(G40) Supporting Autistic Children With Anxiety in School
Strategies for teachers and teaching assistants to help autistic children overcome anxiety and overwhelm in a mainstream school.
Lynn McCann
Description
Specialist Teacher, Lynn McCann, and Occupational Therapist, Emer Broderick, share clear and practical information for mainstream classroom staff who teach autistic children struggling with anxiety.
Sensory Strategies By Teachers, For Teachers - Backed By Current Sensory Integration Expertise
We have created this course for teachers and teaching assistants working in busy mainstream environments, just like us. With many years of teaching and mainstream school work experience between us, we know that you need clear, practical and workable information based securely on up-to-date evidence. You need information without jargon to allow you to make the best use of your time and resources.
Understand when and why everyday sensory and learning experiences can become overwhelming for autistic children with anxiety and how to minimise potential hotspots
Identify and adapt potential challenges before things escalate into a meltdown to keep your autistic learners engaged and on-task
Learn evidence-based sensory strategies that work in mainstream classrooms
Reducing Triggers For Distress And Disruption
Autistic children with anxiety may experience heightened stress, fear, and discomfort in the school environment, which can affect their ability to learn, focus, and interact with others. School anxiety in autistic children can manifest in challenging behaviours, such as meltdowns, withdrawal, and avoidance, which can disrupt the learning process, school attendance and hinder academic performance.
Adapting teaching to use strategies to address potential triggers for anxiety can minimise disruptive behaviours and create a positive learning environment.
Access Learning Online At A Time That Suits You Best
This is an online learning course that you can access on a laptop or mobile device at any time. We know that time for training opportunities can be at a premium, so we have designed a course you can complete in an afternoon, with the information broken down into smaller stand-alone sections you can pick up and work through throughout the day if that suits you better.
You will also receive a downloadable workbook with all the key information and resources, plus links for onward learning and avenues for support.
Expert Speakers With Extensive Mainstream Schools Experience
What You Will Learn
Understanding what anxiety in the context of autism looks like in classroom “behaviour”.
Recognising the obvious and less obvious sources of anxiety for the autistic child in the mainstream classroom
Understanding which adaptations to the demands of task and environment are likely to be most effective and least disruptive
Plan effective strategies which can be incorporated at a whole-class level
Understanding how to monitor the impact of strategies, and where to go for more support if needed
Who This Course is For
This course is aimed at teachers and teaching assistants
The course is best for primary and secondary ages.
Open to all
Chapters
29
How to use this course
Course Overview
What this course covers
Meet your trainer - Lynn Mcann
Meet your trainer - Emer Broderick
Workbook Chapter 1
The window of tolerence
How do we know when a child is anxious?
Workbook Chapter 2
What is sensory integration
What is emotional regulation?
Explaining sensory terms
Overwhelm, meltdowns and shutdowns
Workbook Chapter 3
Sensory stresses in the classroom
Communication stresses
Social stresses for autistic people
Cognitive stresses
Workbook Chapter 4
Adult responses to help children engage more calmly
Teaching children about the science of anxiety
Workbook Chapter 5
Sensory strategies in the classroom
Monitoring whether strategies are effective for a specific child
Workbook Chapter 6
Summary of key information
Workbook Chapter 7
Download Workbook
Service for Schools
Frequently Asked Questions
Using sensory integration strategies as part of the ongoing learning in the classroom is doesn’t need to be time- or resource-heavy. We believe that small tweaks can make a huge difference in terms of how able autistic children are to stay engaged and on task in classroom learning, and our goal is to help autistic learners stay part of what is being learned. We offer lots of strategies and suggestions for resources in the course so that you can mix-and-match to find the right level of support for your students.
Yes! This course is designed for teachers and teaching staff who are new to sensory integration and emotional regulation theory. We break down the most frequently used jargon to give you a solid understanding of the science behind sensory and emotional dysregulation in straightforward language.
You will have 30 days from the date of booking before your course expires. If you need more time, you are welcome to enrol again.
Unlimited Annual Pass holders have ongoing access.
Yes. Click the 'Complete and Continue' button under each section of your course and when all the sections are ticked, your Certificate of Completion will appear to download.
Your certificate will always be available for you to download from your dashboard.
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£69
This course also includes:
- Downloadable resources
- Immediate access
- Available for 30 days
- Certificate of Completion
- CPD Points
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Lecturer
Lynn McCann
Lynn McCann is an autism, ADHD and PDA specialist teacher based in Lancashire. She has written 5 books for teachers and invented a board game called The Waiting Game - that does what it says on the box, and teaches children about waiting! Her new books "A Practical Guide to Supporting Autistic Learners in the Primary School” and "A Practical Guide to Supporting Autistic Learners in the Secondary School” are published by Routledge. Lynn works in schools alongside autistic children and young people, runs an after school group for anxious autistic teenagers and creates resources that help children understand and love their amazing selves.
eMentor Emer Broderick
My Journey into Sensory Integration
I am a paediatric occupational therapist with experience working in both Ireland and the U.K. I have worked predominately with children with ASD, DCD, ADHD, CP, as well as babies with developmental difficulties.
My journey to SI started in 2012. At this time I was working as a paediatric occupational therapist in the NHS in London both in the community and in a child development centre. The number of referrals to our department for children with sensory processing difficulties, many who also had a diagnosis of ASD, was significantly increasing and I started to develop an interest in this area. I completed my SI1 module in 2013 and from there I wanted to learn more about this approach. I worked through the modular pathway to become an advanced practitioner in 2016. I completed the MSc in Sensory Integration in 2018.
