 Hey, Tammy. I'll show you. Okay, everybody. Again, hi, and thanks so much for joining us today. It's so good to see our paraference faces here. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen. And so we can see the presentation for today. And Tammy, if you can help me monitor the chat a little bit since I'm sharing my screen. That would be awesome. I will do that. Great. Okay, so again, we're here for understanding autism today with the fabulous superhero pairs of the eight We're so glad you could join us. I know it's hard to find time in our busy schedules, especially on this crazy year, but we're glad that you were able to hop over and see us today. And I'll have the other ladies introduce themselves and I'll follow I'm Tammy Cheatham and I work here at ESU with a professional development and I have the privilege of working with stuff with para. So I've enjoyed that. This is my second year. So I really enjoy making those connections with you in the establishment relationships. That's right there and then the other one pops up. I'm Kathy Fiellen. I'm one of the school psychologists here at ESQE and I work on the East End. And I serve Stanton and Madison schools and I'm kind of a guest speaker today, I guess, dropping in on you guys. We're so happy to have you Kathy. Thank you for always being willing to get us out and we actually had this segment scheduled for last April. We had to have some scheduling changes there so We're glad that you could join us today for that. And I am Steph Lundgren and I've been working with you Paris for I don't five years or so we've been doing para trainings. And I have to say there's some of my most rewarding days. So I'm so glad to see you all. And here we go. So today, first of all, we want to just ask you how you're feeling. We've talked a lot about self self care through our para trainings. And you know, it's a good way to just kind of assess yourself each day and think about, you know, where you would follow on a chart and maybe think about how you could move up the chart a little bit. So take a look. We found a superhero chart. So it was just perfect to use with our superhero Paris this year. So if you're feeling a five, you're kind of out of control. You're the Hulk. You feel like you're about to explode. You feel completely overwhelmed and may become unsafe. If you're feeling like a four, you're starting to lose it. You're the Black Panther. You're getting very angry and I might start to say things I don't mean. Three would be anxious, worried, excited. You're the flash. You feel like you need to run away as fast as you possibly can. A number two, your cat woman. You think you can handle it. You're going to push yourself to try and make your very best, even if it's hard. And you'll feel proud when you get through it. And if you're a one, you're just right. You're Superman. Nothing can bring you down. I'm a man of steel and you feel on top of the world. So kind of just take a second to think about that. And if you're in the room with one, kind of talk about it for a second. Where do you fall on this chart? And if you feel like it, you could add into the chat on how you're feeling today. But we might ask for a couple of volunteers too. Hey, Kathy, how are you feeling today? I was just going to type in the chat box. I feel like I'm a two. You know, anytime when I'm presenting information on, I always feel just a little bit like, oh, I hope I'm going to do okay. So I think I can handle it. I'm feeling like cat woman. I'm going to channel my inner cat woman today. Awesome. Tammy, how are you feeling today? Oh, I was just today. I mean, normally I'm pretty much number two, but today I was just a little anxious where there's lots of things going on. I'm planning for a lot of sessions that I'm leading. And so I just have to prioritize what I'm doing today. So great. Well, not not great that you're more worried. I don't mean that. I got to say I'm feeling pretty Superman like today. Things are getting done. It's kind of one of those taskmaster days where I'm able to check a lot of things off and I'm just getting stuff done. So that feels really good. Yeah. So how about out in schools, Paris? How are you guys feeling today? Anybody willing to share out anything in on the chat? I feel like I'm probably a two today. Okay. There have been other days that I'll admit is probably maybe a four. Pretty good day. Do you feel like this year there are more fours than in previous year, Sherry? Yes, I do. Yes. A lot of complaints this year with that educators have a lot on their plates this year. A lot of worries. Yes. Anyone else. Okay. Well, just remember that looking at a chart like this and trying to identify, you know, where you're falling might help you then be able to use some strategies to, you know, lower your number and to feel a little bit better throughout the day. So we'll talk about some self-care tips later. But we acknowledge that this year's a little tougher than some of our other years and we hope that you're doing well and hope that you can keep maintaining a low number. Okay. So Kathy, I'll take away. Kathy, just let me know when you want to advance the screen. Okay, sounds good. So a lot of a lot of this afternoon's time is going to be spent exploring a little bit of information about autism spectrum disorder. And I'm sure that many of you in your schools have experienced or have had experience over the years. And so we're just going to give some basic information and we have a video that we're going to watch today. So you can go ahead and change the slide stuff. So these are just a few facts. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects how kids process certain types of information. Autism is lifelong and you don't grow out of it. So some some other facts about autism that people with autism struggle with social interaction, sensory processing and communication. Those are the three kind of major common areas that individuals with autism will have difficulties in those areas. Autism really does look different from person to person. It is a spectrum disorder. And what that means is that there's a wide variation in the type and the severity of symptoms that people experience. And autism spectrum disorder occurs in all ethnic racial and economic groups. So it does tend to be a little bit more common in boys than girls. But it really does occur across all paths of life. Excuse me, I just have some allergies and so I'm going to have to probably clear my throat a lot today. But because autism is a spectrum disorder, each person with autism really does have a distinct set of strengths and challenges. And the ways in which people with autism learn, think and problem solve can really range from highly skilled, maybe even highly skilled in a specific area to severely challenged in many parts of life. Some people with ASD require significant support in their day to day lives while others, you know, might not need as much support. And even in some cases live entirely independently with just, you know, very mild difficulties in those three key areas. All right, Steph, we can go to the next slide. I think a lot of times we do tend to dwell on the difficulties of individuals with autism. I think it's really important to remember that children with autism, like all of us, exhibit a range of strengths and challenges. And we really do want to think about those strengths, especially when we are trying to work on some of those challenges. We want to remember that while there are a range of challenges, as far as the autism spectrum goes, there are also a range of strengths, just like in all of us. You know, we're not all the same and neither are children with autism. And so when I was thinking about a good way to describe or, you know, really portray individuals with autism, I came across this video. And it just seemed like this video does such a nice job, I think, of showing the true spectrum of autism from a kid's perspective. And so we'll go ahead and watch this video. It is a little bit long. It's about close to 20 minutes, but I just felt like it does such a good job of showing autism in day to day life. I think it's worth our time. So if you want to click the link stuff, there we're going. Hi, my name is Morgan and Brooke is my best friend. Hi, my name is Brooke and I love my friend Morgan. Hi, my name is Austin and my friend Tanner is cool. You should meet him. Hi, I'm Tanner and it's great being friends with Austin. Hi, my name is Addison and I love hanging out with my brother Christian. Hello. Hello. Hello. My name is Christian. Hi, my name is Amy. I'm Christian's helper. Miss Amy makes it easier to hang out with Christian. Hi, my name is Trent Green and as an NFL quarterback, it was part of my job to deliver information about our game plan to my teammates to help them be the best players they could be. And now I have the opportunity to share information that I've learned about autism with you to help you be the best friend you can be. When you meet someone who's a little different than you, you might be scared or uncomfortable. And that's okay. Okay. Okay. Because anything new is a little scary at first. But once you learn more about it, you get used to it. Because then you have the knowledge and knowledge helps you understand. And understanding makes it easier to accept. All of us are different. No one is exactly the same. We all have our own talents. Characteristics. Strengths. And challenges. I have autism. Autism. I have autism. Autism can mean a lot of different things. Some kids who have autism seem like a typical kid. And it only impacts the way they act and communicate in certain situations. That's the kind of autism I have. And with some kids, autism impacts the way they act and communicate all the time. That's the type of autism I have. And sometimes autism impacts kids so much that they might not be able to control their bodies. Or communicate by speaking like my brother. Me. Me. Me. No one knows for sure why kids have autism. Scientists and doctors are working hard to figure it out. What we do know is that autism affects the way the brain and body work. For kids who have autism, their senses, thought processes, communication and body movements happen differently. It causes them to experience the world in a very unique way. Austin's brain processes things differently than mine. Morgan senses things in the world in a unique way. It's called autism. Autism is not Christian's name or who he is. So please don't call him the autistic kid. Please. Please. Please. Because Austin is not just an autistic kid. He is just a kid who happens to have autism. I'm just a kid with autism. Autism is not a birth defect. It's not a disease. It's not contagious. It's not like a cold. You can't catch it. Autism is just something I was born with. It's something I live with. I will have it my whole life. It's just one part of who I am. It's just one part of my brother's amazing self. Autism affects the way kids take the world in through their senses. Situations that seem very normal to most people could be extremely painful to kids with autism. Specifically, autism can impact kids' eyesight. Autism affects the way I see. Some kids with autism have vision that is blocked in the middle, like this. Like someone is holding a hand in front of their face. They can only see the sides or just one side. Others have the sides of the vision blocked and they can only see in the middle. But this makes everything blurry or double vision. It can make kids feel sick or disoriented. Another way autism affects kids is that lights may blind or hurt them or give them headaches. That happens to me sometimes. Or sometimes kids see two pictures instead of one. Like your eyes are crossing all the time. That happens to me sometimes. Christian's