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Good choices:
autism and the human givens

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urges you to act otherwise. For instance, someone might want to let a child off for bad behaviour at the start of the day, because the child was upset by something beyond their control that had happened at home. But that does not fit with our approach. We all love the children but we don't think that kind of soft-heartedness helps them. Our role is to support them in what works, so that they can better navigate their way through later life. So we say, for instance, "Steven, I'm very sorry that your auntie has been taken into hospital. And these are the rules while you are at school. You can choose to do your work and go out to play at playtime or ..." etc.

Staff who cannot work with such an approach do not stay with us, but those who have chosen to stay or to join us are enthusiastic supporters. They are in the majority.

Calming down

One of the tenets of the human givens approach that has resonated strongly with us is that emotional arousal prevents us from thinking straight. We cannot reason or learn if we are angry, upset or frightened. Children who become very upset and physically challenging, and therefore a danger to their own and others' health and safety, require holding for well being, until they can become calm and relaxed again. Any pupil whose behaviour escalates suddenly to a crisis point is held according to the Holding for Well Being Policy, which is physical restraint. Nothing is said to the child after they have been told they will be held until they have calmed down and relaxed, as, while anxiety and fear levels are very high, little or no verbal information can be processed. Similarly, if a child screams abuse, it is more effective to have no verbal interaction until staff feel the crisis has passed and the child is calm enough to be able to listen. After the upset, children are always helped to identify its cause.

Teaching children with autism to calm themselves down provides them with a very powerful tool for getting themselves back on track when emotion threatens to swamp them. We teach relaxation every day as part of the curriculum. Children are also taught yoga breathing exercises and can have a hand or foot massage if they want it. Recently, as a result of attending seminars on the human givens approach, we have introduced guided visualisation as a part of our relaxation repertoire. This gives children ways to deal with an inappropriate emotion such as excessive anger. ("Imagine a red ball in your hand that is hard and spiky to touch. Squeeze it as tight as you can and then let go, and imagine it has become a golden star that showers you with light".) We also encourage them to imagine themselves in a safe place where they like being, doing an activity they enjoy. This has the dual benefit of inducing relaxation and increasing choice. A child can think, "I feel upset but I can choose to shut my eyes and think of something I like doing, and let the upset go away"

Needs being met

We know, from the change in the children since they have been at the school, that our methods are working. Looking at them from the human givens perspective, we can now see exactly why they do, and how we can make them even more effective. One of our basic needs is the need for security. For children with autism, unless everything is made crystal clear, there is no security. They walk on shifting sands, struggling to understand why circumstances make actions that were acceptable at one time unacceptable at another. By using language in a way that provides structure and consistency, children can be helped to feel safe because they have clarity.

Children with autism lack an inbuilt mechanism for giving and receiving attention. This has to be put in place for them, by means of modell-
ing, constant repetition — "look at me" — and not making them wrong. They need to be taught appropriate ways to respond when, for instance, people have been given bad news. Giving and receiving attention is part of our social skills repertoire. Without social skills, it is also im-possible to have true autonomy or control, or true emotional connection with others. We use language to strengthen emotional literacy: "What happened that upset you? What did you do? How did it make you feel? How did it make others feel? Did it work?" Constant repetition of how to talk about upsets and solve them allows the children to let go of their anger without feeling they or others are in the wrong, and that, in turn, allows them the space to develop emotional connection with others.

"Good choosing, Jenny"

Receiving constant verbal praise for what works ("Good listening, Jake." "Good choosing, Jenny") allows children to feel good about themselves, which then leaves them the emotional space to enjoy other people. One five-year-old boy's behaviour is particularly non-compliant at home, so we devised a list for him, with items such as 'get out of bed', 'clean teeth', 'wash face and hands', 'put on coat'. Every time he carries out one of these tasks without fuss, he receives a tick for it from his parents, and then brings the evidence into school. "How many ticks did you get today, Freddie? Four! That's wonderful!" At the end of a week of ticks, Freddie can choose a toy or book from our great selection. It works! Consequently, Freddie now goes around beaming. His relationship with his parents is better and he is happier when he arrives at school. He has gained respect and acknowledgement and has therefore created for himself the space to forge connections with others.

Children with autism lack both a developed sense of self and a sense of status within a social group — another important emotional need. We help develop sense of self through bodywork exercises and phys-
ical activities and also through constant praise for doing what works. Praise also takes the tangible form of awards. Children are recommended for certificates, which are awarded during Monday whole-school assemblies. Awarding them on Monday sets the week off to a positive start. Children who gain five certificates win a book to keep.

