Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education teacher from the UK. I share my passion for
everything communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson ideas for my classroom of disabled
pupils aged 4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in the field answering your questions
and sharing our knowledge and experience working alongside our beautiful young people. Let's get started.
Hello everybody, I'm going to be joined by the wonderful, the autism family godmother,
which is so exciting. So that's Leslie. She's so wonderful. She reached out into my DMs and we've
been chatting loads about everything that she's into. It's all, you're going to love her. It's
everything that I'm about. Hi everyone, I'm Leslie-Anne. I'm an autism specialist and family
support consultant. And basically I get to support children, young people, families and teams around
them as well. So that's including organizations and schools and I absolutely love it. And I've
been within the autistic community for about coming up to 13 years. I just love talking. I love,
you know, getting together with others and really doing that avenue of education and just learning
from each other. Yeah. It's so true, isn't it? Because even though I love working in the class,
because you're the expert in the class, you're not learning yourself. You're sharing your knowledge
with other people, which is awesome. But yeah, I really miss that collaboration with people that I
can then learn from, which is why I love this actually. It's why I love Instagram because I am
learning so much because it feels like a really collaborative space, doesn't it? Yeah, collaborating
in this way. And also I've had some great people saying, well, that's not really how it's done now,
or, you know, have you thought about doing this? It's been something that I've never even considered.
But I think that's so important as well, because I keep like upskilling each other and yeah,
sharing it from both sides and not having any ego about it. You know, we're all here to learn. Yeah,
I'm the first one to admit like I'm here to learn just as much as anybody else. I'm happy to share
what I know currently, but I'm so open minded to just like be for it all to be wrong and for me to
do better. Sometimes when people, you know, they invite me into their schools for training, I'm
like, oh, can you know beforehand or after and they're probably just you want to be there. But
it's just to get that sense of who they are and that ethos with school because, you know,
the autism affirming, neurodiverse affirming is about it's for supporting all really.
No, it's very good practice. That's what it is. You know, a lot of times I'm saying that, you know,
the way you can do it, the autistic, but it's actually just very good practice. So you,
yeah, good practice for all. It's so true. It's so true. Also, autism is such a wide umbrella term
that without seeing who you're talking about, you could be offering completely inappropriate
strategies, couldn't you? Because it's so broad. I've had it before in my DMs. I've started,
I've just assumed they're non speaking or I've just assumed they're, I don't know, more able than
they are or whatever. I've had it both ways. And they're like, oh, no, actually, it's like this.
I'm like, oh, yeah. Like, how would you know? Like, the fact that it just you saying they have
autism, it means a few things, but my God, like it could be a whole million other things that,
you know, other choices. And yeah, I was like, what if there was a question I don't know? Thank
goodness there's Jordan. It doesn't matter. I'm happy to say I don't know that one. That's a great
video idea. Let me do some research. All that trial and error. And I think that's why
it's so important to be able to understand and empathize, especially from a parent carers point
of view, something that they can actually sustain and trial. And at times it can be because the
individual gets bored of it, or it could be right for them, or it can be that it's not the right
time, not the right stage, or there's so many different factors. Yeah. frustrating at times,
really. Yeah. And also, you've got to remember, which is something that it's so easy to forget,
they're not just their diagnosis. Like sometimes it's just a five year old boy that wants to do
certain things, like just because they're a five year old boy, you know, or five year old girl,
or whatever, you know, like, I've got people at the moment that love like farting and fart jokes.
And I'm having a little bit of a battle at the moment with speech and language therapists,
because it's inappropriate, or like, we shouldn't be encouraging. He's just an eight year old boy.
Like, boys love fart jokes, like, for his speech and language or not, it actually doesn't matter,
I want to encourage that interaction. And if that means that he farts on us, and we have to laugh
and you know, joking around. That's what I'm gonna do. And it's odd, isn't it? Because that
isn't necessarily autism. That's, that's just being an eight year old boy and having a boy in
my class and like, yeah, I feel like that's okay. So I also want my problems to be fixed as well.
And I think that's something that we can easily get stuck with. Because it's like, oh, I have this
problem, I have this problem. And it's like, I don't know, I find that really hard drinking.
I think that's, you know, as a society, culturally, and you know, generationally,
we want things to happen now. So again, when you're thinking autism or not, we just want things to
happen. We want to fix, we want to nurture, we want to care. And what we often do is we think
about that issue or that problem, and then think about how to strategize it. And we forget that why.