eyes don't talk to his brain the same way mine do. So even though Christian's eyes have seen ice cream before, they don't tell his brain what it looks like. I love ice cream. When he sees ice cream again, he doesn't remember what it is, but his other senses remember it. So he can feel that it's ice cream or taste that it's ice cream, but he can't see that it's ice cream. It would be like trying to figure out what something is with a blindfold on. The only way to tell is by touching, tasting, or smelling. That's why Christian puts things in his mouth or touches things over and over again. He's just figuring out what they are. Yes. Yes. Yes. When you have autism, your vision may work in these different ways. So it's easy to understand why kids with autism may have trouble looking you in the eye or looking at presentations at school. Or I have trouble writing or walk with stiff legs or poke at the sides of my eyes. Seeing the world like this can make kids feel tired, overwhelmed, and frustrated. Christian loves to listen to you and look at you, but it's kind of hard for him to do it at the same time. When you see the world like this, it makes it hard to play sports, catch balls, or watch movies. That's the autism. But a lot of kids with autism can see things just fine. Christian loves going to the movies. It doesn't bother his eyes at all. It doesn't usually bother mine either. Morgan only has trouble with lights sometimes. We turn the lights down for Morgan during drill team practice when they hurt her eyes. Every kid is unique. But seeing the world in a unique way can be great. Historians believe that the famous artists Pablo Picasso and Michelangelo both had autism. They created amazing works of art with the way they saw the world. Our uniqueness makes us who we are. Christian loves to draw. Autism can impact kids' sense of hearing. Autism affects the way I hear things. I bring Canada more noises. Austin's brain hears everything, all at once, at the same volume. Sometimes it's hard to be in the classroom because I hear everything. All at once. It makes it really hard to concentrate. The sound of my own voice comforts me. So I start to hum or rock back and forth. It helps me. Sometimes Christian flaps his arms or leaves the room. That's just autism. A lot of kids with autism hear just fine. I love to listen to great music. Chining the hallways with my friends is one of my favorite things to do. Having this unique way of hearing can be great. Historians believe that the famous composer Mozart had autism. With the way he heard the world he created amazing music. Our uniqueness makes us who we are. I'm really good at playing the piano. Autism can also impact kids' sense of smell. Autism affects the way things smell and taste to me. They get a really bad headache if I'm around someone who wears a lot of cologne or is a smoker. The smell of hair products makes me feel like I want to throw up. Christian really doesn't like the smell of cleaning products or mouthwash. No, no, no. That's autism. But a lot of kids with autism have a sense of smell just like anybody else. I don't like the smell of skunk, but I don't think very many people do. Autism can also impact kids' sense of taste. Christian is really sensitive to sun foods, so he brings his own gluten-free treats to parties. I have trouble eating eggs. They don't taste good to me. But all kids have things they don't like to taste. I don't like spinach. Autism can also impact kids' sense of touch. Autism affects the way I feel things. Some things really hurt my skin. We had a drill team uniform that was made of crushed velvet. It felt like sandpaper on Morgan's skin. She waited till the last minute before the routine to put it on. That clothes make me feel claustrophobic like I'm in a straight jacket. Christian hates tags on his clothes. I think they're really scratchy to him. Yes, yes, yes. And I have some sweaters that are pretty scratchy to me too. When someone touches or bumps into me unexpectedly, it hurts. It feels like an electric shock. It shoots up my arm and burns. Like when I was five and I stuck my finger in a nutwood, I'll never forget that. That's just autism. Kids with autism love getting hugs when they expect it or know the person well. Hugs feel good. It's just pressure everywhere in a nice way. Christian likes it too. He even wears a special vest that has weights in it to make it feel like he's getting hugged all the time. Having a unique way of feeling the world can be great. Historians believe that the scientists are Isaac Newton had autism. The way he felt the world allowed him to discover gravity. Our uniqueness makes us who we are. It's possible for all these sensitivities to hit at once. Eye sight, hearing, feeling and sense of smell. It happens especially in public places or sometimes in a classroom. Bright lights overhead, kids talking about their weekend, the teacher typing on the computer. The worrying of a fan smells from the cafeteria and cleaning the house. The pain brushes the house. So I need to grab back and forth. I need to feel like I'm running the restroom, bang my head, hold my hands over my ears and close the house. Christian just wants it to stop. Once I learned how painful it can be for her, I understood why Morgan sometimes acts differently. I understood why with all that chaos bombarding him every day, it might feel good for us to do things in routines. Routines are comforting to me. I like to do things in routines. But if something in the routine changes, it could be painful for Morgan. So I try to help her with it. Another way for kids to cope is to spend time with an item that is familiar. Christian likes to hold onto this hula hoop when he's upset. It just helps him calm down. That's autism. I do certain things in my life to cope too. When I'm nervous, I twirl my hair. I get in trouble for biting my fingernails. We all have unique