Social deficits
Communication difficulties
Stereotyped or repetitive behaviors and interests
Sensory sensitivities
Cognitive delays.
The word ‘spectrum’ is used because the range and severity of the difficulties people with an ASD experience, can vary widely. ASDs include Autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
Research shows that about 1 in 110 children have an ASDs and that it is more prevalent in boys than girls. This is the case for the children “on the spectrum” who have come to us for a specialised Physical Education program. Over the years there have been many more boys than girls. There has also been a noticeable increase in the number of children referred to us with a Autism Spectrum Disorder in the last ten years.
The challenge for us at Heartwell is to adapt our programs so that the children with extreme examples of the above characteristics get good outcomes in their sessions. Our sessions by nature are very hands on and can often include a lot of touching and moving and turning of the children as we are teaching skills. This can be NOT fun for those children with high sensory sensitivity. As the teacher, let me tell you, you only need to forget that once and usually you wont need to be reminded again. The child somehow lets you know!
The rigid thinking and communication difficulties can also be a fun challenge. It takes a lot of negioation skills, patience and sheer cunning to get some of these children to do the things you would like them to attempt. If their mind is made up and they don’t feel confident to have a go, then steely perseverance is required by us. Some kids can get fixated on the one activity or thing they like most. That was the case with Andrew, for whenever he came for a session he would demand to play Basketball. We had done a bit of Basketball with him and he felt confident with the skills. Whenever we tried to teach him other skills, he would cry and carry on. We had so much more to teach him, but I can assure you in the end a great deal of each of his sessions involved Basketball drills (with a healthy mix of what we really wanted him to do)!
Then there was Steve. When we first assessed him for his program his mother mentioned he had a fixation on washing machines. It did not seem all the relevant to us for our work on his skills and fitness. It did however become relevant very quickly. For whenever Steve arrived he would rush to every door/exit looking for the “washing machine”. We learnt never to put a load on when Steve was due to arrive.
Then there was Neville. He had an amazing memory for dates. His social skills were quite good in a closed and controlled environment. He generally liked to speak to people-especially adults. His number one question was to ask of your birth date. Then he would recall it at every session. And he would tell you when you were born and he would tell you how many more days till your next birthday. And how many days since your last birthday! And how many birthdays you have had! Luckily he couldn’t tell you when your very last birthday would be (not at least, at the time of writing). He was quite amazing and a lots of fun.
We are so fortunate to have worked with these special kids.
The rigid thinking and communication difficulties can also be a fun challenge. It takes a lot of negioation skills, patience and sheer cunning to get some of these children to do the things you would like them to attempt. If their mind is made up and they don’t feel confident to have a go, then steely perseverance is required by us. Some kids can get fixated on the one activity or thing they like most. That was the case with Andrew, for whenever he came for a session he would demand to play Basketball. We had done a bit of Basketball with him and he felt confident with the skills. Whenever we tried to teach him other skills, he would cry and carry on. We had so much more to teach him, but I can assure you in the end a great deal of each of his sessions involved Basketball drills (with a healthy mix of what we really wanted him to do)!
Then there was Steve. When we first assessed him for his program his mother mentioned he had a fixation on washing machines. It did not seem all the relevant to us for our work on his skills and fitness. It did however become relevant very quickly. For whenever Steve arrived he would rush to every door/exit looking for the “washing machine”. We learnt never to put a load on when Steve was due to arrive.
Then there was Neville. He had an amazing memory for dates. His social skills were quite good in a closed and controlled environment. He generally liked to speak to people-especially adults. His number one question was to ask of your birth date. Then he would recall it at every session. And he would tell you when you were born and he would tell you how many more days till your next birthday. And how many days since your last birthday! And how many birthdays you have had! Luckily he couldn’t tell you when your very last birthday would be (not at least, at the time of writing). He was quite amazing and a lots of fun.
We are so fortunate to have worked with these special kids.
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