And like you say, the why could be because they just want to make their friends laugh, or they're
having to be interacting. And they want my attention or, you know, behind anything, there's
a child there that only wants to really impress, you know, we all do. Exactly. And also, like, why
do you want to solve it? Is it for your benefit? Or is it for theirs? I think that's a really good
question to ask ourselves constantly as well. Like, is ripping paper something to solve for you? Or
is it something to solve for them? Yeah, because actually, it's quite a safe way of meeting their
needs. Is it really a problem? Or is it just a problem? Because you need to remember to put the
important bits away. And it's quite annoying to have to do that, you know, it's like it's stuff
like that. It's like, actually, this isn't their problem. This is a you problem. And I think that's
really hard. That's really hard for practitioners and parents to hear that. Oh, my goodness. I mean,
there's such a journey of it. I mean, especially I can think about when I first started, there were
definitely things that would annoy me in the classroom, because you're thinking about how, you
know, you've been taught or when you've gone to the lectures and how they made it seem that, you
know, you need to run your class or manage your class. And then you're looking at these behaviors,
and you're like, they're undesirable. No, they're not undesirable. They're actually just communicating
something. And actually, I'm really struggling for that. And that's why we're all human. And you can
tap out yourself, you know, it could be that you're having a really hard day. And then a type of,
I don't know, a verbal stimming can really get to you. And you need to have that time away just as
much as for that individual, let's say their peer doing it can really annoy them, even though they're,
you know, yeah, and I think it's that's a culture that needs to be embedded within your class,
doesn't it? And I feel like it needs to be modeled. So if you're the teacher in the class,
or the HLTA, usually, the others look to you to be modeling that. So if you're not taking breaks,
or if you're not taking your lunch, I mean, I can be guilty of this. If you're not saying, you know,
I need a break, or I need to change adults, or let's switch, then the culture in the classes,
I can cope. This shows capability and structure, right? It has to start and almost magnify, sorry,
you saying, I need a break. Yeah, even if you're doing it or not, you know, it almost needs to
become a norm culture of like a few times a day, just saying, let's switch it, let's have a break,
let's try just visuals, let's try this. And it being because I'm not coping, and then therefore
then it will build confidence for other people to say, yeah, really important and expressing
that as well and expressing, you know, when you think about masking and camouflaging and how easily
that can happen. You know, at times I find myself a challenge and think of how can I, how can I
model like about to go into a school and do I need to show that it can be a break down. And I'll
almost a script for just that interaction to be then happening. So, you know, those staff members
to see, yeah, it's actually okay. Yeah, you can show weakness. I think it's so difficult, especially
when someone's coming in from outside, like when I pick your best, I'm like that too. Because I'm
so proud of that unit. I just want to like put our best self forward, whatever that means. Yeah. But
it's so true, like all you want to see, maybe we could talk about that actually, like all what do
you want to see? I feel like all I would want to see is, is caregivers that really care for and are
in tune with the children. I think would be the probably the first thing I want to see actually,
if they're doing some kind of intensive interaction, if they're understanding the
children and all their communication as a whole, I think I'd be really impressed no matter what.
No matter what else was going on. Yeah. I think that like a timetable, it'll say now we're doing
attention autism. Right. But all of the classes are dysregulated. Yeah. That you really wanting
to carry on and you see those supportings to adults like, no, come on, come on, just by someone
external. So for example, me coming into. Because they probably really want to show it off because
it's probably normally really lovely. But at the same time, like you're saying, I would love to see.
