Throughout their time at Prior's Court, the autistic young people with complex we support learn key skills which will help them now and in adulthood. These skills are make up our Learning Framework which is split up into our Seven Areas of Learning. One of these areas is 'Keeping me Safe' which is about learning the skills needed to stay safe in all aspects of life, from crossing the road to developing an awareness of what privacy means. 

Part of the Keeping me Safe learning programme involves teaching the young people how to recognise themselves, and one class recently has been doing this through painting beautiful self-portraits!

Palm Class created these portraits using paint, coloured paper, pens, glue, and anything else they could find! The young people were initially given a piece of paper with the outline of a face on. They then painted those using a variety of different skin-coloured paints, supported by their staff members. They then had to choose what coloured eyes to put on their portrait by looking in a mirror and identifying what colour their own eyes were, before sticking them to the right part of the face. 

They then did the same for their hair, determining what colour and texture it was, before being supported by their staff members to draw and paint the correct style. Staff members even got involved, encouraging the young person to identify the similarities and differences between their own portrait and that of their staff member, such as the difference between short hair and long hair, glasses and no glasses, boys and girls etc. 

The purpose of this lesson was for the young people to practice recognising themselves, recognise the difference between themselves and others, and practice fine motor skills through the act of painting and drawing. These portraits will then be going into their books of work, showcasing everything they have done over the term. 

Read more about what young people learn at Prior's Court