Me today Geoff Evans Email Geoffaut@hotmail.com Telephone 07495308097