No. Okay. I think we need to do, let's go into a sensory break and really understanding, and I'm
sure we'll talk about more, but understanding that movement's not just going to evolve things. It can
be the start and it can be absolutely wonderful, but it's probably going to be really difficult
for those individuals to sit down, sustain that attention and focus and, you know, sit there and
do all the things that you really want them to do when someone's just walked in, if they're not
regular, you know, and that's really important. So mine definitely would be about going, you know,
I would love for educators, just to carers to feel more, just more in control and just have that
bit about them. That's what I look for, that they can just say, no, we're not doing the status quo,
or no, we're not sticking to the schedule. And I know it's really hard. That makes me feel better
than I've got a story. I had Ofsted in December. Okay. Yeah. For some reason, I've been teaching
for 15 years and it was my first Ofsted. I've always seemed to dismiss them. I think I've always
had the class that aren't, that Ofsted are kind of, that they kind of pass by, I think. Teachers
are really good at that. Yeah. Avoiding my classes, because I should have had it about three or four
times. They came into my room. She is a head teacher of a specialist provision school. So I felt good
in good hands. So that's a bit of context. And we were doing a sensory story. And we've been doing
it for weeks, because I repeat the story every week for about six weeks. And it was probably the
third or fourth week we've done it. It was always good. It was vehicles. Sorry, they're super into
vehicles. Past the first object, I thought it gets thrown. And it was a really heavy thing. And I was
like, okay, okay. And then we write, okay, we're not going to go and pick it up. We're just going
to do the next page. That gets thrown by another child. Okay, yeah. Let's do a lighter object. That
gets thrown as well. And I was like, no, we're not doing this. Like, I am not going to sit here and
pretend that this is usually what happens. I'm not gonna like this is not okay. It's clearly we are
not ready for storytime right now. Yeah, off we went and we spread out. And, and yeah, it was there
for 45 minutes. And it was kind of, it was 45 minutes of, like trying to work out 10 different
individual needs, basically. But you know what, luckily, she got it. Yeah. And, and, and we did
really well. But it was exactly that. And I'm so pleased that in the moment, I had the confidence
to think, you know what, even if you don't get this in this moment, my kids are not ready
for storytime. Someone's gonna get hurt. Firstly, it's not going to be fun for me. This isn't fun.
I'm not enjoying this. So you're probably not. Yeah, let's, let's do something else. I think,
like you said, cultural, like having that shift, because, you know, again, when you think about
interview, okay, there was once upon a time that you would ask about organization and being
punctual. And how would you structure a lesson? And how would you, that's just not going to fit,
or that would tell me is goodness, that's so much pressure. And that's, yeah, yeah. What are my
students going to be doing at those times? Like, I know that routine and structure is, of course,
important. And you will have it. But at the same time, it's about thinking about leading and being
with children that are looking up at you and need you there to support them. Right. It's so important
actually, go back to what you said, Jordan, at the beginning about thinking, is it for you or is it
for them? You know, that's all kind of mindset. Yeah. Because at that time, if I carried on with
the story, it totally would have been for me, it wasn't for them in any way, like they were not
learning, they weren't ready to take anything on from there. So yeah, that that it just wasn't
meeting their needs. It's a bit of a redux, isn't it? Because I often say, our classes need to be
structured and flexible. And I think it's really hard to explain what I mean by that.
Because it needs to have the concrete pillars of routine that is predictable, you do this,
then this and this and then this and this and this new kind of this kind of like a rotation,
every kind of everyone knows where they're at. Maybe their table is always in the same place,
or their chairs always in the same place, or they always go to the computer and then this or,
or they know they're going to have snack time a few times throughout the day. And that that's
predictable, because anxiety doesn't. Yeah, that's what I mean by structure. Yeah. But I don't mean
that it's rigid. I mean, we have flexibility within that structure, that it can maybe maybe done in
any order. Yes. The lesson or maybe sensory diets can be sprinkled in wherever or toilets can be
sprinkled in wherever or snacks can you stability within the structure of it. And it's really hard
to explain it without seeing it doesn't need to be as you know, that traditional sense of we,
we do this, and then you get this and then happen. Because I'm sure you'll agree, but that kind of
idea, if you're coming to an actual well functioning classroom, it doesn't really look like
Yeah, I feel like our baseline is that like we have a plan, but I feel like the kids do this.
Yeah. I feel like that is that like, I'm quite a visual person. Yes, I think they touch base.
Yeah, with the structure throughout the day, each of them. And it looks different for every
single child. I have 10 children in my class, every single child kind of weave in and out of
the structure of day. We call it consistent compassion in our class. Consistency is the band
of of the structure. But the compassion comes in by letting them meet their needs,
sensory diets, as crunchy snacks, going for a walk. Yeah, maybe we just missed this to this lesson
today, because you're not ready for it. At times it can be harder than others, because your
length, you know, resources in place, and that's including, you know, what if someone's ill or
what if you know, there's so many things that are going to impact that. And sometimes you're
going to walk away and think, gosh, you know, when you're packing your stuff up, or you're
tidying your classroom, or you're going home that evening that you're reflecting on that,
but that's really great. Well, like, did I meet that person's needs for it? Every day,
though, it took me 10 minutes to realize this is what they wanted. I was thinking about this. And,
you know, there's so many different things that are going to be there. And it's almost like that
lovely visual needs to be, you know, it needs to be there for us as well, really. Yeah, true.