There is also a kindness award, to be won by pupils who have been seen to be kind to another child. The aim is clearly to distinguish what kind-
ness is, as empathy and understanding of others' feelings is commonly incomplete, or even absent, in autism. Finally, there is a 'good choosing award', a medal which is given by the headteacher to the winner on a Friday. On Monday, the pupil is publicly acknowledged in assembly for winning the medal and receives the school's recognition for the award. Five wins of a certificate lead to being able to choose a book or toy as a prize. Additionally, the class that receives the most 'good choosing' medals in a term earns a cup at the end of term.

All this creates a sense of competence and achievement, another vital human need. We all need to know that we can do certain things well. The older children take Duke of Edinburgh awards. But a sense of achievement can be inculcated through much lesser successes. One 16-year-old lad had bought from Tesco a set of batteries that had leaked. Having been taught at school how to handle complaints, he was encouraged to return the batteries to Tesco's customer service counter. Although he was shaking with nerves, he managed to approach the counter alone, explain what had happened and ask for a replacement. When he was handed new batteries, he was as thrilled by his success as if he had won a prize.

Achievement comes from challenging ourselves, and from challenging ourselves also comes meaning and purpose. We work to challenge our children, within a secure environment. Our pupils engage in design technology, horticulture, drama, art and music, alongside the more conventional aspects of the curriculum. Doing work experience, striving for a medal, earning ticks — all help create a sense of purpose. But it is only when the language, the security, the attention needs, etc, are in place, that the children can identify meaning and purpose for themselves.

The human givens perspective has given us a clear way of seeing what is missing in terms of emotional needs in autism, and clarifying what needs to
be put in place in order to meet them. For, without specialist support, it is unlikely that children with autism can ever have their needs fully met.

Using innate resources

Many of the resources that are innate for people in general are undeveloped or missing in people with autism. Because of their problems with language and with empathy, and the ease with which emotions can overwhelm the rational part of the brain, it takes our pupils much longer to learn both social and cognitive skills. As mentioned earlier, it may take up to a thousand repetitions before a desired behaviour choice is in place. Repetition, consistency and praise are the means we use to help develop children's long-term memory, problem-solving skills and cognitive styles, and also their rapport-building skills and abilities to be intimate with others.

We are now placing much greater emphasis on the innate resources of imagination and the 'observing self', the ability to step back and be objective, as identified in the human givens approach. Children with autism don't find it easy to be imaginative but guiding them through a visualisation exercise is one way to develop that skill. We are planning increasingly to use guided visualisation sessions to enable them to rehearse success. For example, our speech and language therapists now use visualisation of self when they work with older children on appropriate ways to behave in social situations, such as when eating in a restaurant or when approaching a person in a youth club. We also plan to make much more use of 'social stories' — stories which tell the tale of how someone coped successfully with a difficulty that the listeners also face. This again encourages use of the imagination, as the hearer becomes lost in the story, but also overlaps with the role of the 'observing self'. By hearing a story about someone else in different circumstances, it becomes possible to distance oneself from the situation and thus to take from it what is needed, without the emotional shutters of defensiveness coming down.

Because children with autism have a limited sense of self, we are also starting to use video to help them see how they appear to others. This should increase their sense of their own boundaries, and others' otherness, and reinforce the fact that we can only share thoughts and feelings by speaking them or showing them.

Many of the children who are at Hillingdon Manor School today were with us when we opened. But what very different children they were then. Many had been excluded from mainstream schools because of their challenging behaviour. Some had been badly bullied. Unable to deal with continual verbal taunts, they were in a daily state of terror. We started with 18 children who regularly spat, bit, kicked, hit, pinched, threw things and screamed. It took a year for those challenging behaviours to calm down — we had major incidents with some children about three or four times a day —but we stuck to our line of consistency. The more people keep the rules and apply the rules, the more secure they become. Unless they feel safe and secure, they can't give up their controlling behaviours.

The outcome is that we have children who are learning, happy and able to make friends. They feel

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© Human Givens Publishing Limited and Angela Austin 2006

This article first appeared in Volume 10, No, 2 (2003) of the Human Givens journal.

ANGELA AUSTIN is the first headteacher of HIllingdon Manor School, a school for children with autism and Asperger's syndrome. Angela has worked in special education needs for over 20 years. She has been deputy head of a school for children with dyslexia, head of a language unit, and curriculum manager in a residential school for children with autism and Asperger's syndrome.

> More information, including all references, can be found in the following book, by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell

Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking

> You can find out more about autism and the new thinking on its causes at the following Human Givens College in-house workshop:

Demystifying autism and Asperger's syndrome - Practical solutions for parents, carers, teachers and other professional

Return to top

> More information, including all references, can be found in the following book, by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell

Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking

> You can find out more about autism and the new thinking on its causes at the following Human Givens College in-house workshop:

Demystifying autism and Asperger's syndrome - Practical solutions for parents, carers, teachers and other professional

Return to top