New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline - Ministry of Health

Part 3: Education for learners with ASD
• reaching consensus on decisions
• developing trust and respect 257 .
3.4.c Supporting and planning for
transitions
The biggest barriers to collaborative teaming
are negative staff attitudes and a lack of
time. However, there is good evidence that
collaborative teams enhance teacher satisfaction
with their jobs, improve communication and
collaboration skills for all participants and result
in better decisions and results for students 257 .
The roles of specific professionals
The education section of the ASD Guideline
has deliberately not closely defined specific
roles for particular professional groups such as
occupational therapists and speech-language
therapists when working in early intervention
and educational settings. The intention was to
identify the knowledge and skills which are
required to support children and young people
with ASD in a variety of settings.
Members of a well-functioning collaborative
team will share information and enskill one
another. It is expected that each professional will
take the lead in areas where they have particular
expertise, for example, speech-language
therapists in planning communication strategies.
The skills of different professionals will overlap
in some areas. Some teams may have gaps in
the skills and knowledge available to them from
actual members of a child/young person’s team.
In such circumstances, professionals may need
to act as consultants to the team from a distance.
Readers who seek more details about the work
of various professional groups should source
information from the relevant professional
bodies. These include:
• New Zealand Association of Occupational
Therapists (NZAOT)
• New Zealand Speech and Language
Therapists Association (NZSTA)
• New Zealand Psychological Society.
Times of transition (from one teacher to another,
as well as from one setting to another) are
stressful for all children and young people and
their parents.
Times of transition provide additional
challenges for students with ASD. These
can include transitions from home to school,
between activities, from place to place, between
classrooms and from one school to another.
Strategies to help students to understand the
purpose and expectations of transitions are
essential and include:
• visual supports
• maps
• priming
• schedules of events
• planning for changes and sharing plans with
the child
• social stories
• careful analysis of difficulties (not always
what is assumed) 201 211 .
Developing and regularly updating a personal
profile for students is one way to ensure
recognition of their skills and behaviours, as
well as their preferences, interests, effective
strategies and prior learning (Recommendation
3.4.5. For further discussion of transitions see
sections 3.1 and 3.3).
Part 3
New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline 131