[senco-forum] Autism and playtime/lunch

Hi Fiona

  We are a small secondary school but our solutions for pupils like these seem to work well.
  We use the 'place of safety' idea.  The reason these kids like the library is that it is quiet and structured plus they 'have permission' to be there.  You can look at books together so you don't have to interact directly with others and it is also okay to just sit on your own with a book in front of you.  Our librarian has often got three or four kids like that in the library during unstructured times.
  We also use our SEN area as a 'place of safety'.  It is staffed by TAs who make sure that it is quiet and orderly.  Several of our pupils eat there then dip in and out at lunch times so they know that they can cope.  Other TAs run a homework club which also attracts waifs and strays.  I know several teachers also make their classrooms available to pupils who need to stay with an adult.

  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

Phil <pmacken1 at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
  There are several children at the primary school who although don't have an
official (yet) diagnosis of autism/ aspergers, have many of the symptoms -
very poor social skills being one. At lunchtime the library is open and they
tend to hang out there. At playtime it is closed - the theory being that it
makes these kids do something else. What happens though is that they are
lost and just wander around aimlessly. There seems to be an attitude of
'they're a bit odd but they'll be OK, they don't want any friends anyway so
let them sit on a bench by themselves".

My question - what have your schools got in place to meet the needs of these
children during what is probably the most unstructured and unsupervised time
of the day? 

In my experience they are actually desperate for friends but just don't know
who to make them and are continually rejected.

Ta

Fiona

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall