Movement differences
By Shagufta Khan
Young people with autism often struggle with movement differences. I worked
with a young person who particularly struggled with stopping and switching
difficulties. He was able to engage for a long period of time on chosen activities,
but struggled with switching to a new activity. This significantly impacted his
ability to learn life skills as he was getting older such as fastening a zip or
buttons and the feeling of being “different” impacted his self esteem amongst
his friends and peers.
During the inclusion facilitation work, we focused on building his resilience and
giving him strategies to manage challenging emotions when he felt overwhelmed.
He found listening to soothing sounds and having space made a difference to
how he felt. The second focus was on fastening buttons. By nature, it is a
complex action and takes a great deal of skill and co-ordination to manage it
successfully.
The young person found fastening buttons extremely challenging, but impressed
me with his resilience and ability to preserve! We used video modelling, from
initially watching a child fasten a button and writing the steps clearly, to the
end result of the young person creating his own video while fastening buttons!
It was impressive work and a testimony to finding a way for a young person to
succeed! Well done!
Movement Differences Training: https://inclusive-solutions.com/training/?cadpath=inclusive-solutions%2Fmovement-differences