A new website will give teachers information and guidance to understand, help and deal with students on the autism spectrum.

A new website is providing a free one-stop shop for teachers and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), offering guidance about how best to manage the learning disability in schools.

The website, called Amaze Online Classroom, is the product of a joint initiative by Amaze, the peak body for ASD in Victoria, and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. It was developed with feedback from a committee comprising specialist staff in psychology, education, counselling and service delivery, ensuring a comprehensive and specialised tool.

Project Manager at Amaze, Kate Day, said the website was primarily intended “for teachers in primary, secondary and specialist settings”, and was aimed at “supporting educators to further develop their knowledge of ASD and provide them with strategies and suggestions for supporting these students at school.”

It addresses many common questions about autism and is divided into three main sections: About Autism Spectrum Disorder, Teaching and Learning, and Social Skills and Behaviour. The site also features a short introduction to ASD by pre-eminent psychologist and expert on Asperger syndrome, Dr Tony Attwood.

Ms Day said each section had been developed to cover the issues that can arise when teaching students who are on the spectrum, including communication, behaviour, sensory sensitivities, organisational skills and learning plans.

The Department funded the website’s development through the More Support for Students with Disabilities program, a national partnership between the Commonwealth and Victorian governments aimed at better enabling state schools to support the education of students with disabilities.

Amaze chief executive Fiona Sharkie said she hoped the website would assist teachers as they navigate the unique challenges presented by students with special needs.

“Teaching is a difficult job. The more strategies teaching staff have at their fingertips to help them understand and support individuals with ASD, the better it is for everyone – the teachers, the students with ASD and the whole school community,” she said.

Amaze said feedback from teachers had been positive.

Classroom teacher Michelle Nolan, who has been teaching for six years, works at Biralee Primary School in Doncaster and said that while Biralee is a mainstream school, there is at least one child on the autism spectrum in each classroom.

“ASD is particularly difficult at times because every child is different,” she said, “so the advice you’re given for one child might not work for others.”

Although teachers received “quite extensive” training to work with children on the spectrum, she said the website was a useful addition to a teacher’s toolbox.

“There is an abundance of information and resources available [on the website] but it is not at all overwhelming.

“[It] is presented using language that is easy to understand, making it extremely user friendly, and I was able to find what I was looking for quickly and directly.”

She explained that teachers often found that students with ASD had “particular anxieties or particular quirks” that needed to be addressed, and the website provided reliable strategies to help in these instances.

Ms Nolan said teachers enjoyed working with students with ASD, and the diversity that they brought to the school environment.

“I [referred] my colleagues to the site to support them when working with students with ASD,” she said, “they were excited to have this new resource [available].”

While the resource is primarily intended for use by schools and teachers, Ms Sharkie hopes that it will also give parents and carers the knowledge and confidence to partner with schools on the best way to meet their child’s needs.

The Amaze Online Classroom is one of many partnership projects between the Department and Amaze.

“The Victorian government has an ongoing professional partnership with Amaze, and provides Amaze with support and funding to develop a range of resources and support for schools and their communities,” a Department spokesman said.

The relationship with the Department has allowed Amaze to develop several initiatives and new resources.

“ASD is a complex condition, and after looking at the Online Classroom, teachers will be well-equipped to recognise characteristics of ASD in their students,” Ms Sharkie said.

“The content will help them to be the best teacher they can be, and to bring out the best in these students,” she said.

amaze.org.au

Source: The Age, Danielle Kutchel

She’s not finished.

“Now, I’m seeing the bolts on the ground that they cut off the mailbox I have now. They moved the mailbox across the street, but the post office doesn’t have keys for them. I have to pick up my mail at the post office (in Fort Collins, Colorado), and now I see myself standing in line at the post office and the guy is going, ‘We don’t have the keys yet.’ It’s really stupid.”

Grandin has written more than a dozen books on autism. She is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and is known for developing corrals that relieve the stress on cattle being led to slaughter. More than half the cattle handled in the U.S. use Grandin’s invention.

Autism and cattle seem light years apart, but she was making a point.

“I was exposed to cattle as a teenager,” she said. “Students are interested in things they are exposed to; it’s that simple.

“I’m really concerned that our schools have taken out most of the programs that involve skills and trades — cooking, sewing, welding, woodworking, mechanics. We have a huge shortage right now of diesel mechanics, auto mechanics. And a lot of these kids with autism — say they have a minor speech delay, and they’re kind of quirky and nerdy and socially awkward — could do really well in these fields if they were exposed to them. Instead, many of them are shoved into a corner somewhere, and they are never able to flourish or find a career because about the only thing they are ever exposed to is video games.”

Autism, a complex neurodevelopment disorder that affects one in 88 children in the U.S., remains widely misunderstood, Grandin said.

“The reason is because it involves a wide spectrum of how much people are affected by it,” she said. “We are talking about Einstein, who had no language skills until he was 3 but was brilliant, to someone who has a severe intellectual impairment.

“In America, there is no distinction between levels of impairment. In America, there is no distinction between somebody who could work at NASA and somebody who can’t dress themselves. The international classification for autism, however, has levels of severity. I’m hoping that happens in America at the 2017 Classification of Diseases meeting.”

Grandin said the best advice she can give parents is this: “If you have a 3-year-old who isn’t talking, the worst possible thing you can do is do nothing. Too many parents go into denial. You have to work with your kid, get him the help he needs.

“My condition was severe when I was 3. My parents hired a speech therapist to work with me. I had a nanny who played ‘taking turns’ games with me. And I was mainstreamed into normal kindergarten.”

Grandin waited patiently Monday as parents and teachers from across the state stood in line to pick her brain.

Michele English, 38, of Laurel has a 19-year-old daughter with Asperger syndrome, which fits in the autism spectrum. Those diagnosed severely lack social and verbal skills.

“Each child is different,” English said. “What works for one doesn’t work for another. Dr. Grandin encouraged me to keep seeking help. If one doctor isn’t working, go to another. Just don’t give up, even if it means looking out of state. And I will. My daughter is my world.”

Shane Chandler, a speech pathologist, was one of six staff members of the Laurel city school district to attend the conference, including Maddox Elementary principal Ruby Lovett.

“We have a 6-year-old boy who is autistic,” Chandler said, “and we came here seeking ways to do anything possible to help him get on track. Our principal has already said on the drive back to Laurel we are going to talk about what we all learned from Dr. Grandin today and formulate a plan.”

Contact Billy Watkins at (769) 237-3079 or bwatkins@jackson. gannett.com. Follow @BillyWatkins11 on Twitter.

Source: The Clarion-Ledger