True. Like what's the structure? What's the main baseline of the day? Good enough. And if the
answer is yes, and we weaved in and out of it, then I guess that we need to give that to ourselves
too, don't we? Right. Yeah. And we all come with our own expectations of the day. So a speech and
language therapist would visit, and they would expect to see certain things or a physio would
come and they would expect to see certain things. It's really hard to meet all of all of these
different professionals. And my team as well, they come with their own expectations for the day. And
it's really hard to meet everyone's expectations where they're at. We only have so much capacity
in my room as adults wise, finance wise, budget time, it's all, you know, it's all that capacity.
So you kind of have to just pick and choose, don't you? Oh, yeah, you do.
Right. Is there a limit or suggestion to how many children should access bucket time at a time,
three to four year olds, I get lots of questions about bucket time. What are your thoughts on?
So I don't know, I think I I'm going to go back to like your environment and what it can lend you.
I think that's so important. So, you know, bucket time could be classically known of sitting on it
on a chair. And that can work for some children. Of course, it can, that can be really great.
Whereas other children, it's just not going to work for them. You can have children that are still
engaged, but they're actually stimming in the background. You have children that want to be
engaged, but it's extremely difficult for them. So I think that's really important to your
environment and the different layers that you're going to have within that classroom. Yeah.
Going back to what we earlier said, I would be a bit like if they were, I mean, it's great if
they are, but if they're all sat in that lovely semicircle, probably not meeting all needs.
Yeah, I agree. My people, I think assume that my class, everyone's sitting perfectly in a
in a horseshoe shape. And I'm there like on my life. Like it just doesn't work like that. I've said
somebody's on a mat, somebody's spinning on a hoist, somebody's pacing in and out, somebody is
screaming in the next room because something they're upset about something. Two kids aren't
even joining because they're not ready. I don't like one kid's on my chair behind me, like kind
of peer what's in the bucket. It's all going on, but I'm looking for engagement. That's my aim.
Yeah. So this kid behind me, he's engaged. Awesome. Why would I change that? This kid on the
hoist is giving fleeting looks over whatever sound things I'm using. You know, it's like,
Yeah, there's different roles to be had as well. If you have, you know, other, you have other
practitioners that are there, then there's different roles. So if I'm facilitating, I need to be the
best thing since I spread to get engagement. That's my role. I think that's really important. So
it's like, it's like something like this, that you're going to get a group of people that want
to be there. And then you're going to get a group of people that are just like, okay, I've got enough
from it. See you later. But I've still got people there that really, you know, that need that
engagement. And it can look really different. Maybe that some, some students might be quite
impulsive in their needs. It could be other students, as I say, they want to be there, but
at the same time, no, I'm really enjoying it. It really depends. I agree. So, so is our answer,
because I think it is, is to just start doing bucket and see who joins. Yes, definitely. I
think I think that's how I do it. I just start and I have a core group of kids that are all that are
my every kids that it's really unusual they don't. Yeah. And I thought often I've got a few kind of
fleeting lookers and it depends what I'm doing depends how good I am that day depends on if
they want to join or not and how regulated they are. So yeah, I would just start kind of like
tapping the bucket experimenting with what things you're doing, do some maybe some sound things one
day, some messy things the other see what, you know, what gravitates who gravitates towards what
activity and you'll kind of gauge the right like cohort. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. And
that as well. I think definitely think about your senses when you're thinking about that bucket.