ways of dealing with the world. Our uniqueness makes us who we are. Kids who have autism process the world differently. Some kids process in pictures, others see only patterns and others memorize facts about certain subjects. Morgan's brain sees everything in pictures. It's like she does a Google search that can only bring up images, but she has a photographic memory. I have a 4.0 GPA and have received a presidential award for having all A's for the past three years. I really like school. Austin's brain sees everything in patterns. It's like a Google search, but when you search something and you're only seeing groups of letters, the cool thing is it makes them incredible at math. Some kids with autism process the world by memorizing facts about a certain subject. It would be like doing a Google search. It's only about movies or baseball or superheroes. Because kids with autism see the world differently, they also communicate differently. Morgan doesn't read social cues, facial expressions, or voice inflections. The only way she knows how I'm feeling is if I tell her. I care a lot about how Brooke is doing. I just can't tell how she's feeling just from looking at her. And I'm taking classes to get better at it. But sometimes, even if she's yelling at me, I can't tell what she means. I can't tell if she's angry or trying to get my attention or happy. It could be any one of those things. It's just how my brain works. You can't tell how a robot feels because its voice and face is always the same. That's how Austin sees people, just kind of neutral. Another way that kids who have autism process the world differently is that they do not hear sarcasm and take words by their literal meaning. Austin has a hard time getting my jokes. I usually just explain why they're funny. If I would say break a leg Morgan, she would literally think I was wishing her to break a leg. So I just don't say that. I say good luck. I only know how to say what I mean. At least my friends always know that I'm telling them the truth. I never have to wonder with Morgan. She would never talk behind my back or lie to me. I can trust her a hundred percent. I understand that Austin says whatever comes to his mind. I know he doesn't put social filters on things. I never take it personally though. That's autism. I don't have a choice. It's just how my brain works. It's autism. I can talk pretty loud and get kind of hyper. That's okay. So can I. Everyone has their own way of communicating. Christian doesn't communicate by speaking, but he understands everything. Christian is learning to communicate in other ways by using picture cards, sign language, and using his iPad. Payton Goddard couldn't speak or control her body, but when she learned how to type on a special keyboard, she wrote a book, poetry, and graduated from college at the top of her class. Sometimes it's important for kids with autism to be by themselves. Christian likes to be alone sometimes, but most of the time, Christian loves to be around people, even though he can't talk to them. Kids with autism can take social classes to try to learn social cues so they can communicate better. Because I like hanging out with my friends. I have been taking social skills class for the past six years. Having friends is really important to me. Morgan and I have been friends since middle school. Once you learn about what autism is, you get used to it because when you have knowledge, you understand, and it's easy to accept. I love being friends with Morgan. Austin is really cool to be around. I love to hang out with my brother. No matter how hard my day has been, no matter how tired I am, Christian can always cheer me up. He loves me no matter what. He can't tell me in words, but I can tell the way his face lights up when I walk into the room. Morgan is always her genuine self. She doesn't judge people, she puts her whole heart into everything she does, and does it so well, and she does it all because she loves it, not because of what people think about her. Watching Morgan inspires me to open up and be myself. I love hanging out with Austin. Every time I'm with him, I learn something. He's always giving me a new way to look at things. He helps me forget about the everyday worries and to just be in the moment. I really care about my friends. I care. I care. I care. It's easy to be a good friend to someone living with autism. Just treat them like any other kid. Any other kid. Just treat me like any other kid. And help them when they ask for help. Don't baby them. Sometimes I need help and I will ask you for it. And just like any other kid, if they're behaving in a way that makes you uncomfortable, ask them to stop. Or get a teacher to help understand what's going on with your friend. I like you when Brooke helps me calm down. We have a signal. Just bring it down. And if you can slow down. I can understand you better if you slow down and speak plainly. I visualize everything. So it helps me understand if you write something down or point to a picture. And please wait for me to finish talking. Sometimes it takes me a while to say something. If you can be patient, you can find a friend that will change your life forever. It's awesome. And if you take the time to understand Christian, you will find out how smart and funny he is. And it's helpful to ask your friend with autism about their sensitivities and help them avoid those situations. Now noises can really hurt my ears. It's easy to turn down the television or ask your friends to keep it down. Please know that kids with autism never want to hurt your feelings or make you feel uncomfortable. I can't see it when something I'm doing is annoying Tanner or hurting his feelings. So I like it when he tells me. It helps me learn. I just tell Austin that that hurt my feelings and he doesn't do it again. Because Morgan is just like any other kid. She wants to learn, to grow, to