Here is a powerpoint, with activities that help to illustrate that behaviour that challenges us is actually trying to communicate with us. It may not be doing it in the best way possible but it is trying to say something, perhaps “I can’t cope”, “Leave me alone” or “stop”. The powerpoint is accompanied by the stress bucket worksheet. If you are not aware of the stress bucket, it is explained nicely here. https://youtu.be/1KYC5SsJjx8 The powerpoint is also accompanied by the ‘behaviour analysis cards’. Both of which can be used independently. The cards with red arrows indicate possible triggers for challengeing behaviour, The speech bubbles provide suggestions as to what the behaviour may be ‘saying’ and the cards with green arrows provide suggestions as to what we or the individual can do to manage challenges more successfully.

This powerpoint is intented to be printed off as cards, e.g. 6 slides per page. It was created for a training session (Behaviour as Communication: Powerpoint available), but could also be used to help an individual understand their own behaviour. Feel free to add additional slides so that they are more suited to your circumstances. This was created with autism in mind, however I have recently made a new version with ADHD in mind to help a young person understand his triggers to be used over the next few weeks. The red arrow slides are to be used first, perhaps with a particular behaviour or ‘incident in mind’. Ask staff or the learner / child what was bothering them before the incident happens / happened. Select all cards that apply. e.g. I couldn’t do the work, it was too hard, I felt embarrassed. The speech bubble cards are to help identify what the behaviour was saying. e.g. when I punched the wall, I felt stupid, I had had enough. The green arrow cards are for the learner or staff to identify what would start to improve the situation, either proactively or reactively. You can then go on to replace the behaviour that challenges by teaching alternative behaviours or communication and assertiveness techniques. e.g. Code words to ask for help or assertiveness scripts such as “when…I feel… I need…”.

This powerpoint is designed to give reassurance to learners who are feeling anxious on their first day of college. It was designed with autistic learners in mind but would work for others with anxiety and barriers to learning. The document can be edited to insert names of specific staff in departments. Some learners may benefit from including photographs too.

This action plan has been developed to help a learner and his tutor when discussing how he should be meeting the expectations of his Further Education study programme. Inexperience can cause a tutor to set targets and expectations without consideration of the barriers a learner experiences. This leads to repeated ‘failure’, frustration and lack of confidence. A learner will continue to miss deadlines if there is no consideration of his difficulty with executive functionning such as inability to plan, prioritise or remember to write tasks down for example. This action plan includes additional steps to help tutors and learners get closer to the root cause of problems so that success is more likely. The RAG review will help learners to see their own progress e.g. I was ‘red’ last week, but I am ‘amber’ now. Green now feels more acheiveable.

This powerpoint presentation provides a list of famous people who are thought to be autistic. This has been used as printed cards for discussion when helping individuals to understand autism and feel more empowered regarding their diagnosis.

This resource was inspired by the Inside Out film and has been used to help autistic learners label, make sense of and respond to their own and others emotions. It links to PSHE relationships, interpersonal skills, communication, emotional literacy, reflection and much more.

This document guides staff though a reflective and analytical process when an individual has displayed behaviour perceived to be challenging. It seeks to support staff in exploring the reasons ‘challenging behaviour’ occurs and to promote reflective practice around education and support. The aim is to assist staff in understanding and meeting an individual’s needs so that challenging behaviour reduces. Those completing the process should consider the following key questions throughout the process: • Was the individual seeking to escape a situation they were not ‘ready for’? • Were the supposed consequences something they were actually seeking? e.g. Individual is put in ‘isolation’ but this may be relief to them if they are feeling social overwhelmed. Could this lead to the behaviour being repeated? • Can more be done to teach coping, assertiveness and communication strategies to replace the challenging behaviour? • Do staff consistently demonstrate a good understanding of an individual’s needs? • Are opportunities to share good inclusive practice maximised?

