Good choices:
autism and the human givens

continued...

part of a community — the community of the school — where they celebrate their own and others' achievements. We aim to keep providing them with the experience of success, to facilitate their ability to cope in everyday out-of-school life. The success we celebrate denotes how far each child has progressed from their own baseline (the only comparison we encourage is with their own former behaviour) and includes progress in socialisation, relaxation, ability to organise themselves, turn-taking and personal responsibility. These are big steps for children with autism to take.

A few weeks ago, we held an assembly to applaud the special achievements of four teenage boys who had earned their bronze Duke of Edinburgh awards. To gain the necessary skills, they had attended a youth club and sports centre with mainstream peers, learning first aid, learning how to mix records, going kayaking and carrying out an expedition. They had also raised over £3000 in a charity raffle they had organised with their teacher, taking care of the administration and speaking to people on the phone to organise prizes. Two of the boys even gave a speech to 500 children at a mainstream secondary school about the fundraising project.

These boys — two had been severely traumatised by bullying at previous schools — now had the enjoyable experience of being applauded by the younger students at our school and standing as role models for them. This is an example that shows, I believe, just how far young people with autism can be helped to connect meaningfully with an initially alien world, by working to maximise their innate resources and, in simple ways, fulfil their all too ordinary human needs.

The children's names in this article have been changed

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© Human Givens Publishing Limited and Angela Austin 2006

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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 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 MindFields College workshop:

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