Kay and Haitham Al-Ghani on ‘Learning About Friendship’ – Stories to support social skills training for children with ASD in the classroom

“One small boy in my class was having great trouble going on school outings because he would not wear a seat belt. The bus driver came to tell me that he would not be allowed to go on any more trips. I thought this was rather harsh and so the very next day I told my class a story about Tedrick the teddy who would not wear a seat belt…We role-played the parts of the driver, the teachers and the other children on the bus. I emphasised how happy the driver was when all the children wore their seat belts and I asked the boy in question if he would mind taking Tedrick on the next trip. Guess what, that boy was the first one on the bus doing up his own and Tedrick’s seat belt!”

Working with Asperger Syndrome in the Classroom – An Interview with former Teaching Assistant and JKP author, Gill D. Ansell

“As a Teaching Assistant I felt able to work closely with the students with AS; to get to know them as a person; to get to see the world the way they see it and from there develop strategies to help individuals. Sometimes, I tried new strategies which in reality were just ideas I had which I thought could work with a particular individual – that’s why it is important to know the student as an individual.”

The Passionate Mind: How People with Autism Learn – an Interview with Wendy Lawson

“…it became apparent during my research that the current traditional theories about autism have so many gaps and lacks in them. When I read about autism, according to these theories, the ideas didn’t match the reality of so many living with autism, including myself. The more I researched the concepts of Single Attention and Associated Cognition in Autism (SAACA) and compared it to other traditional theories, the more obvious it became that SAACA explained the autism spectrum (AS) so well. Not only does SAACA explain AS but it gives us access to a variety of strategies that make living with AS so much easier.”