So think about all that stuff. Trial and error is so important. So if they're not engaged, swap it
out. But also, I just have little mini case studies in my head. I don't know about you, but I'm like,
wow, you know, this person I didn't see last week, but now they're really engaging. So I'm
really into that. I must note that down. So individual differences. Yeah. Yeah, it's a
really good point. I will I'll think about that. Okay. Any recommendations for useful things
for SEM provision running morning only in a mainstream school? And any recommendations for
a routine for SEM provision morning with cognition and learning being the main focus. So obviously,
they've just got sent SEM provision in the morning, and then they go into mainstream,
I can see why that happens sometimes. Because usually in mainstream, I'm attached to a mainstream
school, they do the English and the maths in the morning. And then they do more topic related
stuff in the afternoon. So if it's like an intervention base, I can see why you would
want to pull some students out and do English and maths that is more maybe more at their level or
more and maybe more sensory for that. But then maybe topic related stuff is more accessible to
them, because maybe they are more aligned with their peers, or maybe it's a bit more practical,
a bit more, you know, not so much in your seat. Yes, maybe more creative, I can see why that could
work on paper for some students. So cognition and learning would be the engagement. Yeah, attention.
I mean, I've really, really, I really enjoy I'm kind of making my own tech pack at the moment.
And my kids really like tech pack part of my class anyway. But sometimes they're just a bit,
they're just a bit overdone. We've only got four of them. And yeah, they kind of know it. I mean,
if I'm bored of it, they're probably bored of it. They've been in my class seven years. So like,
yeah, I think I'm bored of it, they're gonna be. So I kind of thought to like modernize it a little
bit, put some more modern music, make it a bit more topical, but it's still very similar to
basically music and touch base. Yeah. Three massage kind of story is what it is. And it's been
working really, really well for that cognition and learning focused lesson. Because there's so
much you can get from it. They are giving fleeting looks, they could they're tracking, they're
reaching out for more. This is my PMOD group, they're kind of zero to three months, maybe.
Yeah. And so they're tracking, reaching out, they are laughing, they're anticipating all of
those wonderful engagement profile things we're seeing there, that anticipation, the engagement,
the attainment, the, you know, the looking, the reaching out, all of that we're seeing through
that. And it's really wonderful, because we only do it with two students, we've got three adults,
two students, he's really focused. And also, it's all in a bag, all ready to go. Just a grab and go
activity. I was just about to say, I think one of the things as well, if they're only getting that
provision in the morning, I would really think about how that's going to be transferable for
the mainstream, how that's still because we don't want to assume that they're only going to need
those things. When vice versa, at times that is what can happen, you know, at the, you know,
at the beginning, you're talking about, you know, what kind of lessons they're accessing,
or what kind of provisions or, you know, approach, or whatever that may look like,
it's about actually how that can still transfer. Is that again, what we're talking about is that
it can be that things just need to stop. And actually, they need to act to that. So that's
really important, I feel as well. That's true. Almost like the morning is there. Yeah. Okay,
let's get you regulated, ready for the afternoon. Let's get you feeling safe amongst your peers for
the afternoon. Let's get you confident enough to speak up for the afternoon. It's all those kind
of things. Maybe it's it's kind of like, it could be focused around like self esteem and confidence
building, communication, friendship, making all that kind of stuff that's often lost. And then
they're maybe so ready for the afternoon in order to cope. Maybe I know it doesn't always work,
but that sounds like a very ideal world, doesn't it? Definitely. And it does depend on the student,
like we said, right at the beginning. Yeah. You know, some students, it might just be a little
maths and English top up and off they go and they don't have any anxiety. Actually, they they make
great friends. Yeah, they they cope quite well. Whereas other children, it could be completely
overwhelming the idea of being in the whole class. And actually, they're in absolute fight, flight,
or fright mode all afternoon. And the mornings just kind of whatever you do is lost. Yeah. And
I think that's so important that, you know, your staff, each setting are able to observe are able
to have those discussions and talk about it because it shouldn't just be, you know, when
they're with you, you're thinking about them and vice versa. Yeah. Thinking about that responsibility
and that accountability. It's so very important, especially if you have learners that have,
you know, a lack of verbal communication or all of these things need to be definitely considered.
But it's about sharing those ideas, talking about it to prepare that individual who want to come
back time and time again, because we shouldn't assume that they want to all the time, you know?
