"Thinking Differently"

Autism influences how people experience and interact with the world. It is a lifelong neurodivergence and disability. Autistic people are different from each other, but for a diagnosis they must share differences from non-autistic people in how they think, feel and communicate. Being autistic means you may feel things and react to them differently than non-autistic people. You may find socialising confusing or tiring, and you may become overwhelmed in loud or busy places. You may have intense interests, prefer order and routine, and use repeated movements or actions to calm yourself or express joy. You might mask your discomfort by fitting in, which can lead to mental illness.  (National Autistic Society)

Our collaborative Artwork
The colour blue was the chosen colour for Autism Awareness Day, 2025 and is also the colour associated with Preston Manor. Bright colours were used to reflect the National Autistic Society’s Logo and the jigsaw pieces were chosen, not only for their past connection to the Autistic Community, but also to acknowledge how the Preston Manor teaching community have joined together, to raise awareness of Autism, and how curriculum knowledge, skills, concepts and attitudes, join together to be processed by the Autistic child.

The Artwork Concept

The jigsaw pieces represent the pieces of knowledge imparted by society, parents and teachers in a child’s learning experience. In society, this is sometimes black and white, random, graffiti-like and uncensored. The 4 large jigsaw pieces were completed by an Autistic child and are prominent, not only because of her talent, but also because each Autistic child is an expert on their particular condition within the spectrum and on what Autism means to them. 

The jigsaw pieces come together within the blue area, where the autistic child should be met with professional understanding and acceptance. Not all the jigsaw pieces connect because not all knowledge, skills and experiences connect despite cross-curricular attempts. Some edges are straight within the main jigsaw centre because the strands of knowledge run independently alongside each other. Likewise, not all pieces of information connect within an autistic child’s learning process. However, if Teachers/TA’s are autistically and neurodivergent aware, we need to calmly listen, be patient, assess, plan and scaffold the learning on an individual basis for each individual autistic child. This is a mammoth, but necessary task.  Some autistic children need individual chunks of information to process, while others are able to process an entire curriculum and improve upon it when presenting their learning at a later time. The Autistic Spectrum is vastly diverse. An appropriate teaching and learning environment is vitally important.

Like this artwork, teaching and learning should be fun and light-hearted but must meet the needs of each child through Autism Awareness and Acceptance and professional knowledge and support.

Siobhan Meehan
Compass Manager