How I use SI in my practice
Most recently I have worked in Dublin in a clinic for children with a range of disabilities, seeing children in a clinic setting, in mainstream schools and in a special school for children with a primary physical disability. I am in the process of moving back to London where I will initially work in the private sector. I am also an ementor and a clinical mentor on the SI modular pathway. I use SI principles to guide my clinical reasoning when working with children, their families and their schools. My SI skills enable me to assess, provide intervention and give strategies to children with sensory integration difficulties and helps me to explain these difficulties, which are often misunderstood, to these children’s families and schools.
Why I am committed to supporting others to study SI
I thoroughly enjoyed developing my SI knowledge and skills when working through the modules and found the support from the experts in SI community invaluable. I am passionate about SI and the positive changes it can bring to people's lives. I am also excited about the research that continues to be explored and developed to teach us more about this approach. I really enjoy mentoring and supporting students as they learn about SI and love hearing about people's therapy backgrounds and how they use SI in practice. I am looking forward to ementoring the new cohort of students this term.
You can see a short video from Emer here.
Lynn McCann
Lynn McCann is an autism, ADHD and PDA specialist teacher based in Lancashire. She has written 5 books for teachers and invented a board game called The Waiting Game - that does what it says on the box, and teaches children about waiting! Her new books "A Practical Guide to Supporting Autistic Learners in the Primary School” and "A Practical Guide to Supporting Autistic Learners in the Secondary School” are published by Routledge. Lynn works in schools alongside autistic children and young people, runs an after school group for anxious autistic teenagers and creates resources that help children understand and love their amazing selves.
eMentor Emer Broderick
My Journey into Sensory Integration
I am a paediatric occupational therapist with experience working in both Ireland and the U.K. I have worked predominately with children with ASD, DCD, ADHD, CP, as well as babies with developmental difficulties.
My journey to SI started in 2012. At this time I was working as a paediatric occupational therapist in the NHS in London both in the community and in a child development centre. The number of referrals to our department for children with sensory processing difficulties, many who also had a diagnosis of ASD, was significantly increasing and I started to develop an interest in this area. I completed my SI1 module in 2013 and from there I wanted to learn more about this approach. I worked through the modular pathway to become an advanced practitioner in 2016. I completed the MSc in Sensory Integration in 2018.
How I use SI in my practice
Most recently I have worked in Dublin in a clinic for children with a range of disabilities, seeing children in a clinic setting, in mainstream schools and in a special school for children with a primary physical disability. I am in the process of moving back to London where I will initially work in the private sector. I am also an ementor and a clinical mentor on the SI modular pathway. I use SI principles to guide my clinical reasoning when working with children, their families and their schools. My SI skills enable me to assess, provide intervention and give strategies to children with sensory integration difficulties and helps me to explain these difficulties, which are often misunderstood, to these children’s families and schools.
Why I am committed to supporting others to study SI
I thoroughly enjoyed developing my SI knowledge and skills when working through the modules and found the support from the experts in SI community invaluable. I am passionate about SI and the positive changes it can bring to people's lives. I am also excited about the research that continues to be explored and developed to teach us more about this approach. I really enjoy mentoring and supporting students as they learn about SI and love hearing about people's therapy backgrounds and how they use SI in practice. I am looking forward to ementoring the new cohort of students this term.
You can see a short video from Emer here.
Lynn McCann
Lynn McCann is an autism, ADHD and PDA specialist teacher based in Lancashire. She has written 5 books for teachers and invented a board game called The Waiting Game - that does what it says on the box, and teaches children about waiting! Her new books "A Practical Guide to Supporting Autistic Learners in the Primary School” and "A Practical Guide to Supporting Autistic Learners in the Secondary School” are published by Routledge. Lynn works in schools alongside autistic children and young people, runs an after school group for anxious autistic teenagers and creates resources that help children understand and love their amazing selves.
eMentor Emer Broderick
My Journey into Sensory Integration
I am a paediatric occupational therapist with experience working in both Ireland and the U.K. I have worked predominately with children with ASD, DCD, ADHD, CP, as well as babies with developmental difficulties.
My journey to SI started in 2012. At this time I was working as a paediatric occupational therapist in the NHS in London both in the community and in a child development centre. The number of referrals to our department for children with sensory processing difficulties, many who also had a diagnosis of ASD, was significantly increasing and I started to develop an interest in this area. I completed my SI1 module in 2013 and from there I wanted to learn more about this approach. I worked through the modular pathway to become an advanced practitioner in 2016. I completed the MSc in Sensory Integration in 2018.
How I use SI in my practice
Most recently I have worked in Dublin in a clinic for children with a range of disabilities, seeing children in a clinic setting, in mainstream schools and in a special school for children with a primary physical disability. I am in the process of moving back to London where I will initially work in the private sector. I am also an ementor and a clinical mentor on the SI modular pathway. I use SI principles to guide my clinical reasoning when working with children, their families and their schools. My SI skills enable me to assess, provide intervention and give strategies to children with sensory integration difficulties and helps me to explain these difficulties, which are often misunderstood, to these children’s families and schools.
Why I am committed to supporting others to study SI
I thoroughly enjoyed developing my SI knowledge and skills when working through the modules and found the support from the experts in SI community invaluable. I am passionate about SI and the positive changes it can bring to people's lives. I am also excited about the research that continues to be explored and developed to teach us more about this approach. I really enjoy mentoring and supporting students as they learn about SI and love hearing about people's therapy backgrounds and how they use SI in practice. I am looking forward to ementoring the new cohort of students this term.
You can see a short video from Emer here.Courses you may like
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