Yeah. And there would be benefits from having a staff member that when across both areas with them,
wouldn't to kind of keep that transition over. Yeah. But also to understand with that staff member
that to have different expectations in different environments, just because they could do something
in one. Yeah. It doesn't mean they can do something in another. So it's it's both isn't it is keeping
their consistency across but also having different expectations with its environment because it would
be so different. So different. Yeah. No, definitely. Thank you for that question. I mean, like if they
were sound sensitive, they might find the morning harder. My classroom is really loud. Yeah. And
I've got some students that are in based in mainstream that could be in my class, but they
absolutely wouldn't cope with it. Yeah. It's actually is respite in mainstream. So let's not
just assume that mainstream isn't the respite. Often, I'm speaking to SLT or and I'll say that
if your students are not regulated, they're not going to learn and they'll just looking at me and
I'm thinking, but I really mean it. Some of the mainstream students that are five or six years old
are sitting for 45 minutes on the carpet. Yeah. I know if this happens. Yeah. Yeah. Regardless of
diagnosis or sensory needs. No five or six year old can do that without a sensory break. Yeah.
Yeah. So let's kind of like embed this in all, you know, in all with all teachers, I've got some
amazing mainstream primary school teachers that follow me and I love that they do because it means
that they have searched for sensory or autism or special education, but they have searched something
for the algorithm has put me in front of them. And I am so grateful for those teachers because
they're not taught it and there isn't funding for amazing training. And I just really appreciate
those teachers who don't see these students as the problem and do see the need across their whole
class, all 30 kids and are putting in sensory breaks for their whole class and are putting in
visuals for their whole class. There are teachers out there doing that and I just think that is so
awesome because it isn't the expectation. It is them going above and beyond and they are they are
they are seeing a difference and then hopefully the ripple effects will happen. You know, the word
will be spreading. I'm really encouraged that my page is growing so quickly because that proves
that people are seeing results and they're sharing it. That's so exciting to me because special
education teachers aren't the main people that are following me here because they kind of know it and
do it already. It's the people that don't that know there's something but don't know what it is.
Yeah. I'm really encouraged that there are so many people that are seeking answers.
Yeah. It's not just saying that we have to do it through social media but hey we're here.
It's like that isn't it? It's like a policy, you know, I don't know, discrimination. You want a
certain cohort. You don't want the same people time and time coming because it's like no I know
you know it. Like an echo chamber. That's right. So it's about that advocacy really spreading in
but I think you're totally right. It's about getting a follower or getting that interaction
in a DM. One that's not from this world. I think that's so much more for me because then you can
actually start this discussion instead of it being, which is absolutely amazing to share ideas,
but what I'm trying to say is like you say you're trying to grab a certain audience. The ones that
at times unfortunately think they do know, you know, or they don't really care but have no idea
where to start. I love receiving questions where they don't use, well love receiving questions is
a really weird thing to say but I love receiving questions where they don't quite use appropriate
language because it just shows these are the people I want to reach. Thank you for caring.
This is how it's done and this is why I never want to almost like look what this said or like
make fun of the language they've used because they just need to ask the question. The fact they ask
the question means that their heart is in the right place. Language is easy to fix. Like it has come
such a long way and in the place it hasn't but there have been things that I have said or I have
done when it comes to using resources or certain strategies. Now I'm like oh my goodness but that's
what it's all about. Learning and picking and being very open about that. Every week I say the wrong
word or say the wrong thing and I'm like oh yeah I don't want to do that anymore. Yeah like that's
what I think because we're just human aren't we and that's part of it but I would hate to think
somebody didn't reach out to me or didn't comment because they were worried about using the wrong
language because it's not about that here it's just about growth and learning and being open
to getting it wrong and I feel like I'm trying to embed that in my social media and in my classroom
by being the first to say oops sorry. You know I posted that last week I don't actually agree
with that anymore because I've had some amazing messages in my dms that sent me links and I've
done my research now actually I've heard it and I think that's okay. Being accountable instead of
just deleting it because that's another way you could use it. It's actually saying you know what
I thought about this or I've had a conversation and this is what I'm thinking now. I think that's
really important and again it just shows that we you know I think anything as sensitive or emotive
as the subject is or you know the community are you do have this kind of you know I have this
that that whole pressure of thinking oh I I need to be this kind of advocate or I need to be
here or but for all humans you are going to get it wrong and it's so important just to say I don't
I don't know or I've never thought about it. But to keep actively learning I think rather than just
passively saying I don't know so I'm just gonna put it all out there I think it's it's constantly
seeking is this right is this right is this right and being open to it not being right I think it's
really with all with all emotive topics right. What are your top three favourite sensory activities?
