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Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education teacher from the UK. I share my passion for

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everything communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson ideas for my classroom of disabled

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pupils aged 4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in the field answering your questions

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and sharing our knowledge and experience working alongside our beautiful young people. Let's get started.

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Hello everybody. So we are going to do a Q&A today. How to manage stripping in public places in school

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if there are no visuals? Great question and it's a question I get a lot actually about stripping.

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It's really really common. So I have seen this before in my last school and a really easy

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solution is to put coats on backwards. So the zips at the back or the velcros at the back or

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the buttons that are back. That's a really easy solution as to stop the stripping or maybe their

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school cardigan or whatever is backwards. There's also special clothing that you can purchase that

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has hard to open poppers or zips again that are often at the back so that even if children can

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open it that it kind of slows them down a little bit so that you can then stop them. So that's all

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well and good but also I would look at why the reason why they're doing it because that's the

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solution to what they're doing the behaviour but it doesn't actually solve the why. So I would ask

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why they're stripping you know what are they getting out of that. I once spoke to an occupational

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therapist that explained that some children's skin is as sensitive as an eyeball. I've never

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forgotten that because my goodness if my skin was as sensitive as an eyeball I wouldn't want my

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hair cut or shaved. I wouldn't want to be wearing clothes with itchy labels or weird fabrics you

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know I'd want to be wearing soft smooth silky fabrics with no seam that with no labels you know.

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So maybe even if their skin isn't as sensitive as an eyeball because I'm sure lots of people

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aren't even if they do have sensory regulation needs but let's assume that it is because we

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don't know that it isn't and then maybe talk to parents about if there's alternative uniform they

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could wear that's a little bit more soft or silky or doesn't have the seams or take labels out and

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all those kind of things. So maybe that's why they're stripping. It also could be they love

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their reaction or it's a good opt out because if they don't want to do their work and then they

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strip well obviously you're not just going to say look get on with your work and ignore that

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behaviour obviously you're going to take them away take them to the bathroom and get them changed.

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So it could be a learn opt out as well. So think about the why and go from there. It's a four body

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strip unfortunately we put a blanket over but this doesn't work. I think the young person gets a

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reaction which is why. Yeah of course if you're running over and having blankets and it's you

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know maybe they're wanting that kind of interaction. So if that is the why then also embed opportunities

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to positively interact throughout their day. It could be intensive interaction it could be

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as simple as that or it could be some kind of turn taking games it wrestling maybe they want that

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kind of swaddle with a blanket give them opportunities to do that that isn't stripping

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if that is what it is. The young person also gets hot very often yeah that's so common

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so lots of children with sensory regulation especially if they have interoception you know

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regulation difficulties they really struggle with regulating their temperature so maybe having a fan

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or having an opportunity to ask for lots of drinks or a cold flannel and other ways of calling down

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or asking for clothes to be you know off without all being off and sometimes autistic children

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particularly it can be all or nothing so just giving them a structured way of showing them

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jumper off weight you might cool down you might not take everything off and lots of games like

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that maybe through attention autism or role play we could modeling hot and then cold and and go

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that way so yeah it could be an understanding there's lots of reasons why a child could be

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stripping but look those are lots of them so I hope that helps yeah I hope that's useful a useful

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answer for you. The next question is from Diane and she says how do you manage self-harming behaviours

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in younger students? I have seen lots of self-harming behaviours before again there can be

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lots of different reasons why they're self-harming sometimes it can be they really want grounding

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it's a really great way of getting a sense of self is through hurting yourself because if I didn't

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know where my body was in space say if I've got poor proprioception needs then if I'm biting myself

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or hitting myself then I definitely know where my body is I definitely know where my legs are I

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definitely know where my hands are because I'm getting that feedback or my head is because I'm

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headbutting or biting or whatever it is there's no you know more stronger feedback that I exist

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in the world and I know where my body is and grounded than that and usually that is the way

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and usually it stems from a feeling of feeling completely dysregulated in fight or flight mode

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really anxious really frustrated lack of communication and loads of frustration and

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demand typically usually is where those self-harming behaviours come in sometimes also and I have got

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this as well self-harming behaviours start like that but then become a learnt behaviour to opt out

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or communicate that they want something and and all of a sudden when they self-harm I've got a

