Preparing for Life after School

Successful transitions from school to post school for young people with autism

Saturday, 15 February 2014, 9am – 4pm, Griffith University (Mt Gravatt Campus)

This Seminar is for Teachers of young people with autism in High School; TAFE and University; employers and professionals involved in transition, placement and working with Adult services to support young people with autism in Tertiary Education, Training and Employment; those involved with Policy Development and funding; parents and family members of young people with autism and young people with autism.

Patricia Howlin is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Child Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, London and Professor of Developmental Disorders at the University of Sydney. She is a chartered clinical psychologist with a PhD in Psychology and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Her principal research interests focus on autism and other developmental disorders. She has conducted evaluations of a variety of different intervention programs, including comparative studies of home and school based treatments; control trials of communication training programs, and longer term studies of the impact of early interventions.  She has also been involved in research on the transition to adulthood by people with autism and individuals with Williams Syndrome, developmental language disorders and Fragile X.

Patricia was a founding editor of the journal Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice and is on the editorial board of a number of other journals. She has published widely on autism and other developmental disorders. Her latest book, published in Jan 2011, is the Sage Handbook of Developmental Disorders with Tony Charman and Mohammad Ghaziuddin.

For more information about autism centre of excellence http://www.griffith.edu.au/education/autism-centre-excellence

In exciting news:

In term 1, 2014, Free Stepping Stones Triple P Parenting Groups will be run at Mudgeeraba Special School and Currumbin Special School on the Gold Coast.

Register NOW to prevent disappointment: http://www.triplep-steppingstones.net/au-en/get-help/find-a-stepping-stones-session/

Spaces limited to 8 parents per group.

For more information please check out the previous post: Free Parenting Groups

I was super excited to be given a review copy of Bailey Beats the Blah (2013) by Karen Tyrrell.

We know CBT works, but somehow it’s difficult to describe how this works with children. This is a great book for parents, GPs, schools and psychologists working with young children.

Tyrrell uses the word “Blah” a word to use, when you can’t describe the yucky feeling.

I liked it, it does a great job of pinpointing what mood disturbance in young children look like. And best of all, there is a happy ending with practical ways parents and schools can help. Sometimes simple is best.

It retails for $13.45 on Amazon or $3.99 on Kindle (Christmas sale!). Its aligned with Kids Matter national education program. 5% sales go to Kids Help Line.

Behavioural diaries can give us a depth of understanding of why behaviours are occuring, and how they are maintained.

However, it can be exhausting to record every single time a behaviour happens if the behaviour is quite frequent. There are a number of ways to measure more frequent behaviours including creating a talley of how many times the behaviour occurs within a set time, for example, how many times x occurs within 30 minutes.

Another method to measure frequent behaviours is to use a time sample. You can download a form for free in the resources section. Basically, you record the presence or absence of a behaviour within a set timeframe. For example, if x occured within the 1 minute of monitoring, then you make a note of it.

Why is monitoring frequent behaviours helpful?

Firstly, it is important to set a baseline for behaviours, so you can understand the full extent of problems. Sometimes problems are under or over reported. There may also be patterns in the behaviours you haven’t previously noticed. And used in conjunction with a behaviour diary, these other monitoring forms can give you useful information about what is going on.

Secondly, it’s important to track improvements over time.

Be sure to check the resources section for the FREE time sampling form you can use.

Never let them bring you down.

I wanted to pass on the link for a great music & dance video clip made by writer & producer Shirley Pierce along with many talented Gold Coast teenagers with a message for the victims of bullying- Free You Be You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQA0UyahGrk. Please watch it, it really is great, and pass on to all you contacts to watch so we can spread the word and support young people to stand up and believe in themselves! We want the video to go viral and touch as many lives as we can.