Autism and Life Skills, including Relationships and Sexuality Education

Autism and Life Skills including Relationships and Sexuality Education  

Life skills are the skills needed daily for independent functioning. Often a young autistic people need explicit modelling and teaching of these skills to develop them as they grow and progress through life. Whilst life skills involve practical skills, it is important to include executive function and thinking skills in the list.

This session will explore practical strategies to support the development of daily living skills including understanding of the changes that occur to the body during the teenage years. Effective teaching of life skills, including relationship and sexuality education, involves close partnership and collaboration between school and parents/carers to ensure teaching is clear and consistent between settings for the autistic teenager.

Expected Outcomes
Participants will:
Have a greater understanding of how autism impacts on the development of life skills during the teenage years.

• Explore methods effective in assessing and teaching life skills to autistic teenagers in the school and home environment.
• Explore strategies that are effective in supporting autistic teenagers develop life skills including relationship and sexuality skills.
• Have increased understanding of how to optimise opportunities to improve and develop autistic teenagers’ life skills within the school and home environments.

Overview:

• What are life skills.
• How does autism affect the development of these skills for autistic teenagers?
• Explore categories of life skills, including the changes that occur to the body during the teenage years.
• Explore some resources effective for developing and delivering life skills including relationship and sexuality education (RSE) to autistic teenagers.