Okay do you want to go first? Oh my goodness okay well I suppose the most the ones we use most is
well the ones that are free I suppose. That's a good one. I got a load of car tyres from a garage
car garages love giving away tyres because they have to pay to get rid of them but they're such
a great sensory resource. Yeah. You can stack them they're really heavy because they often fill with
water if you leave them outside they're really heavy so for a grounding or an organizing activity
they are amazing to stack and often really motivating because then when you push them
it's a really hard push but obviously they all fall over everywhere so if you've got any children
that like stacking building blocks and looking over it's a really great one especially if you're
with if you're working with bigger young people that are cognitively you know at the brick stage
but actually are quite strong tyres are an amazing resource you can also roll them for organizing you
can step on them and balance and make obstacle courses you can grow stuff in them you can put
plant pot holders in them and you can have some messy play like tyres are amazing and they're
free so that's my first one. Okay yeah that is a good one no that's a really good one and I
feel like you've taken that off the tip of my tongue. Oh really? That's so funny. I do think as well so I think
climbing so whether it's the stairs whether you've got a ladder whether like even like a bunk bed before bed
all of that kind of stuff I think that's so important and you can see it as well that you
can see the individual really getting that feedback that benefit from it whether they're trying to
climb really fast or they're trying to go really slow and you can guide them as well like you know
let's let's sneak up like a slithering snake or you know there's different kind of ways but I do
think and again going on that free kind of motivating kind of thing that that's really
important especially at home think about it you know that whole sensory diet you can do
without it needing to be this amazing beautiful you know box of toys and items you can do them
just at home and again it's about you know we don't visually need to think see things it's about how
we're saying it as well you know first we're going to jump up and down to this music until we get out
of breath are you ready? Doing that and next we're going to be you know as I say we're going to
thread all these clusters together and then we're going to give each other a huge hug it's all about
these little things that actually you're actually doing that sensory diet sensory circuit without
realising it's not all about having that calming music or all about you know it can be and it can
be amazing for those books but it has its place and I think I think that often about the organising
part actually because so often it's almost over thought yes like the out of breath thing you kind
of have to be a bit discreet like that's more discreet you have to think of an activity that
gets them out of breath and the grounding one you have to think of an activity that grounds them
but the organising can literally be the transition from one to the other I like that idea of
traveling you know that really that transition and cross body can't you could do a bit of Simon
says on the walk and have you know your shoulder or copy me copy me do you know that kind of thing
yeah could be that organising and they don't even realise they're doing it because you're
literally just walking from job a to job b or job c and and they haven't even realised that there's
a job b in the middle I speak to mainstream teachers about doing it often because they have
limited time and limited resources and I just think well they've been out to play that's your
alerting yeah you don't even think about that yeah walk back in do a bit of copy me do and they have
to you know silently copy you and just make sure you're doing some cross body and right left and
all that kind of thing that's your organising and you've only you know and then your grounding could
be maybe deep pressure squeezes themselves or or to a partner and before all you've done is walk in
from playtime and sat down that's no extra time you're going to do that anyway it's free it's not
um babyish um yeah it's actually just part of your day but you know you're alerting organising and
grounding ready to start learning that are 10 as well when you're thinking about self-regulation
and realising that to be able to do anything ourselves we need support if you're modelling
those experiences you're probably going to see that they're going to seek it again it's a natural
way of doing it doesn't have to be this extravagant thing it can just okay i really need this right
now what am i going to do how am i going to get my body to cross how am i going to use my brain and
my body together and it's just about doing things like that and then as i say hopefully what you're
going to see the frequency density and all that kind of stuff will get you need to think about
those three sensory diet elements what am i doing wrong if the children don't respond to the
calming part of the circuit and still seem overstimulated so i would say you're kind of
rushing them through it i would say you don't move on to the next stage so you don't move on
from the alerting until the out of breath and naturally are kind of coming to an end yeah and
i wouldn't stop the organising until you can see that they are their heart has really calmed down
and they're almost like started to slump in their seat or in their body already or they're
so you say you've been doing a balancing course or an obstacle course or something for the organising
they're kind of a bit more stompy on their feet or they're a little bit more slow to reach
their knee up to the thing they're not running around it is what i'm saying yeah by the time
you get to grounding they're almost already there anyway it's just that last little push so that
they're ready to focus and some people only need a couple of minutes some people will need 40 minutes
of of that and i think it's really important that it's such a luxury that i've got so many
