When we think about children visiting the countryside, experiencing the freedom of the out of doors and learning about nature, we seldom if ever think about how children with autism would react.   Apparently, visiting a new place often brings particular anxieties for children with autism, such as whether there will be dogs, how long the walk might be, or whether there are toilets.

A new organisation “Autism and Nature” has recently produced some guides to local sites of “Natural Interest”, especially for people who will be taking a child with autism or related disabilities.  Each two-page spread of the Guide deals with one site. As well as all the usual guidance about parking, admission charges, children’s playground and cafes, each one includes a description of the ground - whether hilly, rough, or likely to be muddy, and very specific details about the length of any nature trail or circular walk, and the location of the toilets. They also specify whether dogs are allowed at all, and  whether they are always on leads.  Each double page has four or six photos of the site which can help to demonstrate to the children what sort of place they are going to.

The author of the Guides, Dr David Blakesley, who is himself a highly qualified naturalist, has pointed out for each individual site some special things that the adults are likely to be able to spot and show their child - for instance, deer, herons, dragonflies, yellow pimpernels, or  ancient archaeological remains. He has been on many visits to these sites, sometimes with school groups, and experienced how much the children gain from their visits.

So far, and the organisation has only been going for about three years, the Guides cover Kent and East and West Sussex, and they are freely available to local  parents whose child has autism. For the rest of us, we can see and read them on the website www.autismandnature.org.uk//resources .   Many local families whose children are not autistic at all have found the information is exactly what they need for their own outings.  An additional bonus for us all is to be found towards the end of each booklet, The teachers who took out classes of autistic children had devised a fantastic array of very simple ideas for woodland activities, which we could all make use of.

Woodlands.co.uk is pleased to have had the opportunity to help sponsor this worthwhile work.