SENSE

“Understand and Appreciate My Autism Style” Animation Series Resource Package

Self-advocacy

• This resource package aims to help students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to understand, accept and appreciate their own autistic style, thereby cultivating their abilities and skills in self-advocacy. On one hand, school personnel and parents can use the materials to support students in "understanding" their autistic characteristics and subsequently “appreciating" their own uniqueness, fostering their positive self-image. On the other hand, it can also help them understand the difficulties or challenges associated with these characteristics and learn how to communicate their personal needs effectively.
• Relevant research shows that improving students' self-advocacy abilities and skills will not only help them understand their characteristics and needs, but also support them in making decisions that are suitable or beneficial to them. In the long term, they will gain more opportunities and experiences to integrate into the community, more positive employment experiences, and higher quality of life, life satisfaction and sense of well-being.

1) Six episodes of animation		2) Worksheets for download
Animation Videos (click to play)	Content Theme	Student version	School personnel and parent version
Episode 1: Everything Starts with Understanding    Understanding ASD	Understanding ASD	EP1_1_PDF	EP1_2_PDF
Episode 2: "Sense" My Needs Sensory needs of individuals with ASD	Sensory needs of individuals with ASD	EP2_1_PDF	EP2_2_PDF
Episode 3: I Want My "Sauce" Stubborn behaviours and thoughts of individuals with ASD	Stubborn behaviours and thoughts of individuals with ASD	EP3_1_PDF	EP3_2_PDF
Episode 4: Lost In the Ways of the World Difficulties in Interpreting thoughts of individuals with ASD	Difficulties in Interpreting thoughts of individuals with ASD	EP4_1_PDF	EP4_2_PDF
Episode 5: I Love Being Alone?  Social communication characteristics of individuals with ASD	Social communication characteristics of individuals with ASD	EP5_1_PDF	EP5_2_PDF
Episode 6: A Sleeping Volcano Difficulties in emotional regulation of individuals with ASD	Difficulties in emotional regulation of individuals with ASD	EP6_1_PDF	EP6_2_PDF
3) Extended Reading Materials (for school personnel and parents) for download		-	PDF

Usage Guidelines

1. Generally, this resource package is suitable for primary three students or above. Literature indicates that children under the age of eight may find it more difficult to grasp abstract concepts like "autism spectrum disorder".
2. It is recommended to first watch the videos with students, then use the specially designed worksheets for each episode to guide them in reflection and sharing.
3. School personnel should use this resource package flexibly, selecting and utilizing appropriate animations and worksheets according to the students' needs and the autistic characteristics they wish to explore.
4. "Self-advocacy" is a relatively personalized topic, requiring students to reflect and share their own situations. Therefore, this resource package is more suitable for individual training or one-on-one discussions.  If used in a group, school personnel must create a safe environment, closely monitor students' emotions, and flexibly adjust the discussion questions to avoid eliciting negative feelings.  If needed, follow-ups could be conducted during individual training or meetings.
5. Before using this resource package, school personnel should first gather information from parents, such as the student's understanding of their own autism, parents' willingness and concerns about discussing autistic characteristics with the student, and parents' expectations for the topics school personnel will cover in the discussions.