Personalise teaching and learning to support young people with autism

Thomas Courtley, ex teacher and LessonUp education specialist

Thomas Courtley

Education Specialist

a teacher helping students learn

Anastasia Sergiou, a class teacher at an independent specialist day college, is on a mission to help young people with autism develop their skills and thrive in everyday life. Teaching students with autism comes with unique challenges, especially when traditional teaching methods don’t meet their needs. In this blog, I’ll share how her journey to digital tools has transformed teaching and learning at Ambitious College.

by Thomas Courtley

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Engage Students Who Need to Move Around

"Teaching students with autism often requires adapting materials to suit their learning styles. For years, I relied heavily on PowerPoint presentations and printed handouts to engage my students. However, this approach was far from ideal. Paper materials would get lost, torn, or simply fail to capture my students’ attention. For learners who struggle to sit still or maintain focus, paper-based methods just didn’t work.

LessonUp provided us with a solution. By incorporating interactive quizzes and drag-and-drop activities, I am able to create lessons that allow for movement while still engaging my students. Now, they can interact with the learning material in ways that suit their personal preferences. The platform’s flexibility means that students are no longer confined to their desks—they can work on their iPads whenever they feel like it."

Paper-based materials are problematic for learners who are encouraged to self-regulate and need to move around rather than sit still for long periods.
Anastasia
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Improve Lives with Your Insights into Student Learning

"One of the most notable advantages of using LessonUp is how easily I can monitor student progress and assess their understanding. The platform's interactive features provide valuable insights into student learning. By tracking their responses and offering real-time feedback, I can easily adjust my teaching. It helps me address areas where students may be struggling and make sure they grasp key concepts.

Recently, I’ve collaborated with a Speech and Language Therapist to incorporate LessonUp's drag-and-drop feature for building three-part sentences. This has been incredibly beneficial for nonverbal students who use communication devices! With a simple drag-and-drop action, they can now construct sentences using symbols. This communication method helps them express their thoughts. It’s a complete breakthrough that significantly improves the quality of life!"

I have dyslexia, and when I went to school I got left behind, and was often moved to different courses. I don’t want my learners to feel the same way.
Anastasia
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Bring the Community to Those Who Can't Join It

"The greatest aspect of LessonUp is its interactive features. By embedding  interactivity I am able to create a more ‘hands on’ learning environment for my students. I use practical videos that demonstrate real-life activities, allowing learners to connect theoretical knowledge with everyday skills. This approach captures their attention and deepens their understanding of what people do outside of the classroom.

Our learners cannot always get out in the community and observe what people do every day. They should have these experiences at our college. 

Recognising that many of my students have limited opportunities to interact with the community, I use LessonUp to bridge that gap. By incorporating videos and images of everyday activities into the classroom, I introduce them to common social interactions and tasks they might not otherwise experience. For instance, showing a video of someone shopping at a supermarket helps my students understand practical activities and social norms. These digital resources allow me to teach essential skills like personal hygiene and cooking in a way that is both engaging and relevant."

LessonUp has allowed me to move away from outdated methods and embrace a more flexible, interactive, and engaging approach to teaching.
Anastasia

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