What does it mean to an autistic student to be a teen?
The word “teen” originally meant (in the 17th century) injury, harm, suffering or grief. Later it came to mean irritation, annoyance, anger or rage.
By the 18th century it came to have the current meaning of being the period of life between being 13 and 19 – a handy mix of the end of each number (fifteen etc) and the perceived behaviour of young people of that age range.
It was not until the 1920s that the word “teenager” was added to the lexicon, but the combination of meanings remained – being between 13 and 19, and expressing undue amounts of irriTation, annoyance, anger, etc.
The teens can of course be difficult years for many school students, but for those who suffer from autism spectrum disorder the period can be especially troubling as information and advice for teenagers generally doesn’t cater for those who view the world in a wholly different way.
Which is why SEN Press has produced the Teen Issue Value Pack, suitable for students aged between 14 and 19 with autism or other special educational needs and a reading age of around seven.
The Teen Issues Value Pack consists of six story books, each exploring a different teen issue, with relevance to the ASDAN award programmes ‘Transition Challenge’ and ‘Towards Independence’. Also included is a CD-ROM providing digital versions of the above titles, which are ideal for interactive whiteboard presentations and for students who would also benefit from listening to the text.
It is possible to edit and save the text to make your own differentiated texts, and there is also an extensive range of activity worksheets and interactive activities that encourage reading comprehension, including page-by-page notes for all the stories and assessment resources (feedback sheets and student record sheets).
The complete set of resources containing two copies of each of the six readers, the complete teacher book, and the CD Rom is available for £139 plus VAT. Individual elements from the pack are also available separately.
You can see more details and sample pages from the readers, and details for ordering individual items as well as the full pack on our “Teen Issues” web page.
For further information, please email info@senpress.co.uk or call 01582 833205.
Janie Nicholas