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little girl who punches herself in the head and I think that started by her wanting to ground herself

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I think she genuinely needs that when she's frustrated however what she then learnt was

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when I do this adults come running to me and fix my problem so what was happening it was a very

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small problem she just wanted a blanket or she just was slightly frustrated that the chair

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wasn't with her or she was slightly frustrated that she couldn't have chris straight away you

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know slight annoyances she was really punching herself in the head because that was what she'd

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learn if I want help if I need help from an adult or want help to access something I need to do that

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because that's the quickest way they will come to me and that was learnt so the hardest thing that

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we had to do for that one was react slower to the punching and react faster to anything safe

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so if she was reaching for something or giving some vocalizations or looking at something we

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needed to react super fast to that and give her it straight away if she was punching herself we

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needed to react a bit slower get her blanket and give her squeezes a bit slower so that she's

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learnt and within a year it's taken a year but within the year now she has learnt if I want

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if I want something I have to reach for it and she still sometimes does this but she doesn't punch

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herself she just does I'm gonna I will but now we know that yeah now she knows actually when I want

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something actually it's much quicker for me at school to just reach for it or look for it so

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that's really great for her but often self-harming behaviors come from frustration and that often

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comes from a lack of ways to communicate or be understood I mean how think about how frustrating

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it is to know what you want not be able to have the words to ask for it and not be understood

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and only have your body to communicate I think I would be hitting myself or other people or other

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things that's incredibly frustrating so let's give them some communication let's offer them

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uh iPads let's offer them symbols photos objects of reference uh sound buttons signing let's offer

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all of that to them because something might stick and it might help them understand or be understood

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and all of a sudden even though we've not dealt with the actual self-harming behavior all of a

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sudden there's no need to self-harm because they can be understood the anxiety is reduced they

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they they know that they're heard and they know what other people are saying and they can communicate

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their wants and wishes as well and all of a sudden they're not self-harming anymore and that I know

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you've said for younger students but actually that goes all the way through everybody deserves a voice

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everybody deserves to be heard and understood and if we want to reduce those self-harming behaviors

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then communication has to be first and then second it's sensory regulation so what are the

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demands on them at the time is a busy environment are the lights on is it noisy is it cluttered

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what demands are you putting on them are you asking too much of them at this moment yes they might be

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able to have done it yesterday but today is a new day and actually they're feeling particularly

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anxious or out of sorts today and it's just too much and is that why they're self-harming

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so just have a look at the environment as well and and think about how you can reduce those demands

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uh because ultimately we don't want any students to be self-harming so we want to reduce that how

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do you know what sensory output they need in the moment it's a really great question shawnee I have

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what's called a sensory profile tool on my website and it breaks down all of the senses so we've got

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the five senses haven't we that we know about we've got sight smell touch taste and hearing nearly

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forgot the five so they're the five that we are all taught about in school but there's actually

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three more we've got proprioception so proprioception is letting us know where our body is even if we're

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not looking at our limbs so I know where my hand is even though I can't see it I just know where

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it is I've got a feeling about where it is um and that helps us feel positioned in that bodies and

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positioned in the world well lots of children with proprioception difficulties and it's really

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common with children with autism and down syndrome any fine motor you know motor thing cerebral

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palsy all have really really tricky proprioception um regulation needs and they don't really know

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where their body is so that's why you might see lots of um self-harming behaviors might be lots

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of tiptoe walking that might be why you see flapping or rocking or stamping or laying on the

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floor or wiggling in their chairs but all of those things wanting to swing wanting to be upside down

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all of those things are telling your child this is where my body is in in the world in the space

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this is it makes me feel grounded so they might have some difficulties there the seventh one is

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vestibular so that is your sense of balance so these children either seek or avoid going upside

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down so if they've got a heightened sense of vestibular if they are vestibular avoiding

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it might be because they're a bit unsteady on their feet and they're scared of tipping up or

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over so they these children are nervous about walking upstairs they'd avoid swings or see-saws

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they even get scared like sitting back on their chair because they're really nervous about that

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kind of movement and we've got some children like that at school we've also got some children that

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are vestibular seeking and these are your children that want to be upside down all of the time and

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swung around and on the swing and thrown up in the air and all those kind of children and they are

