Memorandum submitted by TreeHouse
TreeHouse is the national charity for autism
education. Our vision is to transform through education the lives
of children with autism and the lives of their families. Established
in 1997 by a group of parents, TreeHouse runs a school for children
and young people with autism and campaigns for better autism education
nationally.
Our core work is to ensure that every child
and young person with autism is supported and able to participate
fully in society. We believe that it is only through education
that we can truly meet their needs.
Autism is a complex lifelong neurological condition
affecting approximately 1 in 100 school aged children in the UK.
Autism is unique because there is no other condition of such complexity,
affecting so many children in the UK, about which so little is
known.
Through our direct educational provision, our
national campaigning work and our Parent Support Project, which
supports parents as local campaigners and service-builders, we
have been able to build extensive knowledge and expertise around
best practice in the education of children with autism.
TreeHouse School has 66 pupils and we represent
them and their families. Our Parent Support Project works with
various campaigning groups of parents around the UK, the coverage
of these groups, through networks, reaches up to 1,000 parents.
UN CONVENTION ON
THE RIGHTS
OF PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES
As an organisation which represents children
with disabilities and their families, TreeHouse fully supports
the Convention and sees it as essential to ensuring commitment
to equality for disabled people in the UK and around the world.
TreeHouse is a member of the UN Convention Campaign
Coalition which aims to ensure that the UK government ratifies
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
without reservation. We support the Coalition's submission to
the Committee and agree that the Convention:
Is the first human rights instrument
to be absolutely clear about disabled people's right to be treated
as full and equal human beings.
Can be used at all levels as further
evidence that disabled people must be included in the rights agendaand
shows exactly what that means for local and national statutory
authorites.
Can be used for responses to local
and national policies that affect disabled people.
Can be adopted by local authorities,
government departments, NHS Trusts, and all public bodies as part
of their Disability Equality Schemes and as the basis of their
Disability Equality Duty.
Can be used as evidence to prove
a violation in any case taken in relation to either the DDA or
the Human Rights Act.
Is an excellent support to training
both non-disabled and disabled people in rights and equality for
disabled people.
Like all human rights instruments,
is not just a legal tool, is also sets an international cross-cultural
moral standard for the treatment of disabled people. It effectively
articulates a moral code of behaviour by which states, governments,
public bodies and all human beings should follow toward disabled
people.
ARTICLE 24EDUCATION
As an education charity representing children
with disabilities and their families we have a particular interest
in Article 24, especially as the government has stated its wish
to make an interpretative declaration and make reservations on
part 2 (a) and (b).
We support the full ratification of this article
including parts 2 (a) and (b). We believe that inclusive education
should be a right for all children and families. Our recent research
report on inclusive education for children with autism[49]
gathered parents' experiences and views. The research made a strong
case for inclusion. Parents told us that inclusive education is
important because inclusion could:
Help prepare some children with autism
to live more independently as adults.
Help children with autism become
more widely valued and recognised.
Enable children to feel part of a
peer group and the wider community.
Inspire confidence and happiness
and reduce anxieties.
Grant children with autism access
to a suitable education.
At TreeHouse, we know that all kinds of education
provisions for children with autism can fail to facilitate inclusion.
It is the long term vision of TreeHouse that all children with
autism will be able to access high quality education that is appropriate
to their needs and abilities, provided by a skilled and specialist
workforce at their local school.
GETTING INCLUSIVE
EDUCATION RIGHT
FOR CHILDREN
WITH AUTISM
The debate around inclusive education had progressed
significantly in the past year. RNID's Beyond Bricks and Mortar[50]
and the Council for Disabled Children's Inclusion Policy[51]
both conclude that successful and effective inclusion is achievable
in any setting, as long as all the right factors are in place.
Our inclusion research report gathered the views
of parents of children with autism. Fifty-eight parents responded
to our survey, covering six English regions.
Although our sample was small, the findings
clearly show that:
Parents have positive experiences
of inclusion in all kinds of school settings.
Parents see the many benefits that
successful inclusion can bring.
Inclusion is important to parents
not only for the experiences of their children while as school
but also for their children to go on to live more independent
lives.
We asked parents about the factors that contributed
to successful inclusive practices for their children. Parents
told us inclusion works well when:
Teachers and other school staff have
autism training.
The individual child's needs are
catered for.
There are good partnerships between
schools.
Parents are listened to and involved.
There is a positive school and staff
ethos.
Buddying and mentoring schemes are
used.
The child has help building social
skills and confidence.
Schools take a flexible approach
to curricula and timetabling.
All of the above practices can be employed in
any school setting, as long as the workforce are skilled to understand
each child's needs, committed to making inclusion work, and the
school has sufficient resources to facilitate an appropriate level
of support. Indeed, several respondents reported some of these
factors are currently being practiced in schools that their children
attend, covering both mainstream and special schools.
WORKING TO
PROGRESSIVELY FULFIL
THE CONVENTION
Working towards full inclusion is achievable:
we know that all schools can get inclusive education right for
children with autism. At present, a range of different schools
are facilitating a good, inclusive education provision for children
with autism.
In working towards inclusion, schools must collaborate
and work in partnership to share and disseminate good practice.
This will help equip all schools with the capacity to provide
an education for children with autism that meets the needs of
each unique child.
TreeHouse school is a school for children with
autism in north London. Our partnership working with local schools
is an example of the collaborations that mainstream and special
schools across the country can form to provide a high quality,
holistic education to help each unique child fulfil their potential.
An example of this is our "reverse inclusion"
programme with neighbouring Muswell Hill Primary School. Reverse
inclusion is when children from a mainstream primary school visit
a special school or unit to participate in play with disabled
children.
A group of Year 6 pupils from Muswell Hill Primary
School visit TreeHouse School each week to play with a group of
TreeHouse pupils whose teachers think they will benefit from contact
with mainstream peers. Relationships develop over the course of
the school year as the mainstream school pupils gain a better
understanding of autism and of each child's strengths and needs,
while the TreeHouse pupils build their confidence in social interaction.
The programme depends on a close partnership between the special
and mainstream schools and on the dedication and enthusiasm of
the staff.
3 November 2008
49 Improving Inclusion: getting inclusive education
right for children with autism (written and researched by Robbie
de Santos and Sasha Daly), September 2008. Available at www.treehouse.org.uk Back
50
http://www.rnid.org.uk/virtualcontent/96239/beyond_bricks_mortar.pdf Back
51
Available from the Council for Disabled Children Back
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