Hi! Rosie here! Founder of The Blossom Effect, creator of Mind Map and former autistic schoolgirl (with a hearty helping of ADHD!)
Communication! It can often be one of the hardest things for autistic girls. As projects like The Blossom Effect raise awareness for the needs of autistic students and more and more open-minded teachers adopt new adaptations and ways of working, equal access to education has never been so close!
But there's still one huge issue standing between an autistic girl and her chance to flourish: Communication! Between masking, social fatigue and alexithymia (challenges in recognizing, expressing, sourcing, and describing your own emotions) making teachers aware of her own unique needs can seem impossible! Many autistic girls will end up just not saying anything.
For a teacher with a busy classroom and an even busier schedule, extracting these needs from their autistic pupil is challenging enough, let alone memorising and applying them!
On top of this, anyone working in education will also know, that it's never simply a case of student asks, student gets! Every adaptation needs to go through some kind of approval before it can be applied in the classroom. Keeping on top of what accommodations have been approved for each student is a tall order!
And so, "Mind Map" was created! It's just a little booklet, really, but it has the power to transform an autistic girl's education. How? It gives her back her voice.
How It Works
The Mind Map booklet is written by The Blossom Effect and whoever it belongs to. Every autistic girl is unique and their adaptations should reflect that.
I'm a firm believer in letting autistic girls carve out their own routes, identifying their own needs and coming up with their own adaptations wherever this is possible.* When I first unlocked Pandora's box of classroom adjustments, I was overwhelmed by all the options! I was offered a lot of assistance that I didn't actually need and it made me question myself. I was excluded from things that my professors thought I would struggle with and back then, knowing I struggled with identifying my own feelings, I took their word for it. In reflection, these were the areas I would have flourished in most!
So the first few pages of the booklet are almost completely blank! Step one is for the student to sit down with their tutor or mentor and establish exactly what it is that she struggles with. With the help of the student, the school can then decide on reasonable adjustments for each difficulty and once everything is agreed on, the booklet can be filled out and signed off.
The student now has her own personal guide that she can take with her from class to class and hand over to her teachers. These teachers won't have to worry about red tape or trying to memorise adjustments and the student doesn't have to worry that the teacher isn't aware of their additional needs.
Features:
- Guided pages with blank spaces to fill with needs and accommodations
- Directions on where to go for extra support
- A doodle page for those who need help focusing
- Information on the autism spectrum and how it may present differently in girls
- A Cut Out Red, Amber, Green System
...A green card on the desk will mean she is happy and comfortable. An amber card means she is having difficulty with something. This card has two sides. One indicates that she would rather be left alone to solve this in her own time, the other means she would like some help from a teacher. The red card is a silent request to be excused. In the booklet, there will be an agreed-upon place that she will go to (and for how long) or, depending on the student's age and needs, someone to contact to come and assist her. Autistic pupils can become quickly overwhelmed and combat this by running away which can cause problems in a school setting. Having a clear exit strategy can help to put everyone’s mind at ease.
Who Is It For?
Mind Map is for autistic girls in education but also, for anyone else who may need it. Having spent the majority of my school career undiagnosed, I'm not a huge fan of gatekeeping accommodations!
So! This booklet is for any student who struggles with communicating their needs! The pages are customisable and you can always tippex out anything that doesn't apply to you. This might include students with anger issues, learning difficulties, mental health struggles or neurodiversity.
How can I get one?
At the moment, we can't send out single booklets and are only dispatching them in batches of 10 or more to schools, charities and organisations. If you know a student who would benefit from Mind Map, get in touch with one of these establishments and they will be able to contact The Blossom Effect to get hold of some!
Mind Map is free! Printing and shipping are completely funded by this Crowdfunder. Requests are added to a waiting list and booklets are sent out as and when the funding becomes available.
Alternatively, your organisation can make a direct purchase, again, with a minimum purchase of 10 booklets. This starts at £35 for 10 (+shipping) and the more you buy, the cheaper it becomes. Get in touch with The Blossom Effect through our website or our social media to request an order!
I'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who donates, shares or supports the production and distribution of Mind Map. Your contribution, however big or small, means the world. Without you, The Blossom Effect's first ever product wouldn't be possible!
Rosie xx
*For some girls with autism, communicating needs to even their parents or carers is difficult! This is particularly true for nonverbal girls, girls with level 2-3 autism or girls with additional disabilities. In these cases, parents or carers may need to provide more assistance in filling out the Mind Map booklet. Different pages of the booklet will be relevant for different needs. In some cases, it may be that Mind Map is better used as a communication tool between carers, to ensure she is consistently receiving the support that will help her to flourish!