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your vestibular seekers because they are seeking that dizziness or they don't even get dizzy but

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they're seeking that spinning and then the eighth sense is called interoception the inter the internal

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sense so this would be the sense that makes you know if you're poorly or thirsty or hungry or hot

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or cold is that gut sense and it helps us regulate our temperature and regulate our internal self so

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lots of children also on the spectrum will struggle with that too knowing when they're too hot when

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they're too cold through your question how do you know what sensory output they need in those

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moments it's about understanding if they are oversensitive to each of those eight senses

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or undersensitive and you can be over in some and under in others and completely regulated in others

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so it's about creating a profile for your children about that and then having a look at it once you've

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got it and thinking okay so they're seeking vestibular but they're avoiding this and they're

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seeking taste strong taste but they're avoiding loud noises and coming up with a profile about what

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they need ultimately but really it won't surprise you because you'll say oh yeah they they're upside

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down all the time or oh yeah they constantly are seeking strong flavors and smells yeah they do

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do that because ultimately your children know what they don't know why but they they know to seek

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those things or know to avoid those things they're naturally doing it anyway and and parents amongst

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you and and teachers that have worked with your children for a while will certainly be able to

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know oh yeah they they always eat bland food or they always hate noise or or really noisy or whatever

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and that's about their sensory profile so yeah if you are interested in your own sensory profile or

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a child sensory profile my sensory profiling tool is really useful it's it's ten pounds

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on my website and it takes you through really it's quite thorough but it takes you through

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step by step about what each sense is whether you're seeking or or over or under responsive to it

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what that means it helps you profile your children on a really easy grid you literally just do a tick

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or a cross whether they are or aren't and then it takes you through step by step if your child is

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this then you need to do this if your child is this then you do this and it supports children

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from kind of toddlers right through to adulthood really so yeah if you're interested in sensory

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output and input and how to support then that is a great start often it's the second thing i

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recommend that people get the first one is intensive interaction training just because i think

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it just works with everyone and it's only five pounds so i often send them that the sensory diet

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the poster again it's a pound so i often send people that and then the third thing i think the

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best thing that i've ever created even though i barely talk about it is the sensory profiling

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tool because it's the start it's the key to unlocking all those things there's no point

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having a wonderful curriculum or a wonderful call word program that you're running if your

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children aren't regulated and that's what this sensory profile will hopefully support you to

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understand and support them with so i hope that answers your question shawnee next question how

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can we stop a child from spitting on people and hurting others well it's similar to the self-harming

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one really um but i feel like self-harming is you wanting adults to come to you whereas spitting

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and hurting others well it's the opposite isn't it you're wanting people to go away and a really

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effective way of making people want to go away is by hurting them or spitting on them because

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naturally people you know avoid you for that so the easy answer is give them an i need the break

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button or give them a symbol so they can ask for a break and honor it even if it looks like they're

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avoiding work let them have their break because they probably do need it and um and then they

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can always come back to do to finish their work task let them have the break if they're asking

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for it because we'd rather that and then have the break when they need it we'd rather that than them

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spitting and hurting each others or throwing their work whatever whatever the alternative is you know

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they're going to find ways to avoid work if they want to avoid it so we'd rather them do it in an

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appropriate way i want to break brilliant you want to break great go and have your break you know

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for a countdown timer or some kind of limitation do one puzzle and then come back whatever it is

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and then bring them back to the work task and they they complete their work task and carry on

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um uh yeah so if they're spitting or hurting others i would be offering them a safe quiet

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intense free cutter free environment to escape to it might be that they go under the table with a

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blanket over it and then they come back out and then they're ready to do their work again it might

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be that they need a bit of a run around in the playground or a bit of a sensory circuit instead

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as of a quiet break you know your children um but yeah i really believe that if they are having the

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breaks that they need then they won't feel the need to spit or hurt others i suppose the alternative

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also could be that they um are not they wanting to interact and they quite like the reaction of

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other people you know hurt and spitting and that's the only time they ever get an interaction from

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somebody else even though it's negative it's quite a fun one to them because they don't get a positive

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interaction with other children they don't really know how to do it so another way would be to set

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up some kind of intervention group of teaching them how to interact with children more appropriately

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maybe a legotherapy group or equivalent and supporting them to join a group and how to

