AU - Autism
Painting the big picture perspectives for every teacher
It beholds all teachers to acquire a fuller picture and understanding of the characteristics, impairments and needs of the child with autism.
As the child’s class teacher, support teacher or just a teacher meeting a child with autism, you will know how best to engage, be that as a professional or simply on a personal human level.
They need us to understand.
Course presenter - Shaun Greville
We are delighted to welcome Shaun Greville as our presenter on this course. Shaun has a wealth of experience and expertise in the teaching of children with autism and provides us with informed guidance and best practice in this area. He has been teaching autistic students for over 25 years and has provided numerous training events over the years to staff and parents in primary, post-primary, special schools and third-level colleges.
Shaun was also a co-author of the Department of Education document, Autism Good Practice Guidance for Schools: Supporting Children & Young People, which is regarded as a vital resource for primary school teachers, providing the essential knowledge and strategies needed to support autistic children effectively and inclusively.
Shaun's experience includes a five-year secondment to the NCSE. He fulfilled the roles of Advisor and Assistant National Coordinator for the autism team with a focus on in-school support for teachers and both in-school and external CPD on autism.
We are thrilled to have him share his expertise in this course. Here is a brief introduction from Shaun.
Couse contributor and guest: Dr Temple Grandin
CPD College is thrilled to announce that Temple Grandin, Ph. D., professor, best-selling author, and autism self-advocate, will be our guest for a question-and-answer session with all our autism course teachers in August, an event not to be missed. Temple will answer your questions, and after all, those are the most important questions. We are truly excited by the enormity of this event!
Not only that, but Temple has contributed several articles to enlighten this course on autism, sharing her unique insights and perspectives on what she terms ‘Educating Students with Different Kinds of Minds’!
In a recent article on the Top 25 Prominent Autism Researchers in the World, Autism Parenting Magazine selected Temple as number one. It is no wonder that she is one of the most sought-after speakers in the world on the subject of autism. We are truly humbled that she is taking the time to give us the benefit of her unique expertise and experience.
Enrol today, and join in the conversation on August 19th.
The teacher's voice
A key strength of this course is the contribution of teachers who are already working with autistic pupils in their classrooms. They bring a wealth of real-life insight, offering practical ideas and strategies that have been tested and refined through everyday teaching. From small adjustments to classroom routines to creative ways of supporting communication, sensory regulation, and engagement, these shared experiences provide invaluable learning for all participants.
This collective knowledge helps ground the course in reality, making it both relevant and immediately useful for teachers at all stages of their practice.
NOTE:
The online format of this course enables you to study at a time and place that best suits your own needs.
You can access your course from July 1st to August 22nd 2025.
Within this highly interactive web based course, a dynamic learning experience awaits, where you can interact with your fellow course participants through the in-course chat forums and communication tools provided by the CPD College learning system.
Our friendly and knowledgeable tutors actively support each course, providing expert interaction, guidance and feedback for all participants on chat questions and assignments which call for critical reflection, self-analysis and a reasoned response.
On successful completion of your course, you can download and print off your CPD record and certificate of completion.
We look forward to welcoming you to your course.
This course aims to:
- Identify the triad of impairments and suite of characteristics that can suggest that a child has an ASD
- Breakdown the assessment and diagnosis process for a child exhibiting markers for ASD
- Review strategies that support children with ASD in play, socialising and communication
- Examine a suite of interventions and programmes for supporting the specific learning needs of a child diagnosed with an ASD
- Explore, set out and highlight issues and solutions around inclusion into mainstream classrooms
- Share parental insights into the lived experience of parents who have a child with ASD
- Provide a selection of research papers / readings on aspects of ASDs from which ideas and practices can be extrapolated
- Itemise some digital tools and software that can facilitate work with the child that has autism
- Look at, review and score one’s own ‘Teacher Practice in Literacy’ as part of the SSE process.
| 01 - Towards understanding Autism, we outline a suite of emergent facts that pertain to autism, explore research and create a detailed picture of the lived experience of children on the autistic spectrum and that of their families; typical core deficits being in socialisation, communication and imagination skills, those being the broadest categories that comprise the typical distinguishing traits of ASDs, known as the triad of impairments. Support for the child comes from a combination of parents and professionals working together. |
| 02 - Accurate screening and diagnosis / identification requires collecting and assimilating data from a variety of sources using multiple methods by parents and professionals from a variety of disciplines. As with all data, the information collected must subsequently be interpreted and acted upon in order to support the assessed needs of the child. As part of the diagnosis and intervention process, we look in detail at aspects of play & communication skills in children with ASD, such as pretend play dialogue, object play skills and symbolic play. |
| 03 - We explore some standard interventions and evidence programmes for supporting the educational development and skill sets of the child with an ASD, and provide insight into the experiences and perceptions of the parents re. that education provision. We also look at transitions and at emotional regulation, as a child well-regulated emotionally is most available for learning and engaging. |
| 04 - We look at sensory processing patterns, difficulties and strengths commonly associated with autism. There is extensive international research examining the prevalence and nature of sensory processing deficits in autism and how these impact the individual’s ability to learn, play, communicate, interact and engage in daily activities. We summarise and detail the essential elements of the ‘PECS - Picture Exchange Communication System’ and ‘SCERTS – Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Supports’. |
| 05 - We examine the area of inclusion, setting out strategies for the inclusion of children with autism into mainstream classrooms, including insights from parent interviews on their experiences and observations of same. We itemise ideas from a review of the research literature for those helping children manage their anxiety, relationships and more. |