adults in my class because i can literally give the child exactly the amount of time they need
and we can get on it doesn't stop anything i understand if you've got 12 children in your
class and only three adults which is the case in lots of classes why that might not work yes but
ultimately i would say if they don't feel ready for grounding they still seem overstimulated
because they are yeah and also to add to that i think it's so important if you can during this
time for everyone's benefit within that room to do it with them to really join in because that's
really going to improve the trust it's going to improve things but again oftentimes i'll go into
schools and it's happening but and i get it the pressures of you know the educators they're doing
x y and z in the background and i just think perhaps if you really know them and that model that
that experience with them then they they can actually have that support of what it is to feel
calm or what it is to relax or what it is to be the adults will know how long it actually takes
in order to feel something like that because often it's longer than you think or shorter than you think
so whenever we um if we do running ones i would always run with and i think well i get much more
out of breath than they do quickly anyway but that says more about me than them but i think
it's really important for like both ways right not ask too much of them but also you can then
fill with them when they're ready and also just that question i think because it says you know
they still seem overstimulated it's okay to go back it is okay you don't have to then think to
yourself okay we're done we have to now move on yeah like you know like you're saying jordan it's
so important for you to actually have that realistic expectation how long is it going to take or what
does that look like and so again if you if you're doing that circuit and you think oh gosh 45 minutes
and we need to you know we need to move on and you do have that time because again sometimes you won't
because it's home time or whatever that looks like but if you do have that time go back you know
really try to see where you can fill in the gaps because it's so beneficial because the next time
it's going to come back so much more strong and more meaningful for those individuals and also
ask yourself like if they're not focused and overstimulated are they going to be learning
in this lesson that i'm rushing to get to anyway is there actually more important life lesson
happening here of meeting their own needs and that sounds like a luxury and that's why i feel like
specialist education is a luxury yeah because we have that option to think no this is now our lesson
for the afternoon i feel like unfortunately that is a luxury in education but if you flip it
you know ever so slightly i think meeting our students basic needs is you know that's just so
important and when you think about it that way it doesn't matter what setting you're in mainstream
specialist whatever that looks like to it's the basic needs it's not there you know they're not
trying extra bigly to gain it's equivalent to like not giving them enough water yeah
isn't it yeah and if you're thinking about it that way of course you're going to get the more water
in it definitely yeah that's right and hence why it's just good for everything because again
i go in so many classrooms and everyone could use it you know yeah and there's no reason why if only
a few students need more but all the rest are ready then you could maybe split off and and kind
of do some definitely and maybe it's about just doing them more often little and often is sometimes
just as effective as one really big one i'd say more actually we do it kind of after every sitting
activity sometimes between the activities as well depending on the student sometimes and often just
keeps it keeps them going and not waiting until not it's too late because it's never too late but
not waiting until they're over simulated in order to start the circuit yeah i think if you're having
them thinking about that baseline structure that we're talking about earlier if rather than the
sensory diet just weaving in when they need it if the sensory diet is also killed into that baseline
thing that whether they need it or not they still do it anyway and then there is extras woven in if
they need it i think it's really important yeah because sometimes they don't look like they need
it but it's about keeping them regulated isn't it yeah if they never look like they need it we're
doing our job right yeah it's the moment they start looking like they need it that we should
have done it yeah more where can i find out more about sensory circuits yeah you have jordan you
have so yeah i'm gonna do a promo yeah i'm one of lots of alerting ideas and organizing ideas
and grounding ideas um that are suitable for in school or at home and lots of the things on there
are free and that you can start doing for ideas and you can kind of expand from there and it also
includes all of the symbol visuals for each thing i've mentioned so that you can either get your
child to choose what activity they want to do which i think is really lovely it's always
we always want to do things more more if we've had some kind of ownership over it so they can
choose and also they know what meets their needs better than we ever could so they can choose or
maybe it's a way of showing what you know what's gonna come up um and that's yeah that's a pound
in my website there's also a wonderful book called sensory circuits if you look at that up that on
amazon i think that's on my amazon store but yeah look it up on amazon if you search sensory circuit
that's got some great ideas as well thank you so much for joining this we've got to do this again
i love talking to you so much everybody head over to the autistic family godmother and give her a
follow she's awesome she says all about sensory diets and autism and i'm learning so much from her
and i'm sure you will too as well so definitely follow and i can't wait to see more from you
i know i'm so excited already i will see you soon have a good week