Challenging Behaviour & Classic Autism
- 5 hours 27 mins
- 30 days to complete course
- Downloadable PDFs
- Certificate of completion
- Suitable for everyone
$175.00
Course summary
Challenging behaviour, including for example hitting, kicking, pushing, shouting, biting, head banging and other forms of self-injury, is distressing for the person with autism, as well as for their families and people who work with them.
These behaviours can result in a number of social problems including unsafe home, school and work settings, exclusion from school and community events, and burn-out for parents, carers and professionals.
The course will equip participants to understand the reasons behind the challenging behaviour to working hypotheses that will meaningfully inform a positive behavioural support plan. Participants will learn effective strategies to assist to develop communication tools, teach new behaviours effectively, encourage good social outcomes, accommodate sensory sensitivity and manage strong emotions.
Who will benefit?
- Parents, family members
- Health and educational professionals who see children and/or adolescents with ASD Level 2 or 3 as part of their practice, including psychologists, teachers, teachers assistants, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, GPs, paediatric psychiatrists and paediatricians
Module breakdown
Module 1 – Participants will gain increased understanding of common speech and language disorders that can co-occur with autism and how these can contribute to the emergence and maintenance of challenging behaviour. A programme based on scientific research, clinical wisdom and specific knowledge of autism is described for encouraging language in children with nonverbal autism. Participants will learn strategies for recognising the early signs of strong emotion and how to intervene at each level of emotional arousal for children with nonverbal autism.
Module 2 – Participants will develop an awareness of key aspects of the learning profile in autism. Equipped with an understanding of how autistic individuals learn, participants will be able to apply this knowledge to their teaching methods, as parents, carers, teachers and therapists.
Module 3 – Narrow circumscribed interests are often part of the autism profile and it can be difficult to know when to intervene. Participants will learn the reasons behind the special interests of autism, why these develop, the functions they serve, and when to act to modify the interest or decrease the time spent on the interest.
Module 4 – Social communication issues are one of the defining features of autism, and the source of marked distress and confusion, leading to challenging behavior. Participants will leave the course with an understanding of the key issues underlying social communication problems in autism, how to encourage social skills in autism, and how to make interactions with people on the autism spectrum successful.
Module 5 – Sensory overwhelm can be a key factor behind challenging behaviour. Participants will learn how to recognise and assess sensory processing differences, and how to intervene to manage a broad variety of sensory issues, including visual, auditory, taste, smell, touch, vestibular, interoceptive, proprioceptive and vestibular sensory issues.
Module 6 – Participants will learn why people with autism tend to experience very strong emotions that can underpin challenging behaviour. They will leave the course understanding the neurology behind difficulties expressing emotion in autism, and will learn practical strategies to assist a person on the autism spectrum to manage anger, anxiety and stress without challenging behaviour.
Module 7 – Some of the issues people with autism face that can lead to challenging behaviour are movement disorders and underlying medical issues. The course covers various movements disorders medical conditions that commonly occur in autism. Participants will learn how these can be masked and the importance of recognising these when faced with challenging behaviour.
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