Date: 24/06/2021

One of the Centre’s Learning Support Officers, Evangelene Haffey, recently worked with this young man on understanding emotional regulation. 

He is keen to share his work so that others can benefit from his ideas. He used the analogy of a fist being the brain and completed a large-scale drawing. This proved an enjoyable and effective visual way to learn the roles of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and the amygdala in the brain. After learning about these areas through games and worksheets, he pasted pictures of emotions and wrote some memories into thought bubbles to depict what takes place in the hippocampus area. The frontal cortex is his favourite area as it is ‘the wise owl’ and helps him to learn, socially interact and make wise decisions. He also continues to learn effective coping strategies such as using putty and fidget toys, which help him to calm when stressed.  

#understandingautism #learngrowdevelop #MCA2021