Joint Event Parents and Professionals, Autism and the Primary School Key Topics (3 in 1 Day) Dublin West Education Centre

Autism, Visual Strategies and Life Skills. Visual strategies are widely used when living and working with children and young people with autism as they: 
•    Complement the learning style of many with autism. 
•    Can be introduced alongside other intervention strategies.  
•    Are adaptable, portable and can be used in most situations. 
The use of visual strategies can have a notable impact on how a child with autism experiences life, as they help to clarify expectations and make abstract concepts more concrete. Visual strategies support children as they develop effective communication, appropriate social interaction, and positive behaviour skills.
Life Skills
This training will examine the broad definition of life skills, within the contexts of home, school, play and personal care, and how the core difficulties, associated with autism, directly affect the development of such skills. 
It will demonstrate how life skills can be improved and facilitated within the home and school environments. This will include increasing independence in family and classroom activities, the daily routines of the family home, the classroom, within play and personal care activities, e.g. toileting.

Autism, Behaviour and Sensory Processing. This session will examine how the core features of autism can influence the behaviour of children. Responding effectively to inappropriate or misunderstood behaviour remains a concern for parents and professionals living and working with children with autism. Early intervention and planning are important to ensure that children have an array of proactive strategies to defuse rather than escalate a demanding situation. 
Sensory Processing
Sensory Processing generally refers to the ability of a child to register sensory information, make sense of that information, and to respond to it. This is a complex and fluid process involving all the sensory systems, auditory, gustatory, visual, olfactory, tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular. When sensory processing is working well, a child’s responses to sensory information are positive and support interaction. However, sensory processing difficulties are quite prevalent in the profiles of children with autism and can affect every aspect of life and development. This session examines the sensory processing differences frequently associated with autism and will demonstrate how such difficulties impact on learning, leisure activities and choices, social interactions and behaviour at home and in school.

Autism and Anxiety Management
Children with autism experience anxiety in many situations, with some experiencing significant anxiety difficulties. While many reasons are shared with typically developing children, there are some key factors relating to autism that mean stress and anxiety are more likely. Everyone shows their anxiety in individual ways so the most reliable observations that a child is anxious are going to be made by the people who know the child best. This shows the importance of working closely not only within a school staff team, but also with the families of children with autism. This session is an introduction to strategies that can be used to alleviate the experience of anxiety in children with autism