This is a short video of a young boy with Autism who learnt to count thanks to his special interest, buses. He very much enjoyed reading the numbers on the different buses, watching them and going for a ride. He still enjoys going on the bus and he and his grandmother are due to go on a big trip from John O’Groats to Lands end using more than 60 buses.
Like Riley, many of our young people here at Newfield have very specific, special interests. These can range from favourite television characters, vehicles, sign posts, electrical items and much more. As a school we use these special interests to help our students to learn, we may use motivating items and characters in lessons to help the young person engage or on a timetable to make it more interesting to look at. We most certainly use special interest to help develop the student’s communication skills and PECS use.