“Within a few weeks we started to see a decrease in our daughter’s behaviours.”
Hannah is a funny, sociable and artistic Year 6 pupil with a love of Minecraft and drawing. Before the pandemic, Hannah was receiving provision in school from a Behaviour Analyst. Once that practitioner left, the 1:1 support was provided by Teaching Assistants and the family started to see an increase in challenging and socially age-inappropriate behaviours with teachers and peers. They knew that their daughter needed help again.
Targets for our time with Hannah included her focus on academic work (she was able to access majority of the Year 6 curriculum but would become distracted and not motivated to work), and inappropriate physical contact with others (hugging, laying head on shoulder, touching hair of peers and adults), which posed a significant safeguarding risk in the community, especially as she was starting puberty.
How we supported
- Approaches were fully integrated with the school and the IDT supporting Hannah, training school staff to implement the interventions and teaching strategies.
- We implemented a reinforcement system to increase attendance to work (tokens delivered for work completed and drawing time provided as a reinforcer).
- A behaviour plan was introduced to teach appropriate physical contact (social story, rule card, proactive guidance from Learning Support Assistant – focus on consent: ask for a hug/high five first).
- Training for the LSA to support Hannah and other autistic pupils effectively in a mainstream environment.
- Class teacher and SENCo supported with planning and SATs preparation
- 10 days in the first 2 months, then monthly follow up sessions.