Autism Acceptance and Celebrating Difference
In May, we celebrated Autism Acceptance and Celebrating Differences over the course of two weeks. The theme we had for our celebration this year was ‘Same Chance.’ The important message for our celebration was that everyone deserves to have the same chance to participate in all school activities. The children really embraced this theme with 1st and 2nd classes pairing up with Junior and Senior Infants to teach them a song through actions and images. The 1st and 2nd class children worked hard to enable the children in Junior and Senior Infants to have the same chance to sing the songs together during our ‘Celebration Concert’. The atmosphere during our concert was amazing and all of the children enjoyed it. The celebrations continued afterwards, with each class hosting a Celebrating Difference party. The children all had the same chance to engage with the party, with each child choosing different party snacks to enjoy during the party.
We have also worked hard this year in the school to incorporate different methods of communication in our classrooms and in our school. We have created a yearly Lámh plan, and children have been learning different lámh signs throughout the year. We have also erected two communication boards on the yard as well as two communication boards in our school. We hope that these boards will help to bridge gaps in communication and aid the children in expressing their thoughts, feelings and needs.
Well done to all the children and a huge thanks to the SFX AsIAm team!