Case Study C: Craig
Craig is a highly energetic young man with a tremendous sense of humour that makes him a delight to be around – both for staff and for his peers. He has real strengths in activities such as crafting with which we are actively helping him to improve, and with ongoing travel training he is also making great strides in becoming more independent.
Although Craig’s comprehension is very good, as long as information is delivered in manageable chunks, his autism limits his verbal communication to key words and phrases. We help him by supplementing verbal communication with Makaton and PECS. He also has obsessive tendencies that manifest in various rituals and a desire for everything around him to be uniform and clean. With our PBS-centred approach he is learning to channel these desires by developing skills such as using the hoover, helping to take bins out and performing tasks in the kitchen.
Situations in which Craig really flowers tend to be those with lots of opportunity for engagement and activity. A case in point was a woodworking session we arranged for him, during which he was involved with a number of projects (including a chair) which gave him huge pleasure and satisfaction. We have also been undertaking a range of travel-training activities with him, getting him accustomed to the different kinds of transport (including, bus, train, car and boat) necessary to go anywhere he wishes to throughout London.
Not only is Craig making excellent progress towards his own goals but he brings great joy, energy and humour to groups as well.