fulfill her hopes and dreams for her future. I plan to go to college and get married someday. And like any other kid, kids with autism want to be included. Christian loves it when he gets invited to a party. It may seem weird at first to have an adult around all the time, but you'll get used to it. I'm just here to help so that you can do anything you would do with Christian that you do with any of your other friends. I can teach you how to communicate, hang out and be a good friend of Christian. It's worth it to hang around Christian. I like it when Tanner invites me to play video games with him. He beats me a lot. Morgan is good at a lot of things. Just like any other kid, kids with autism love people giving them compliments. And just like any other kid, kids with autism don't like it when you call them names or say mean things about them. I don't like it when people use the R word. Even when you're saying it about a situation or about yourself, it hurts my feelings. No matter how you use those words, they're always insulting to whoever you are talking about. So please don't use the R word. Or any other mean words. We know you don't want to hurt anyone. Everybody makes mistakes, but when you know better, you do better. And if someone is being careful, it's okay to stand up for your friend with autism. It's okay to teach that person about autism. Maybe that person just doesn't understand or have the knowledge. You can give them the knowledge that they need to understand. You can just show them this video. Because when you have the knowledge. The knowledge. The knowledge. When you know what autism is. You understand. Understand why kids with autism may seem a little different. Understand that we are all different in our own ways. And when you understand, you can accept. Accept. That some kids have autism. And they're still just a kid. Just like you. Just like you. Just like you. Just like you. Thanks Steph. So I just thought that that was such a good video to share. And I thought maybe we could take a couple of minutes here to for you guys to actually share anything that kind of struck you from the video or anything that you think, oh yeah, I have seen that. I noticed that in students that I work with. Anybody have anything they'd like to share? Sherry. I just noticed Chris was in here. She had to leave, but we both said when they played that part where there's so much noise. And they not really even think themselves because of all the. Distractions. That was just driving. That's too much. I guess I was like, I'm sorry, I'm not going to. I'm not going to be able to. You know, I'm not going to be able to talk to you. I'm not going to be able to talk to you. I'm not going to be able to talk to you. I'm not going to be able to talk to you. To all of it. I thought the same thing. And then I thought, gosh, and that's not even taking into account. The light sensitivity or some mouth. You know, you can't get that over the computer. So it'd be really. I just can't imagine in day to day life, you know, dealing with that all the time. How difficult that would be. Chris said, you know, you know, you know, you're in a situation where you don't know what to do. You know, you know, you know, I think you know, you know, you know, I think when she practices, she has to have the lights down low. She said, well, I wonder how she doesn't. And she has to actually do it with the lights on right. Audience, like to perform. Yeah. You know, I had a student with autism. Many years ago. And he did take his. His headphones with him. group into our school to play and I knew that this was going to be slightly stressful for him even with the headphones on because it would be so loud we were in a gym too so you know the noise was reverberating a lot and I said are you sure you want to come and he said this might be my only chance to ever see this of course I want to come so he was able to pull it together and I love that perspective so yeah but I didn't ever know about the eyesight I've never known that I didn't know that yeah it was really interesting I thought to the way that they could you know on a video they could actually show what that would look like and you get a sense a little bit of how that would feel but it really experiencing it on your own trying to navigate through I'm thinking of hallways and lines and you know all the things that we ask kids to do how that vision just that one aspect of a sensory sensitivity could be so difficult and challenging I think too we never ask kids with autism to explain that to their classmates or as adults we don't explain I as an adult as a teacher I didn't ask my students that I assumed a lot of things but like we say it's a spectrum disorder it's different for everyone so I shouldn't have been assuming I should have been asking what does it sound like when this happens what does it look like when this happens those things yeah and that was really one of my key takeaways was when they said you know ask us ask us about our sensory sensitivities you know ask us what's what might be bothering us or what we find bothersome and I thought gosh we don't always think about that you know we we try to guess at what might be the problem instead of asking the expert which is the individual themselves but then sometimes if you feel like okay if I ask them certain questions are they going to get upset right asking so you're kind of like on the other hand you're kind of scared to ask right absolutely absolutely I think always just framing it as you know I want to know what this feels like to you I want to know you better so I can help you better um when we go into an assembly like this what does it feel like to you what does it sound like and what does it look like and things like that you know do they not want to sit so close with everybody in an assembly you know are are there different times like that that it's just too