Reflection Rationale

It supports a child’s development and learning, giving them confidence to explore and learn in the environment. An enabling environment also helps with transitioning as it has a homely feel about it, making the child feel more comfortable during the settling in period. An enabling environment should be inviting, flexible, fun, secure, and stimulating for all children no matter gender, race and if they are able bodied or not. The early years practitioner should provide activities and opportunities that are both age and stage appropriate to the child within the environment. The environment should make it easier for the practitioner to do so, and it should be tied in with the child’s individual needs, e.g. a ramp for a child in a

“Teaching Play Skills to Children with Autism Using Visually Structured Task”, written by Patricia K. Hampshire and Jack J. Hourcade, focuses on teaching a 7-year-old boy named Keith that has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) play skills. Keith’s special education teacher, Ms. Pool, and his first grade general education teacher, Ms. Carter, have been concerned with Keith’s social isolation in the classroom and believe that he would gain a great deal if he strengthened his social interaction with peers and developed more suitable play behaviors with toys.

A lot of people don’t realize the challenges of living with a child who has been diagnose with Autism can be. It is a twenty-four-hour seven day a week job no vacation, no sick time and no pay. From the time the child is diagnosed it is a constant worry especially if the parents don’t know much about the condition. It starts with continuous Doctor visits, social services, and therapy sessions, just to figure out how serious the condition may be and what level of the disability the child has and this is only this beginning. Next, to find the tools the child needs to overcome the disability, like learning development and cognitive process, social skills, comprehension capabilities, and many more depending on the severity of autism.

*Enabling environment- children learn best in positive surroundings when the activities are set out for their personal requirements and there is a good relationship between practitioner and parents of the children.

This case study focuses on Connor, a Year One student diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Observations and assessment of Connor’s specific needs, current level of performance and modifications to the learning and teaching environment currently being made to cater his individual needs will be analysed. Consequently, a range of teaching strategies, assessment strategies and resources to support Connor will be discussed and Individual Learning Plan (ILP) offered. Finally, a reflection on the strategies proposed and their influence on Connor’s learning needs will be detailed.

All learning and exploring is positive and nurturing. The environment needs to encourage children’s development. It’s how children feel positive and confident about their sense of self and their individual accomplishments. Their space needs to provide a balance of challenge, risk and safety.

Joshua Abraham has just entered his first year at Evergreen Elementary School. He has received a diagnosis of autism and intellectual disability from the Royal Children’s Hospital when he was 4 years old. Karen Smith, Joshua’s Kindergarten teacher, and Emily Mills, the teacher assistant who works in Mrs Smith classroom, observed Joshua in his child care placement last May and met with the supported child care consultant who was familiar with Joshua’s program in the preschool setting.

This paper from Doing Practicioner Research Differently, by Marion Dadds and Susan Hart, explores the way in which a researcher (Joseph Geraci) has entered into the world of several individuals living with autism, and has spent time observing and working with them in order to gain a better understanding of what it is like to live with autism, and the reasons behind why autistic individuals behave in some of the ways that they do.

I will create a learning environment that supports social and emotional development for children when I have a kind, caring interaction with each child. There is ample evidence that the provision of a responsive and nurturing relationship is pivotal to a child’s development (National Research Council, 2001; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). I will support an environment with family interaction, a physical environment that promotes active learning and appropriate behavior that will promote child’s social and emotional development. (NAEYC, 2009)

Even with the provision of evidence-based teaching practices, many educational professionals may still find it difficult to acquire the most appropriate ASD approach or method to meet the every changing and complex needs of students diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorders. One evidence-based, ASD, approach that needs to be considered by education professionals, especially those working with individuals in the general education classroom, is the Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support, or SCERTS, educational model. “In the SCERTS Model, the above components are believed to be crucial in supporting the development of individuals on the autism spectrum and their families”, (Paola Molteni, 2013, p. 137).

Throughout your teaching career, there comes a point when two teachers must work together to teach a lesson. Ms. Benassuer and I had the opportunity to create a co-teaching lesson plan using the station teaching model. Ms. Benassuer and myself chose signs and symptoms of verbal and nonverbal communication in autism as our focus for the lesson. My current profession and my future goal of becoming a teacher for students with special needs is what inspired me to create a lesson on autism.

In order for children to flourish within an environment it is important that they are supported both by their environment and by those who are there. Within an enabling environment there needs to be “stimulating resources, relevant to all the children’s cultures and communities” (Development Matters, 2012) as a stimulating environment will enable children to learn and develop.

A Unique Child – every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. Positive Relationships – children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person. Enabling Environments – the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. Learning and Development – children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected.

Moreover, it is a naturalistic and qualitative study, which comprises of two sets of data, observation notes and interview questions. The participants were five teachers of students with autism in special primary schools in the area of Bristol, in the UK. Ethical considerations were taken into account before collecting the data by ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants through a consent form that was granted to the participants, while it was made clear that they could withdraw from the study at any time. In addition, the teachers were given an information sheet to read before the start of the observations or interviews and they were given the chance to ask questions concerning the study and the procedures.

While observing my 3-year-old son at the park, I started to notice he wasn’t playing like the other children. Children were playing and having conversations among themselves. During my observation my son was withdrawn refusing to socially interact with other children and seemed as if he was in his own little world. At that moment, I soon began to recollect in my mind other strange behavior’s and actions he has been displaying. Fast forward to our visit to the pediatrician and that’s when I heard it. The words that changed my life from that exact moment on. Your son has “Autism”. “Autism” what is that? I did what any mother would do grabbed my phone and turned to internet for answers. As I began my journey to educated myself, my goal is to raise awareness in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and be an advocate for my child and other individuals with Autism. Raising awareness in Autism increases understanding of the condition and change the perspective of the negative stigma of individuals that lack empathy, provide essential information for families and helping medical researchers crack the code to the discovery of causes and advance treatments. Just like building a puzzle, each piece has its own unique shape and design, alone the pieces have no meaning but when you start connecting the pieces together that is when you discover the whole