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initiate a play in that way i suppose so nicola has asked why is repetition so beneficial for

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learners with complex needs and i love this question because i'm always i know i am i'm always

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hammering on about the fact that i repeat everything so i repeat my lessons every week for six weeks or

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i repeat the core word program every day or i repeat attention autism every day for a week you

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know i'm always hammering on about repeating things and there are lots of reasons it's a really

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good question often with global delay or developmental delay or disabilities your working

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memory struggles to remember something right off the bat often they need to repeat it in order for

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the new learning to be embedded so if you've got a child if you're working with a child with poor

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working memory or short-term memory then it will need to be repeated repeated to consolidate that

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learning so that's the first reason another reason is often children with autism or children in

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special education or mainstream or the one-to-one for any reason often have anxiety it's kind of

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part and parcel of having the disability and having a living in a world that isn't you know

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built for you or or how you learn and how you like to be often anxiety comes as part of that so if

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you're repeating learning then it boosts their confidence because it becomes predictable it

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becomes routine the anxiety is reducing and therefore you can really see what they're capable

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of if i was only going to do an activity once and then another activity once and another activity

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once my children or my class will be in a constant state of anxiety and unknowing and it'll feel

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unpredictable it'll feel unfamiliar and they won't really know what it's about so even though they

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could perfectly do it well they don't know what i'm asking them to do at first so they can't show me

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what what they're really capable of whereas if i'm repeating it every week for six weeks week one is

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just watching me and thinking this is weird what's this all about week two is yeah i remember that

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from last week yeah okay this feels a little bit more familiar by week three they might be actually

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having a turn so it's taken three weeks for them to even have a turn and then they can improve on

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those skills and by week six they're doing it they're independent they're modeling and really

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seeing what they're capable of and they're really progressing and learning that's why that's why i

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repeat the lessons also there's another benefit it means i only have to have to plan every once

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every six weeks or once every 12 weeks which is a huge benefit because that means i can spend all

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those hours with the children engaging with the children creating the most amazing resources and

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that's another thing as well if i'm using the resources every week for six weeks it means my

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budget is way bigger because otherwise i'd have to buy a new thing or make a new thing every week or

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every day or every lesson you know that would be huge cost to resources in my time whereas this means

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i can buy a few amazing resources that we can repeat and use over all of those all of that time

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in my last school i used to teach six lessons a day every day and we used to change the topic

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every week it's crazy i used to do 36 lessons a week and we used to change the topic every week

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like completely completely new topic the amount of resources and time that took was crazy in

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comparison to the progress that the children didn't did or didn't make basically so that

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yeah it was huge and and i don't see any benefit from that at all do you use a sam timer for a

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break um i don't typically i often use a countdown um mainly because i don't like to determine how

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long it's going to take a child before they need to come back to me for example if i say okay take

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three minutes and then come back or what if actually they're not quite ready in three minutes or what

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if they're ready after a minute and a half what if they go into a sensory circuit and actually they

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like completion is a really important thing especially for all the people with an autistic

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profile they need to complete an activity before it's finished otherwise it feels unfinished and

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uncertain and stable and i'm not ready to finish yet if that sam timer finishes and the activity

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isn't finished like they haven't completed their rotation of the obstacle course or they haven't

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completed their puzzle or they haven't completed their ipad game that is a gotta be dysregulation

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and we're in the you know of regulating children so i use a countdown it's basically just three

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symbols that we gradually take off and they will not take that last one off until i feel like you

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know the things come to an end or they're ready basically so it helps them work alongside each

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other and we kind of negotiate in that way as as when a good time to finish is and that's whether

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it's a preferred activity or a non-preferred activity we kind of work together and and work out

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you know how it's going to work how is the introduction to that break if you haven't had

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it before yeah great question so often i just model it if i feel like they need a break i get

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the symbol and i say i need a break and then i bring them with me it might be really small and

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i do something i know they'll love it could be bouncing on a exercise ball spinning on a chair

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jumping up and down whatever it is something that i know they really really really want to do

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they'll join me with it and then we'll go back to class five minutes later because this is the real

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learning here i don't actually care about the learning i'm teaching the lesson is i'm teaching

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them how to get asked for a break five minutes i'll say i need a break and then we go back again we

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do that really fun activity maybe even a different fun activity and then we come back and then the

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third time i might just leave it there and they might point to it or look to it or grab it or i

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might just say i need a break and then we go out again and eventually they will understand when i

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want to do that thing i just have to hold this and and i can get it just know though that it isn't a

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treat lots of people say oh you're just rewarding them for not doing their work no no no no these

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children need sensory breaks like they need water or air or blinking and we need to treat it as such

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we wouldn't deny these children the toilet or we wouldn't deny these children a drink of water when

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they needed it we cannot deny these children a sensory break when they need it even if we think

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they're faking it and they're using it as an opt-out we have to honor that let's assume competence

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let's assume that they know what their body needs and if your lesson was really fun then they're

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not going to want to avoid it so one maybe just improve your lesson and make it more fun but also

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let them have a sensory break and then come back and finish your lesson later like that's okay

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that's perfectly okay and i know that's the luxury of special education that we can do that really

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easily but i really feel like mainstream can do that too you know especially if they're responsible

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and they can meet their sensory needs on their own in a corner or outside or whatever and then

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come back in great how would you know if a child is anxious if they don't speak they will be fussy

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about where things are like an ocd type thing maybe they will be refusing to move or avoidant

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they will be no no no or pushing you away they i mean god non-speaking children are incredible

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about communicating their feelings wants needs wishes without any words they use their body

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and you really can tell when they're feeling anxious because their body is all up tight

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and they're avoiding or they're hiding or they're running away or they're no no no no you just can

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tell when they're actually they're quiet you know maybe they're seeing a bit tired or maybe they're

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feeling a bit poorly or they look a bit peaky or they're crying or they're hurting themselves

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you know they're all anxious things that i see often hurting yeah hurting themselves is the

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worst one and that's how i tell if they're anxious just like you can tell if they're happy

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they're relaxed they're clapping their their head is up they're they're up straight they're looking

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they're smiling they're seeking more they're reaching out that's happiness that's focused

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and ready to learn well anxiety is the opposite of that we're looking yeah we'll look for all

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those other things okay another question why is repetition so important for gestalt language

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processes so we've spoke about repetition before but gestalt language process is like repeating

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even more they will watch the same clip over and over and over again or they'll play the same game

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over and over and over again they're over and over and over again children gestalt language

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processes it's because it becomes familiar to them it becomes predictable to them because the

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world and language is so unpredictable and and confusing for children that are non-speaking

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but all of a sudden they can latch on to this phrase and they understand its meaning you know

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i want juice could be one for example and all of a sudden when they say it they get juice or they

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get apple juice or they get some you get choices this is great this is awesome i'm gonna keep saying

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that i'm gonna keep playing it so i can learn it now what about this phrase i need a friend

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and then if and you keep saying it and then the friend comes oh my goodness this is amazing you

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know how exciting that they're finding these words and phrases and they don't learn it by

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separate words they learn it with the phrase um as a whole uh and then and then gradually they go

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step by step and gradually mitigate the phrase and then they can use it as separate words it's

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incredibly exciting it's an incredible way of learning language i love it i love working with

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gestalt language processes we've got a good few in my class and it's so interesting and exciting

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i've got a free blog post on my website all about the stages from echolalia so immediate echoing

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exactly what they hear of time and then working through it stage two uh is delayed echolalia so

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they're repeating exactly the phrase but they're doing it not immediately afterwards they're you

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know doing it other times in the day and then they're learning using it into context and it

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goes through really exciting and and eventually they are typically developmenting a developmental

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stage of speech you know they catch up which is so exciting um yeah i find gestalt language

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processes incredible and it's why i wrote my call word program and it motivates lots of things i do

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actually and it could also be stimming it's why they repeat you know it's enjoyable it's funny

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it's it makes me feel good stimming literally means repetitive stimulating behavior anything

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they repeat and it's in a stimulating to them could be a stim it could be something like this

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it could be something like this it could be something like this or it could be repeating

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on the ipad is stimming and it's just because it feels good it makes them feel good and it's

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regular and it it's consistent and it's predictable and it just makes me feel good so that's yeah

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that's why i guess that language processes repeat my mission is to share all of this stuff because

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there are a lot of children out there and there's more children than i can have access to um you

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know hands-on access to i've only got 10 spaces in my class and it just feels very unfair