overwhelming I appreciated the three perspectives of each student because sometimes I as an adult lump autism in the same thing so I thought you know you kind of have more high functioning more and I mean all different levels which I appreciated that because it really made it like yeah they all do things differently but they have their ways of communicating and their ways of saying what they want yeah so that was an eye opener to me any other thoughts I really appreciated when they said you know kids individuals with autism experience the world in a unique way and I think that is just a really good perspective for all of us who work with children to really think about kids with autism you know they're experiencing the world in a unique way and and sometimes that unique way that they are experiencing the world leads them to be more creative or to be more sensitive in a good way to certain things and they are showing all those incredibly famous people in history who created or discovered things and it's probably partially because of those the way that the unique way that they experience things in the world anybody else have anything that they'd like to share from the video or maybe from an experience that you've had with a student yeah okay well I I encourage people to share that out of course this link will be in our presentation online at bit.ly slash pairs of vsu8 and you could share that video with other people as well I I think it's a great eye opener thanks for finding that for us Kathy yeah um Steph if you just want to click back to that video slide the yellow slide I just want to show you know the way there is another video link in this presentation too we're not going to view it but so where it's underlined there if you just click on that it's going to take you right to that video just like you autism and if for some reason it doesn't work you can just google that exact just like you autism and you'll find it real quickly if you are wanting to um watch it again or share it with someone um all right so we can jump ahead to the next slide Steph so another thing that I want I thought might be good for us to talk about would be how how does someone know if their child has autism or how does that happen that um we decide that this is an individual with autism and so um just kind of briefly I thought I would share this information so a child can receive a diagnosis of autism and or an educational verification of autism and those really are two different things um though they though they do overlap a little bit um so on the left side um there I show that a medical diagnosis occurs when a medical doctor a psychiatrist or a therapist counselor evaluates a child and these professionals follow the diagnostic and statistical manual of medical disorders the fifth edition or the dsm five and um so they're following more of a medical approach um but they're still looking for um those same areas of difficulty that we talked about before so um the social interaction the sensory processing and the communication then in schools when we look when we think about educational verification it is slightly different um you know we have our own set of guidelines so educational verification occurs when an educational team and that team um you know might include people like the speech language pathologist the occupational therapist to really help look at some of those sensory areas as well as any fine motor concerns that that child may have the school psychologist parents teachers um could be the physical therapist as well so a team of people gathering um evaluation data and then a multi-disciplinary team meeting is held and educational professionals in Nebraska follow the NDE rule 51 guidelines um and so if we jump ahead to the next slide um because we're paraprofessionals in schools um I thought we could look at um what the that actual rule 51 what it looks like and so on the left you see the picture of just the front cover and then these are the actual um criteria or points underneath autism that that the team would be gathering data around um and so you can see it's not um there's not like pages and pages of information um it's it's fairly short um there is another document that gives a little bit more guidance but um you know basically you're looking for um those significant effects of a verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction so looking for a child who has a developmental disability that affects those areas that's generally evident before the age of three and that would adversely affect their educational performance and then we also consider other characteristics um such as engagement in repetitive activities, stereotype movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routine and unusual responses to sensory experiences um and then there is another little statement here that autism wouldn't apply or the team shouldn't consider autism if the child's educational performance is adversely affected mostly because the child has an emotional disturbance um which is another verification category in rule 51 um and then there's another little statement here about um if a child um shows characteristics of autism after the age of three they could still be verified as having autism if the other criteria are not so um those would be what the school-based um educational guidelines look like as far as when a team considers whether or not an individual has autism um just going to give you a few facts here too that according to the Centers for Disease Control autism affects an estimated one in 54 children in the United States um and that number seems to be climbing all the time um probably for a couple different reasons um oftentimes we think that we're getting better at noticing maybe milder levels of autism or better at distinguishing autism when we thought before maybe it was something else um there are several factors that