School

Without doubt one of the most frightening aspects of autism is that of schooling. Children with autism do have very different needs to those of other children. It is worth taking comfort from the fact that many autistic children do attend mainstream schooling and can indeed go on to develop a near normal education. There are also those for whom the everyday classroom environment is unsuitable and would be detrimental to the development of the child, in this case there are many special schools which do provide excellent care for these children.

We intend to expand this section with information on inclusion, statementing and support. For now, the Statement of special Educational Needs is examined. Please refer to our Special Needs page or click here for detailed information regarding Special Educational Needs and provision.

There are a lot of abbreviations used within the education establishment, so please do refer to our jargon buster page for an explanation some of the terms used. As the whole education process changes over time we have left all of the previous updates on the site and we would encourage you to read down the page to see our thoughts in an unaltered form going back to June 2002.

Update (June 2002)

Our Zoe has been back-classed. This basically means that she will remain in mainstream education in her local primary school, but will attend the reception year again. This is a highly unusual procedure in the UK as the government tries very hard to prevent children from attending the same year twice.

UPDATE (July 2003)

After a very encouraging year at our excellent mainstream primary school, we have finally had to accept that although Zoe is very happy indeed, her real developmental needs can no longer be met within mainstream education. As a result, Zoe will now be going to a school which has a DSP (Designated Special Provision) unit. It is hoped that with the considerable experience that will be offered by the school in question, Zoe can continue to build on what she has already learnt at her mainstream primary school.

UPDATE (December 2003)

Our decision to send Zoe to a mixed school was one of the best decisions we could ever have made for her. Zoe is spending 55% of her time in a mainstream classroom environment with the remaining 45% in the "DSP" (Designated Special Provision) unit. Zoe has learnt to write her name, unaided and is stringing small sentences together. Her cognitive awareness has developed beyond our wildest dreams and overall we could not be happier.

Little Zoe has to go in a taxi every morning and she does seem very young to be doing so. Notwithstanding this, Zoe waits eagerly every morning, for her taxi to arrive and gets quite stressed when it is not a school day. I would urge any parent considering such specialist education, to view as many schools as possible, and if you are a couple, to do it together, as making such an important decision is not at all fair if left to one person alone.

We saw several specialist schools, some of which did seem inappropriate. This is not to degrade in any way, the hard work that is done by the teaching staff, but when you find the right school, you will know.

UPDATE (June 2004)

Zoe has settled in well at her school. She is now spending 40 percent of her time in the 'DSP' and 60 percent in the normal classroom environment. We have just had our annual review and the progress has been very good, giving us a very positive outlook for the future.

The school has made considerable progress with Zoe's developmental needs, and are now just beginning to really focus on her writing skills, which are still very much under-developed. The school are also making considerable use of the PECS visual schedules and other similar techniques which we are now introducing at home with increasing frequency.

UPDATE (June 2005)

Zoe is still doing well at the same school. However, we do now have some definite reservations regarding the suitability of this particular strategy at this time.

With Zoe spending 60% of her time in the main classroom environment, we are worried that such a strong focus on the national curriculum will not be of as much benefit as may be perceived. Zoe does generally sit in the classroom environment without causing too much disruption. This may be of benefit to the class but the suggestion that Zoe copes is not sufficient reason, within our judgment, for Zoe to remain in this environment.

Two of Zoe's classmates (both ASD) are moving away from the school to an environment where there is a greater emphasis placed upon life skills. One comment that has been made in a rather hurried review meeting, was "She (Zoe) said Florence Nightingale the other day, so she is taking in the lesson material". We are not qualified teachers, or psychologists, but as parents, we do have good dose of common sense. Echoic reference to the main theme of a lesson is not a fair indication that the lesson has in any way been understood.

Update: (October 2006) Book recommendation - Surviving the Special Educational Needs System: How to be a 'Velvet Bulldozer'. By Sandy Row. see this link here.

Update: (November 2006)

Zoe remains at her present school with an attached DSP unit. Once more we find ourselves in the midst of yet another annual review. This is where Zoe's school, the Local Educational Authority (LEA) and us as parents must decide if Zoe's Statement of Special Educational Needs is still appropriate and accurately reflects her condition and needs. Zoe's statement has remained unchanged since it was first set down over four years ago.

An overall decision was taken to begin the process of researching a suitable secondary education placement for Zoe. Because Zoe was back classed in 2002, we had to choose whether to take Zoe to the next educational phase (junior school to secondary school) with her chronological age group or to allow her to remain in her current school for the remainder of the current year and one more.

Update (April 2007)

We have reached the end of the road now as far as conventional schooling is concerned. Zoe's autism is now holding her back to such an extent that whilst the school are happy to accommodate Zoe we are unconvinced that our child will continue to flourish within a combined mainstream and DSP environment.

This means that we are now in the process of finding a replacement school which has sufficient facilities and infrastructure to support her needs.

There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that the current mainstream school is doing all it can to help our child and the love and support that they show is beyond reproach.

Update (May 2008)

We have now moved Zoe to a school which has "Special School" status. (State schools in England and Wales which are provided by LEAs for certain children with special educational needs.) One of the main reasons for choosing a special school was that the school felt that they could meet Zoe's needs from age 9 through to 19.

This was one of the most difficult decisions we have ever made and it has taken us a long time to decide if we have done the right thing.

Zoe has changed as a result of this move, she is more able to communicate her basic needs and we both feel that she has developed in many other subtle ways which catch us off guard from time to time.

Writing - Zoe takes the initiative and although she still constantly asks us to repeat her favourite phrases, she will also write them on her chalk board and more surprising than anything else, is that we can read what she has written. In terms of handwriting, Zoe is now able to hold a pen without her hand being 2 inches of the paper. As a result, Zoe's handwriting has reduced from 3 inch characters to fitting within normal ruled paper lines.

Communication - It is clear that there is a long way to go as this is essentially, Zoe's disability. We have seen some progress - especially in the way that Zoe grabs her home school diary and reads it in detail, especially if she has been playing up at school and knows that she is in trouble when we read the book. This is so charming that we have to remind ourselves not to laugh when she does this.

Self Help - Zoe is now able to manage herself when she uses the toilet and whilst she will most definitely need mum's help some time very soon we are happy that she is able to tell us when she has concerns and that she does take care of herself and wash her hands properly without supervision. Zoe will also choose what she wants to wear and is very specific about how she likes to dress.

Learned Behaviour - Zoe has come on in so many ways but not without cost. As we feared would happen, Zoe has adopted the behaviour of other special needs children, from shouting to hitting and kicking staff and other children. We are managing this with the school through the home school diary and regular meetings and we are hopeful that Zoe will achieve a balance where her behaviour evens out to an acceptable and manageable level.

Conclusions: We both feel that we have done the right thing. The last school did all they could for Zoe and we could not imagine a safer and more caring environment for Zoe's early years but now that our daughter is growing up, we took the decision to re-evaluate her care and make sure that what she had was still 'fit for purpose'.