This resource was created for an autistic 16 year old who is struggling to cope with the company of other teens who are more impulsive, carefree and boistrous than him. Moments that others find amusing are stressful for him and a much bigger deal. He’s struggling to calm himself down before the next banter type challenge comes along. I am supporting him to build up his resilience with relaxation, the stress bucket and assertiveness but this work worksheet plays a role in ‘putting things in perspective’.

I have been working with an autistic young man who loves the rock band Kiss and wants to work as a holiday entertainer hundreds of miles away from home. To date, he has struggled to appreciate that £92 per day is a bit too much to spend on train tickets and that he wouldn’t get employed to just sing Kiss songs. I have turned the situation into an opportunity to learn more about making informed decisions and employability skills, amongst other things. As the resource was really effective in helping him to make informed decisions I felt I would share it. It also serves as a useful activity to look at skills matching, job searches, employability vocabulary and so on. I recommend editing the adverts to suit the interests and skills of different group members.

Powerpoint to guide learners through the session. Lesson and worksheets also available. Aimed at E1-E3 learners who are working to become more independent but need a little help with problem solving.

A list of words to describe the necessary behaviour for building independence. Words are accompanied by their opposites. The format is designed to be printed, cut out and laminated for future use. The words can be used to help build sentences with varied vocabulary when discussing independence in class. The can be used to represent two ends of a continuum for learners to self assess against the behaviours.

This resource is designed to help learners explore barriers to becoming more independent. The resource consists of case studies and a page of visual prompts to be considered as possible ways to break down barriers to independence. E.g. role playing an activity before doing it for real or using google images to plan a route to an unfamiliar place. Both effective ways to reduce anxiety levels. Learners are required to consider up to four basic cases studies and offer advice from the options provided. Advice can be different forms depending on the level of the learner e.g. Learners can illustrate the advice, using sheet 2 as guidance, they can copy the label of the advice or they can form their own sentence(s) inspired by the options provided. The activity can be used with the key words for independence to embed literacy skills.

This powerpoint provides an explanation of Comic strip conversations. Their key functions are: Visually working through a problem and identifying solutions Systematically identifying what people say and do Emphasising what people may be thinking May provide insight into someone’s perspective of a situation Excellent prerequisite to a social storyTM Illustration of social skills which are abstract or difficult to understand Their rationale is: Visualisation and visual supports are useful for structuring learning and showing how individual components connect and interact Useful for improving comprehension around conversation Understanding other thoughts and feelings is just as important as understanding their words and actions.

This is a lesson plan for a 20 minute microteach on the subject of socially appropriate behaviour for increasing independence. For example, if we are hygienic we will be given more responsibility on our work placement. If we are cautious what information we give away to strangers we will be able to spend more time at the shops etc without supervision and guidance. There are resources to accompany this lesson plan.

This resource has been created to support learners who have difficulty getting started, planning, preparing for and working through open ended tasks. Step 1. State the project, problem or situation that needs to be tackled. Step 2. Create wwwwwh questions about it. These questions could be able the logistics of completing the task or project e.g. Why does it have to be done? When does it have to be finished? Who will help me? What does it need to look like? How will I get the resources i need? The questions could also be about the content of the task or project e.g. When is my interview? What will they ask me? Where will it take place? Step 3. Try to answer each of the 18 questions. RAG rate by highlighting green when confident about the answer, amber when clarification is needed and red for when the learner doesn’t know. Step 4 (page 2). Create 3 lists, using the headings provided. Step 5. Seek answers to the ambers (quick wins). Step 6. Plan how to get the answers required and proceed.

A simple matching activity to begin exploring the age you have to be to legally do various activities in the UK. The Word document is easy to edit so you an add topics suited to your group. This has been used as part of independent living skills, Citizenship and exploring Emotions and Behaviour.

Equality Impact Assessments focused on fairness, access and inclusion. They help us to consider a policy, service or process in terms of how it might affect different groups protected in law. This EIA proforma places more emphasis on disability, prompting consideration of reasonable adjustments thus further supporting your compliance with the Equality Act 2010.