might influence the development of autism and it is often accompanied by those sensory sensitivities and kids sometimes have medical issues also such as gastrointestinal disorders seizures or sleep disorders um and also individuals with autism are often more at risk for mental health challenges like anxiety depression and attention issues so a student who um is verified as a as an individual with autism might also have some other co-occurring conditions like attention difficulties anxiety depression those types of things if you want to jump ahead so again i just want to kind of review so there's those three primary characteristics that we look for so we look at social difficulties so significant difficulties or differences or both in interacting with or understanding people in events the communication area where we look at significant difficulties or differences which extend beyond just speech and language difficulties um to other aspects of social communication both receptive what the student understands and then expressive so what the individual um speaks out then we look for those repetitive activities and restricted interests um and this is where we see that the individual is seeking consistency in environmental events to the point of exhibiting significant rigidity so being very rigid in routines or has a significant preoccupation with um or attachment to objects or topics um sometimes you might see a real keen interest in in a certain topic like trains um or you know i can think of kids over the years um you guys are superheroes but i've actually have had students who were really interested in superheroes and that was their area of interest or topic of interest um i was working with a student once and he just really put me on the spot and wanted to know well if i could be any super superhero what would i be and so i i'm not i wasn't really up on my superheroes so i had i had to really think and then he asked me okay so then what would your superpowers be and so i don't know i must have said something really lame and he said that's what you would pick for your superpower like what are you thinking lady so um usually those restricted interests do you know they kind of stick out as something that maybe is it's just more intense than than what you would see in another child that age and it tends to kind of enter into all facets of their of their life so they'll bring it up frequently in in talk with you at different times when maybe it wouldn't quite be appropriate um if we go ahead to the next slide staff if we look at each area then a little bit further so social what does it look like or sound like so difficulty commenting on the feelings of others um in the video um the one boy talked about you know why well actually both of the in both of the verbal individuals talked about really not being able to notice social cues and um the one friend of the boy the individual with autism said um you know he sees and hears people a lot like a robot kind of where the face looks the same to him um just not noticing those facial expressions in the different voice tones and so that would fall under that social and communication both areas um so limited understanding about other people's feelings and their perspectives um really difficulty with back and forth conversation um so um this the individual might be talking about what they want to be talking about and you say something or comment and and they just keep going going with what they're talking about not necessarily um having that back and forth conversation with you and then also lack of joint attention and that joint attention would be um in in small children joint attention can look like we're looking for that child to to show some enjoyment with another person oftentimes with a parent so here's this new toy mom i'm gonna come show it to you and maybe we don't see that necessarily in those individuals with autism they enjoy it by themselves and not share it with others the next area would be this communication so difficulty reporting events sharing things delay or lack of verbal language some individuals with autism have a complete lack of verbal language they have difficulty integrating gestures with their verbal language initiating maintaining or ending conversations are difficult and then they might have certain words that they use or phrases that they use more than would be typical um and that could include some echolalia so that repeating of some what someone else has said either right after they say it or later repeating lines from movies and things like that that would all be echolalia also seen in the movie ringman right right exactly mm-hmm mm-hmm yeah sometimes um individuals with autism can use those movie lines appropriately in a conversation and sometimes they kind of really stick out but either way they tend to sound more formal or they they will be said in the same tone as the first person said them whoops okay um so now if we look at repetitive activities and restricted restricted interest so again that passion or narrow interest often around a certain topic or object and we would also consider physical behaviors here like arm flapping or rocking and again as they said in the video those things can be in response to just being overwhelmed in that sensory area and they're calming or soothing themselves and then that real need for routine and consistency like individuals wanting to take the same drive the same way the same path the same route over and over again and if we deviate from that route and it's really hard for them to get over and that might be difficult for them or a daily routine that changes a little bit can be really difficult so all of these coven things that we have in place can be really difficult for individuals with autism um as i said before there is another video link in here just kind of for your own information but temple grandin is one of the