Q and A with Dr Michelle Garnett and Dr Tony Attwood

In this video series Michelle and Tony answer questions collated from viewers and participants of live online events and courses

Michelle and Tony answer questions from their online course: Autism in Schools

Click on the chapters (the little blue circles), or view the chapters list from the button on the controls menu, to skip to the question you want to watch.

00:44.3
How can school staff and parents work together to support teenagers with executive functioning difficulties in high school?

03:52.7
Can you recommend a good app for learning to computer-type for autistic children? Also are there any good apps for teaching and autistic child to read?

05:25.5
What suggestions do you have for a verbalizer who has dyslexia so reading is very tiring?

07:08.5
How can I engage young autistic students in participating in essential tasks? For example, learning the sounds to read the words, even when those students are completely disinterested and see no point at all in it.

08:44.2
Do you have any advice for how to bring special interests into the curriculum?

12:20.9
Do you have any resources to assist primary school students in understanding and accepting their autistic peers?

16:31.2
We have described the different learning styles in our presentations, for example, visual verbal or kinesthetic learners. How do you know which learnerner you have in your class and are there strenth-based assessments to identify visual, audio, or verbal learners, to inform teaching and learning?

19:08.1
what does and aerialist learning task look like, for example? and … How do you praise and sutistic child?

21:29.5
I have a student in late high school who thing that school is a waste of time. They refuse to do any work and will often just get up and swear and leave the class. They have also been diagnosed with Opositional Defiant Disorder and possibly Pathological Demand Avoidance. Have you got any suggestions to help with buy in for this type of student?

25:12.5
What strategies would you recommed for teaching maths to autistic studients?

26.24.3
How do you get a year eight to engage in school? He now says he’s dumb and has been allowed to leave the classroom and do what he likes for their whole school life.

31:14.9
If we have changes in the day that are unexpected, are there any strategies that can help children adjust to this sudden change? Particularly children who have meldowns when the program changes?

33:02.6
What are your thoughts on midnfulness in the classroom for helping with emotion regulation and anxiety?

38:21.4
I have a 15 year old male student who in non-speaking as well as having motor issues due to apraxia. He has high levels of anxiety. He is bright, but any assessments have had to be done with this specialist teacher using spell to communicate sounds like a special program. Do we bother with a full cognitive assessment at this stage?

40:34.2
When looking at trauma at an early age, neurologically the person experiencing the trauma can become more wired to the flight, fight, or freeze response. Would it be a reasonable assumption to make that a student viewing the world through an ASD filter may be reading the world as a threat?

44:21.4
How do we as parents of girls when school staff do not see the challenges and therefore do not make the necessary adjustments, or reduce the level of support becuase the need does not appear to be there?

46:27.4
Sometimes different strategies are being used at home compared to school. How can we as teachers help parents with strategies?

50:13.1
How do we prune the High School curriculum when that results in free lessons, the students don’t have the executive function to complete the work so it can become a recovery session but they still have assignments etc. to work on. Should they complete them at home? Is a tutor at home an alternative solution?

Michelle and Tony answer questions from their online course: PDA and Autism

Michelle and Tony answer questions from their live online event: Emotion Management

Click on the chapters (the little blue circles), or view the chapters list from the button on the controls menu, to skip to the question you want to watch.

0:32
On your website there is a link to a clinical trial using TMS in Autism to improve social skills. What are your thoughts on TMS in general and for depression, anxiety, PTSD and Social Skills?

2:54
If we try to problem solve after the Meldown, our teenage daugther gets agitated again, even if it’s a day later, and she’ll say she can’t remember it. How do we make headway?

6:46
Please describe the meltdown and what happens during a meldown? How do they, the person having them out there, feel? How are they reacting? What is the impact of having many meltdowns over time?

11:26
What is the difference between a depression attack, autistic burnout, and a shutdown?

17:48
My son is 14 years old and he suppresses his emotions. This isn’t a common avoidance strategy or coping strategy, I think it’s because of his anxiety. I want to talk to him but he struggles and doesn’t want to talk about his problems and conflicts. What could I do to help him express his emotions?

24:18
How do I deal with school refusal? My 11 year old is too anxious to return to school because she is unable to deal with the teacher who is too loud and too shouty.

29:24
Our 10 year old son who’s been diagnosed with autism level one. He becomes completely absorbed by a movie, minecraft, or listening to an audio book. Once he starts, it’s really hard to get him to stop because he becomes really cranky and bad tempered. How do we manage this?

32:54
How do I work with a depressed teenage girl who’s sense is that she is not deserving of working on herself. She very rigidly refused to work on healing from depression because she feels she is unworthy.

37:27
Our son has dyspraxia, he finds sport at school exhausting. When he comes home after PE, he says he wants to die. We use a reward system to help get him to attend. Are we doing the right thing?

39:09
Our 18 year old son screams when he is angry. He threatens to hurt himself and others. The screams have caused our neighbours to call the police. How can I help him with managinng the screaming?a

42:54
My son struggles with chores including taking care of himself and contributing to the family, he often melts down. Is he melting down to avoid the chores or is it a true meltdown? What do I do?

49:23
I have an autistic child in my room who is age three to four years old. She has started biting people. There doesn’t seem to be a clear reason for this. Can you help?

51:02
We have a student who enjoys antagonising other students because he enjoys their reactions. For example, he throws water on them. How do we help him to meet this need in another way?