Five-year milestone for autism support service By Sonia Clark Landsborough-based education and support service All About Autism recently marked its five-year milestone and director Lizzie Vaughan is delighted at how the service has flourished since its inception. The unique program offers children with autism a small weekly group session, run by specialised educators, focussing on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) specific learning areas. Lizzie said the service tapped into each child’s areas of strength and weakness and supported them through focussed teaching. “We use structured teaching systems, differentiated activities, visuals, lots of proactive movement breaks, sensory tools and clear routines, and allow for processing time, while teaching understanding and acceptance,” Lizzie said.
Children who attend the weekly half day or full day classes are encouraged to build up their social, emotional and executive functioning skills with the aim to support them strengthening their connection to learning at school. Initially Lizzie worked on her Lizzie Vaughan own supporting six children in pre-prep and prep. Now a team of four teachers cater for 40 children from pre-prep to year 5 and next year they will be expanding into sessions for year 6 students. Lizzie said demand for the service had increased and the feedback from parents had been amazing. “So many families are happy to find a place that is supportive and understanding. We have been praised for our communication, keeping parents informed and involved, and for offering a service that isn’t provided anywhere else on the coast,” she said. They also run school holiday workshops, parent and professional development training and have worked with more than 25 Sunshine Coast schools to support them in understanding ASD and sharing strategies and tools that they can implement in their classrooms. To find out more visit www.facebook.com/allaboutautismsunshinecoast or www.allaboutautism.com.au. Photos by Margot Photography
Cultural learning
Contributed by Kim Fillery Students at Peachester State School are preparing for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Day as part of their Japanese classes. This annual day is held each year on August 6 to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. At Peachester, students from years 4-6 study Japanese each week with Sensei Falvey. The students have made paper cranes to mark this event and will discuss the significance of this day and the opportunity to bring peace to the world. Tyler with his paper crane
Ethan, Armani, Daniel, Rhianna, Lily, Ellie and Layla with their work
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