1. What is Autism?

2. What is Autism?
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability

3. What is Autism? It effects three areas: Communication Understanding
Imagination

4. What is Autism?
There is no known cause
Research is ongoing

5. What is Autism?
Autism is a hidden disability - you can't always tell if someone has it

6. What is Autism?
Affects the way a person communicates and relates to the people around them

7. What is Autism?
They find it hard to make friendships as they have difficulty understanding other people's emotions

8. What is Autism?
There is no link between autism and the MMR injection

9. What is Autism?
May be sensitive to:
Smells
Sounds
Touch

10. What is Autism? May have difficulties with: Understanding danger
Sleeping
Eating (limited variety)
Self care skills

11. Statistics There are over half a million people in the UK with autism
Approximately 1:100

12. Statistics
It is more common in boys than girls

13. Statistics
One in five children with autism has been excluded from school, many more than once

14. Statistics
Over 40% of children with autism have been bullied at school

15. Statistics
Autism doesn't just affect children. Children with autism grow up to be adults with autism

16. What can we do?
While autism is incurable, the right support at the right time can make an enormous difference to peoples lives

17. What can we do?
Be understanding if they are having problems when out in the community

18. What can we do?
Remember they are not being naughty, they are trying to make sense of a world they sometimes find confusing

19. What can we do?
Talk about Autism. The more people who know and understand it, the easier it will be for our children when out in the community

20. “…an autistic child can be helped only if a serious attempt is made to see the world from his point of view…” Lorna Wing (1980)

21. “The autistic child is unable to bring order to his world
“The autistic child is unable to bring order to his world. You must provide that order.”
Temple Grandin,
a person with autism

22. Autism is…
“Like trying to learn a complicated dance, when you do not know what dancing is, when you cannot hear the music and when, just as you have managed to imitate one step of your partners, you find that the dance has moved on, the rhythm has changed and so (perhaps) has your partner.”
Rita Jordan and Stuart Powell