All children struggle with the concept of death and its permanence. Children with learning difficulties may find this particularly difficult to grasp, especially the permanence, and benefit from simple, practical examples to illustrate the difference between dead and living things.

Very visual explanations are particularly important for children on the autistic spectrum. Some of these ideas may seem macabre but it is what many SEN children need.

• Buy a bunch of flowers, put them in a vase and observe them wilt, wither, and die.  Compare to a fresh bunch of the same type. If kept, the dead flowers will illustrate that death is permanent, the flowers do not return to life.
• Purchase a dead fish from the supermarket and compare it to a live one. Even when put into a bowl of water the dead one will not move, breathe, eat or swim.
• Give the dead fish a burial that replicates as far as possible a real one. Explain a cremation by burning leaves and mixing the resulting ashes with some earth.
• Take photographs of the above and put into a book. This will act as a visual reminder for the many times when the explanation will need to be repeated.
• Visiting the dead body will help with the concept of no life, but this will need careful preparation. Feeling that it is cold, observing no breathing or movement can aid understanding that the body is no longer working.