18. Memorandum submitted by the National
Autistic Society (NAS) (DP 20)
INTRODUCTION
The National Autistic Society (NAS) is the leading
charity for people with autism spectrum disorders in the UK. It
has a membership of over 12,000, a network of 57 branches, and
60 affiliated organisations in the autism field. The NAS exists
to champion the rights and interests of all people with autism
and to ensure that they and their families receive quality services,
appropriate to their needs. There are approximately 500,000 people
with autism spectrum disorders in the UK.
SUBMISSION
Increasing numbers of children with autism spectrum
disorders are being identified in the education system. The NAS
recently found that the rate of autism spectrum disorders in primary
schools across the country was one in every 80 children, three
times higher than the rate identified in secondary schools. [2]Ensuring
that the Government's agenda for diversity of provision meets
the needs of young people with autism spectrum disorders should
therefore be a key priority for the committee.
It is generally accepted that educating children
with autism and Asperger syndrome represents one of the greatest
challenges to teachers in both special and mainstream settings.
Schools have told the NAS that they are not properly equipped
to meet this challenge, with 72% reporting that their teachers
were not adequately trained in autism. [3]Parents
continue to struggle to find appropriate placements for their
children and those children in mainstream schools often do not
have support from autism-specific specialists to ensure successful
inclusion.
The consequence of identifying higher numbers
of children with autism at primary level is that secondary schools
will shortly be faced with higher numbers of children with autism
than they have previously experienced. The strain on secondary
schools will be greater still if educational inclusion continues
without additional resources and specialist support made available
to enable children with autism to reach their potential.
While many parents want to see the child with
autism or Asperger syndrome educated in a mainstream setting,
others feel that an autism-specific element within the provision
is essential for their child's social and educational development.
Whichever is appropriate the key factor for success is that teachers
and education support staff are trained in an appreciation and
awareness of the needs and characteristics of this group. Children
with autism spectrum disorders do not learn in the same way as
other children and may require a specially adapted environment
to reduce stress and anxiety. Secondary schools pose a particular
challenge to such pupils, as the requirement for independence,
and the noise and disruption, replace the familiar routines of
primary school. The NAS is aware from our Advocacy for Education
service that secondary transfer and the early Key Stage 3 years
are the most likely time for the education of these children to
be disrupted, with many finding themselves formally or informally
excluded from school. [4]
WHAT DIVERSITY
OF PROVISION
MEANS FOR
CHILDREN WITH
AUTISM SPECTRUM
DISORDERS
The NAS Development department works with local
authorities across the country to expand the range and diversity
of provision for people with autism spectrum disorders. Many forward-thinking
LEAs are developing a number of different options for educating
this group of children, including bridging the divide between
special and mainstream schools with autism-specific units.
An example of this is the Abbey School, a mainstream
secondary school in Kent, which has a unit for children with autism
attached to it. The unit has three teachers and six learning support
assistants for 16 pupils. It also has an educational psychologist
and a speech and language therapist. The children spend between
30% and 90% of their time in lessons in the main school, but their
first half term is spent entirely in the unit.
Some children with autism spectrum disorders
continue to benefit from a special school environment, particularly
those who have had negative experiences of inclusion in the mainstream.
The NAS runs six schools for children with autism, many of whom
will have classic or "Kanner-type" autism. However,
the social and communication impairments associated with autism
mean that it is not only those children with autism and an accompanying
learning disability who may need to attend a special school. Farleigh
Education Group run sites near Bath offering a specialist provision
for 94 academically able pupils with Asperger syndrome, all of
whom have had negative experiences within mainstream schooling.
An NAS programme developed at the Glasgow Nautical College for
post-16 students with Asperger's Syndrome identified such diverse
elements as peer mentoring, life skills classes and named pastoral
contacts as vital in securing successful mainstream education
for the young people involved.
The NAS policy statement on inclusion concludes:
Autism is a spectrum condition requiring a range of sophisticated
responses reflective of individual needs and requirements. It
is expected that in the main these will occur increasingly within
the mainstream of provision with varying degrees of adjustment
and support. There are however those individuals who, because
of the nature of the disability, require a level of structure,
support and understanding best provided by dedicated, specialised
services.
THE GOVERNMENT'S
PROPOSALS ON
THE DIVERSITY
OF PROVISION
The NAS is concerned that the Government's proposals
to greatly expand the number of "specialist" schools
will have a negative impact on the educational choices available
to pupils with autism spectrum disorders. Although the Special
Educational Consortium has received assurances that specialist
schools will only be able to select 10% of pupils by aptitude,
we remain concerned that our parent members seeking admission
to these schools for their children will be informally dissuaded
on the basis of any supposed specialism. The uneven learning profile
associated with autism means that their children are likely to
display more aptitude in some curriculum areas than others. It
will not be helpful for these children to attend either a school
that specialises in an area of strength for them, potentially
diluting the focus on other important curriculum areas, or one
specialising in an area of weakness.
Children with autism spectrum disorders benefit
where possible from being educated in their community, facilitating
inclusion in the widest sense. The growth of specialist schools
has the potential to force this group of children to travel further
from home to find a suitable placement, a clearly undesirable
situation. People with autism spectrum disorders experience particular
difficulties in accessing public transport, exacerbated by delays,
poor signage and unhelpful service.
Special schools should play an important part
in the diversity of provision in secondary education. Schools
which specialise in educating children with autism spectrum disorders
should be provided with the human and financial resources to spread
their expertise to other providers. The NAS survey of 373 schools
this year found that 43% of the mainstream schools currently received
no specialist input on autism from special schools in their area.
If half of all children are to be educated in
specialist schools, as the Government has suggested, the NAS has
serious concerns that many children with autism spectrum disorders
will be amongst the half educated in non-specialist schools, alongside
other children with learning difficulties or who are "hard-to-educate".
The two-tier system this would create would do nothing to facilitate
children with autism spectrum disorders to reach their full potential,
receive and inclusive education or develop their ability to live
independently into adulthood.
November 2002
2 J Barnard et al, Autism in Schools: Crisis
or Challenge? NAS: London 2002. Back
3
Ibid. Back
4
The NAS Advocacy for Education service provides advice and support
to parents who find themselves in conflict with schools and LEAs
over their child's education, including pro bono support at the
SEN tribunal from leading law firm Clifford Chance. Back
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