best known people in the autism community she's a renowned animal behavior expert and she's created different things that in our rural area we might even know about so she really is a renowned person she gives speeches she travels around the world and she can navigate society pretty well with some support however many others with autism need daily care and support but they all have that same diagnosis or verification so again just a little more information on it being a spectrum disorder there's a lot more information out there on autism spectrum disorder and so i did want to highlight this top one here the Nebraska ASD network has webinars specific for educators or for para educators excuse me and so there is a listing of the ones that would be really great for para educators um there's a course that's called the many faces of autism and so there's that link there and then for those of you who might want to know more about high functioning autism um there there's there's a great webinar there too about individuals who are considered on the you know having less severity in their symptoms of autism so i wanted to leave you with some additional resources there does anybody have any questions or comments any specific questions for Kathy about students you might work with or situation okay well Kathy thank you so much for the information i know i learned a lot um i thought i thought i knew a few things but and i did but i really learned a lot from this presentation so thank you so much for sharing with us then the good news you know there's always more information out there and new and changing research in the area of autism so you know really there's always new information in this area so thanks for letting me share with you guys today I appreciate it thank you and you know another website that has a lot of good information is understood.org we pointed you in that direction a lot of times in the past paris um and i just i really love that site for lots of good information yeah i agree that's a good one understood.org it's actually a site that was um it has the focus of parents understanding their students um education and um especially special ed students um and so uh it just explains it in a way that i can really understand it so i always like that that there's not a lot of jargon and i can really understand it it puts it in simple terms for me good all right so all year we've been talking and well last year we talked about self-care strategies and um in august sanya suck up shared some ideas for filling your own cup and we want you to think about that how are you you know on a day when you're a four you know and you're not feeling so good how do you get yourself to feel good again we have to take care of ourselves so i wrote i wrote you a poem today and um in this poem we're gonna share some self-care tips for the fall when autumn school temps start to make you feel snug what will you choose to fill up your mug let's switch this go pumpkin picking then cleaning and baking or even jack-o-lantern scary face making a book with a blanket in your coziest clothes is a great is great in the fall everyone knows dress your cat or walk your dog fill your pet's cup but not with eggnog bubble bubble toil in trouble find a good costume right on the double whether it's squash soup or apple pie comfort foods on the menu no need to ask why how can we have fall without pumpkin spice it has a fine way to make all things taste nice it's a great time for you to learn something new try a task that you would love to do a walk in the park a hike in the trees nature's beauty is sure to please Saturdays in the fall cannot be complete unless you are watching your favorite team compete so decorate your porch or start to holiday shop but remember to put your self-care needs on the top so we just want you to really pick out in um something that makes you feel good in the fall and i think fall is is one of those times of feel good things right um so we all have our favorite things and just pick one and feel good get yourself to that one or two a two on our chart um especially when you're having a higher number day and then when we started back in august it seems like such a long time ago we talked about your cape and we had you pick out one of your superpowers and i just shared my cape back um or sorry the superpowers we had to come up with three of them and then we had you think about one of your kryptonites so we just want you to think about how have you been doing it trying to improve your kryptonite and make that more of a strength anybody willing to share or have you just kind of put the cape to the to the background i my my weakness is being quick to jump in so i really tried when we've been back here in the office now um not always being so quick to say i'll do it i'll do it i kind of wait a little bit give people time to do something so i'm not the one always jumping in and doing everything so that's just what i'm doing anybody want to share okay then we'll go on again i just saw i just thought this um it's about blessings and i think right now this time we have to really count our blessings and think about what are some things that um are really important to us or that we um are thankful for because it seems like our world is kind of in a topsy turvy so i just put begin your day with love on your heart expect great things smile because you are alive shine like the sun inspire someone today and i know that you guys all do a good job of always doing that never forget that god is with you all the time or grace is within you thank you everybody so much for joining us today um we love to see you and um we just hope that you're having a great year and remember we're always here for you so if you need anything at all just reach out and we're happy to um help you out so email or call um we're always right here for you okay thanks everybody bye everybody bye