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One of our parents designed this wonderful piece of artwork to celebrate Autism Awareness week. She

asked us to share it with you all.

Issue 34: Summer 2020

Brent Outreach Autism Team

Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ

0208 937 4659

boat@brent.gov.uk

www.brent.gov.uk/boat

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Art work, invention and poem by Leo Smith-Nield

You know it in your heart

And your heart knows it

However small your flat is it’s never too small for love

By Jayden Vales

By Jayden Vales

By Saina Basnet

Thank you posters to our keyworkers at the NHS

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Mae getting creative in her back gar-den painting her fence pink.

by Mae Lysak By Odell Grant

By Leon Arthur

By

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Drum kit Fruit basket Easter eggs

Michael’s journal Pencil shaving art

''I love being myself

in my everyday

even in my

dreams”

Art work by

Michael

Akinwonmi—Pedro

Aishani has been busy getting creative during the lockdown. Painting, cooking, henna, arts &

crafts and lots more. - Artwork by Aishani

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Ethan’s mum bought him some flower bombs to plant.

He has been making some cakes too.

When it’s all over…

Here’s an idea of something you can do at home when

you and your family are missing things that are not

possible to do right now. Write down some things you or

your child/young person would like to do and put it into

a container for in the future when it is safe to go out and

do it again. If your child/young person asks to do or go

somewhere that they can’t right now, such as go to the

park, write down “Go to the park” on one of the bits of

paper and put it in the container to be later picked out

once it becomes a possibility. Make sure to only put in ideas of things that are realistic and will be

actually possible to achieve to avoid future disappointment. Writing down the things you usually do

as part of your regular lives will help this idea work best.

Free Picture Communication Apps

For children that use pictures to communicate there are

some free smartphone/ tablet Apps you might find helpful to

try at home. The two Apps above have been used by some

of our parents/carers to help support their children in making

choices about what they want as well as being used to

visually support giving an instruction. If you feel this would be something your child would find

beneficial please try them out and let us know how it goes.

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Here is one of our younger children having some fun in the kitchen, we love her noise cancelling

headphones.

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful children and their parents

for sharing your lockdown art. We are really impressed with the ac-

tivities you have all been doing.

If you want to put a picture of your creations or activities in the next

newsletter please email them to us at BOAT@brent.gov.uk

The A Word

The third series of The A Word, written by award-winning screen-

writer Peter Bowker about a young boy with autism, has started its

third season on BBC 1. The series started on May 5th and is

available on BBC IPlayer.

Transition and Social Distancing

A lot of parents will be worrying about how their children will adjust to

going back to school after such a long period at home. At BOAT we

have been working on ways that we can support pupils and schools with

transition whether this be moving to a new school i.e. reception and Year

7 pupils, year to year transitions in their current school or just

coping with returning to school in general. We have produced some

social stories about social distancing and returning to school that you

may find useful. We have included the social distancing story in this

newsletter and will send you social stories about returning to school in

the next couple of weeks.

Sadly many of you will have experienced bereavement during this period and we have also included

some information on supporting children and young people affected by grief and loss.

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Social Distancing

Coronavirus, which is also sometimes called Covid-19, is a virus that

has made many people ill.

Viruses are contagious which means people can catch it easily.

Coronavirus can pass very easily from one person to another,

especially when people are in groups.

Social distancing can help keep everyone healthy.

Social distancing means staying away from large crowds, busy places

and other people.

Other people means the people who do not live in my house.

Social distancing means staying about 2

metres away from other people, 2 metres

is about the same size as when two

people hold their arms out.

They should not touch.

If I do not know how much 2 metres

is I can ask my parents or my

teacher to show me.

My routine and activities may change so that I can keep my social

distance.

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At school, I might have to sit and play

further apart from my friends than I

usually do.

Some events at school like sports day

or assemblies might be cancelled to

keep people healthy.

I will have to change how I do things when I go out, or when I am at

school. For example, I may have to wash my hands or use

antibacterial gel more often, I may have to try to stay 2 metres away

from people who do not live in my house.

If I go to the shops with my parents I may not be allowed to touch

things.

I may get frustrated because I have to change my routine and the

activities I usually do.

I will try to remember that social distancing will not last forever.

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Supporting children and young people with

autism with grief and loss

All children and young people will experience periods of grief and loss

at different times in their lives. There are ways we can support and

help people with autism understand and cope with the situation that

can help deal with feelings in positive ways. Please see our top tips

below and know you are very welcome to get in touch with your

current BOAT support person for any individual support or advice you

might need, depending on your situation.

Top tips:

Explain and be honest about what is happening using visuals to support understanding.

Use specific and accurate vocabulary and terms instead of just saying someone is poorly or un-

well.

Give warnings to any changes of routine with as much notice as you can.

Give warning if a persons looks have changed or are about to change.

Use social stories to illustrate how other people might be feeling or to explain why things are now

different than they used to be.

Name and model a variety of different feelings/emotions in real life situations and provide

visual support for this where you can

Give opportunities for the child or young person to ask questions and reassure them that it is okay

to ask anything they might be worried about.

To help when people close to the child or young person are moving away try creating a photo

based book with them that includes how you will now be interacting with them (i.e. through

video calls or talking on the phone).

Avoid unclear euphemisms such as saying someone has gone to sleep or gone to a better place

when they have died as this might be taken literally and might be confusing or cause

anxiety.

All of the above can help children and young people work through significant changes in their lives and

help give them more understanding in how it will affect them. Every situation is different so please feel

free to contact your BOAT support person if you need anything further to help with

supporting your child or young person facing these situations.

Please find more information and advice on

the National Autistic Society website www.autism.org.uk/about/family-life

Or

There are several books available to help explain

loss to children and young people including:

What Does Dead Mean?: A Book for Young

Children to Help Explain Death and Dying

by Caroline Jay and Jenni Thomas

Badger’s Parting Gifts

by Susan Varley