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um so if i can share some of my knowledge to other practitioners or parents caregivers so that a

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little bit can also go to them then it makes me feel a little bit more comforted because there's

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so much need out there and i wish i could work with everyone i really really do i really do oh i love

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this question down syndrome students struggle with simple instructions to stand or sit yes so i can

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just imagine it i've worked with lots of down syndrome students could it be a gross motor thing

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so typically down syndrome students and and they're not the only ones they're children with

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cerebral palsy as well and sometimes autism um struggle with a lack of proprioception feedback

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because they're hypermobile and they're your children that you know can bend their thumbs

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all the way back or like put their feet like all the way up over their head or they're like really

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hypermobile these children often struggle with proprioception feedback because they're not getting

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they don't know where their body is in space because their body is kind of everywhere they're

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not getting that um sensation of limitations with their body so they often struggle with

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proprioception feedback so they often also struggle to sit because they don't feel comforted or

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grounded by sitting they still kind of feel a bit floaty i often liken it to feeling a bit drunk

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like if you've had about too much alcohol i mean people say people tell me that if you have enough

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alcohol and you lie down then you feel like the room's spinning and you you often like have to

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touch the wall as you're walking because you feel like you know it's a bit spinny or maybe you put

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your foot out of bed so it touches the floor so so that you know where the ground is because

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the world feels a little bit spinny that's honestly how i think a lot of people with proprioception

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needs regulation needs feel all of the time which is why you see the flapping the rocking the tiptoe

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walking often you'll see if you watch autistic children will run their hand along the wall as

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they're walking or they'll be a little bit more stompy with their feet or they'll be a bit more

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jumpy because they're trying to seek that grounding just like when you're feeling a little bit

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inebriated so naturally these children will struggle to sit so i try a weighted blanket

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they are incredibly effective again for that grounding so they know where their body is in

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space they feel grounded and settled in their seat this could be a big weighted blanket or

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sometimes a lap blanket and also deep pressure squeeze as well anybody that's ever met me

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will know that i'm constantly squeezing your children and it's often down their arms it's

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often on your head so front and back or it's down their legs and it's their feet often i go for hands

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and feet as well and when i'm with children i'm constantly squeezing their hands and squeezing

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their feet because it just settles them they don't need to flap and jump and rock and run around and

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be a bit chaotic they can just settle in the moment because i'm giving them that feedback

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in that same space so deep pressure squeezes is a great one for dancing time children not sitting

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it could also be processing time often with children with any disability or cognitive impairment

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they need extra processing time time to process what you've said so you need to allow at least

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eight seconds ideally 10 before repeating an instruction or even better just go visual and

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don't say anything at all it's far more easy to understand visual than spoken so it might be

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something like tommy sit down tommy sit down you know how often do we actually wait eight seconds

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it feels like a really long time doesn't it but it's essential and i always liken it or kind of

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visualize it like rolling a ball to them and hoping they catch it so me saying tommy sit down is me

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rolling a ball and hoping they catch it but it takes eight seconds for the ball to reach them

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and if i say tommy sit down sit down here's your chair sit down go on like i'm not being mean i'm

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being really kind but i've rolled about five balls to tommy and he doesn't know which ones to catch

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which ones to drop he can't capture all of them and things are going to get missed especially the

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main meaning of the instruction so wait eight seconds for the ball the instruction ball to

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reach them before repeating and even better go visual first autistic children especially

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are incredibly visual so why are we giving instructions in a neurotypical way we need to

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be giving instructions in a neurodivergent way and that's visual first so it might not be saying

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anything just and maybe modeling what you want them to be doing you know another visual way is

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modeling and then and then you might go and say to them i also only give instructions with if i'm

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within arm reach of them any longer than that it just feels like shouting and a demand and

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and neither of us like that so be an arm reach away from them give them processing time go visual

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first give them proprioception feedback and then ultimately people with down syndrome are often

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just quite stubborn it's really common so try a change of face try and switch out with another

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adult try and make it a little bit more fun reduce the demands give them opportunities to control

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the activity or choose the activity quite typical and similar to the students kind of on a pd with

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a pda profile as well that's pathological demand avoidance profile i use the panda approach for

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that right if there's no question more questions for me thank you so much for being here bye