Autism and observations

[judisteve]

I have just taken on an Autistic boy (2 and a half years old) and am struggling with the observations. I'm seeing lots of things to make note of, however how do you go about linking them to the EYFS as they generally don't match up with the expected milestones. Some things also aren't "normal" behaviour.
Any one out there with experience of this who feels like sharing any ideas pls?
He's generally happy just pottering around doing his own thing, but trying to get him involved in an adult led activity is really difficult - how much should I push this?
I have had previous experience of working with Autistic children but it was in a family centre setting not in the home.
Thanks in anticipation of some helpful replies!!!

[singingcactus]

That's the beauty of the EYFS, the child develops at his own speed. I had this issue once and found it hard to notate because the paperwork i was using at the time had the ages on it. It was something sarah had made, and she very kindly mailed me some without the ages on and I just filled them in as he attained his goals and disregarded the age part of it.

Please remember though, put the child before the additional need, he is not autism with a child attached (autistic child), he is a child who is autistic. It seems like a little thing, but it's not. It's about seeing the child not the disablility/need, always best to keep it that way even when writing on a friendly forum so you get in the habit. I'm not having a go, it's just something that is important to me.

[sweets]

its soo hard linking EYFS to 'every child' i look after a LO who is quite disabled, he rarely reaches any of the milestones set in the EYFS, which is partly why i hate it so much as it sets milestones into age groups, which i think is wrong as 99% of children will reach the goals and it shouldnt matter when, (not really explained myself properly tho but i know what i mean! lol)

when he does something worth noting then i just link it to one or 2 of the 6 areas and just say the main heading, such as, if we do messy play then i will put it down as CD and dont explain any more or try and find the details of the link. (again i know what i mean! lol)

[sarah707]

The majority of children meet the milestones of the Eyfs at some point but not necessarily in the order they are in the book!

He might be artistic which would link with CD - simply don't put an age, just a stage.

He might have an obsession with trains (very common with autism)... ok link it to schemas and give him other opportunities to enjoy his need for trains, stations, role play signals etc.

He might have other traits which, as you say, possibly aren't in the Eyfs ... well the 6 areas of learning and development in the Eyfs don't cover every child, it simply couldn't have been written that way.

But what it does do is treat every child as unique and special... so when you show parents his milestones and successes tell them all the positives of his day as a little unique man.

They do not need to be concerned about Eyfs sheets, just their special little person.

If you work from that focus you won't go far wrong.

Hth

[judisteve]

Thanks!
I'd been linking some things just with the areas rather than ages - was really just checking that's ok I guess. As you've all said, as long as child makes progress it doesn't actually mastter which age group the progress relates too.