1. Autism Awareness and Understanding
Sally Evenhuis
Project for Autism at Richmond CAMHS

2. What is Autism?
Autism is a lifelong, developmental disability /difference that affects how a person communicates with and relates to other people.
It affects how a person makes sense of the world and how they process information.
Autism is often described as a 'spectrum disorder' because the condition affects people in many different ways and to varying degrees.

3. Stephen Shore – Author and adult on the Spectrum
What is Autism?
Lifelong
Neurological condition
A spectrum condition
Unique to each individual
Unknown cause, probable genetic link
‘If you’ve met one person with Autism you have met one person with Autism.’
Stephen Shore – Author and adult on the Spectrum

4. Autism is not…… Autism is NOT caused by “refrigerator parenting”
Autism is NOT a learning disability
People with every measure of IQ can have autism ,
but people with autism are likely to have areas of skill and areas of challenge
Autism is NOT a mental health problem

5. Core Features of Autism challenges in these three areas
Communication
Flexibility of Thought
Social Interaction

6. Social Interaction Traits
Unmotivated to communicate with others / little interest in other people
Anxiety around socially interacting / meeting new people
May make little or no direct eye contact
Difficulty being in groups or crowded places
May prefer being on own than around others

7. Flexibility of Thought Traits
Difficulty with unexpected change, prefers routine
Difficulty with seeing things from another persons point of view
Detail focused – difficulty in seeing the bigger picture
Special interests – may not be age or socially appropriate

8. Communication
Examples
Literal understanding – difficulty with sarcasm / phrases
Often direct and ‘too’ honest
May communicate very little or dominate conversations
Communication may be ‘off topic’, repetitive or focus on areas of interest
Next slides is positives – ask for ideas before proceeding

9. Positives of autism
People with autism often have one or more of these qualities :
Don’t tend to lie
Good memory for dates
Honest
Don’t judge
Can focus and excel in a specific field
Can bring up a variety of interesting facts
Great attention to detail
Have one or more highly developed talents
Are easily able to forgive others

10. Autism Stars Satoshi Tajiri ; the creator of Pokémon
Heather Kuzmich – model
Chris Packham ;TV presenter
How about Lionel Messi ? Einstein?

11. Disability or Difference ?
Autism can be described as ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) or ASC (Autism Spectrum Condition )
What are the advantages and disadvantage of each title?
“The world needs different kinds of minds to work together” Temple Grandin

12. Challenges of living with autism
Neuro divergent in a neurotypical world
The label leads to presumptions that you may be a genius or have a learning disability
Sensory issues are almost always a major issue and can make life hard to tolerate if not accommodated

13. The Neurological Umbrella
A diagnosis of ASD rarely exists in a vacuum.
People with autism often have other co-occurring diagnoses, for example
Dyslexia
Speech and language difficulties
Executive functioning difficulties
ADHD
Dyscalculia
Dyspraxia
Sensory integration difficulties
Autism
OCD
Anxiety/Depression

14. Literal Understanding
Back in a second!
Can you hang on ?
Jump on the computer!
People with ASC may find it difficult to understand and interpret unwritten rules of social interaction.
People with an ASC often have to work at learning these rules. It can often be confusing and cause anxiety as many social rules are unwritten and not spoken about it.

15. Routine and change
In order to make the world a less confusing place, people with ASC may have rules and rituals (morning rituals, ways of doing things) which they can reply upon.
They may prefer to order their day to a set pattern or routine.
But this can cause anxiety if something goes wrong in their daily routine e.g. bus is late

16. Processing delay
Some people with Autism have difficulty processing information straight away. So may need that extra time to process information.
Solutions-
Quiet environment = minimal distractions.
Communicate one thing at a time
Provide written information to back up verbal

17. Seeing the world in detail
‘When I go out in the world, I notice everything, and mentally process everything. And I mean everything. This is partly why I get so exhausted’ – Kirsten Byrd
‘She will see things in the distance that nobody else will notice, until she points them out for them. She can really see the detail in things’ – Alis Rowe

18. Break and discussion