This five-day course includes the following:

Week 1

• What is ASD? Sharing our experiences of ASD

Week 2

• Theories linked to Autism - personal experiences and sensory sensitivities

Week 3

• Communication - Strategies to Assist

Week 4

• Approaches and Strategies

Week 5

• Managing Behaviour, Emotion and Anxiety
• Difficulties with Pupils with an ASD

Pupils will:

• be provided with appropriate strategies and support to assist their inclusion, interaction and access to all areas of the curriculum

Practitioners will:

• have deeper understanding of autism and how it affects children and their families
• be equipped with a range of strategies to support children with autism in mainstream primary school

Settings will:

• have staff who have a greater understanding of best practice in relation to children with autism as well as the sensory difficulties they experience which can affect their ability to be included
  
  

Staff supporting pupils with an ASD in primary schools, SENCOs/Teachers & Teaching Assistants

The Word Up approach is suitable for children working significantly below the Key Stage standards and not responding successfully to the traditional 'synthetic phonics' methods. This is a whole word reading and language development approach, particularly suitable for children who are visual learners.

Pupils:

• with visual strengths, but difficulties with the 'synthetic phonics' approach, will have access to an alternative approach to reading
  
  

Staff will:

• understand why a whole word approach to reading may be more effective for some pupils
• know how to deliver Word Up style activities
  
  

SENCOs, Teachers and Teaching Assistants

A course to support staff in schools in supporting students at an early stage of communication development to access story-based sessions to develop literacy, language and interaction skills.

Pupils will:

• be provided with appropriate strategies and support to assist their inclusion, interaction and access to a literacy and early language/interaction- based intervention

Staff will:

• have an in-depth knowledge of how sensory stories can support children with an ASD to develop their literacy, language and interaction skills
• be confident about the rationale and theory behind sensory stories

Settings will:

• have staff who have a greater understanding of how to use sensory stories to support children with an ASD

Staff supporting students at an early stage of communication development with an ASD in schools, SENCOs, Teachers and Teaching Assistants.