Autistic kids returning to school advice

[noblegiraffe]

I know there are a lot of parents of autistic kids on MN so I thought I’d share this twitter thread by an autistic teacher with points to think about and advice:

twitter.com/commaficionado/status/1300352538064097281?s=21

Bump

Thank you

Thank you. Will be helpful for my discussions with school this week for my not autistic but overlapping issues DD.

It's good advice.

I will not be sending ds back to school however because he just won't cope, he couldn't cope before lockdown.

Sorry to hear that, Horatio, school can be such a stressful place for autistic children even at the best of times.

Thanks for this noble - we've started this morning with trying to get DS1 back into his morning routine ready for back to school next week.

We're lucky in that the school have been really proactive in helping the kids prepare for what things will be like, so he's had a video of how the one way system will work, what his new classroom will look like, where they'll be for break time etc. I'm still dreading the first few days, but I'm confident he'll be as prepared as he can be, and we've spent some time during lockdown setting him up a quiet zone (in his cupboard - he likes to shut himself in the dark to decompress) with cushions etc so he's got somewhere to go afterwards.

Thanks for this

Preparation really is key for us.
I've put together a ' going back to school poster with facts about what to expect when DS ( who is 15) goes back (1 page). I wrote it based on the info we've been given but I'm getting the SEN team to check it before giving it to DS ( they really they should write this themselves but in my experience this doesnt happen at the best of times ).

Plus I've printed off a map of the areas of school his year will be confined to and also his timetable for the new year ( it is up on the school portal now).

Things like he will be allocated a seat means I've asked the school if.they can tell me who he will be at next to as there are some students who have really given him a hard time so he will be beside himself if he is next to them all day!

We will go through it a couple of days before he starts. It is really difficult to balance preparing him for the change so that he doesn't have a meltdown in school with telling him too much too early which leads to him getting more anxious beforehand .

He seems to be of the opinion covid is all about a cold so that is good in one way in that he isn't worried about illness but the changes in school will definitely throw him . He absolutely refuses to let me give him a lift to school and he won't walk or cycle. He will only get the bus as he has always done He has said he will wear a mask but I'm not sure . We will have to see. I am pretty worried about him.

@CaptainCallisto

Thanks for this noble - we've started this morning with trying to get DS1 back into his morning routine ready for back to school next week.

We're lucky in that the school have been really proactive in helping the kids prepare for what things will be like, so he's had a video of how the one way system will work, what his new classroom will look like, where they'll be for break time etc. I'm still dreading the first few days, but I'm confident he'll be as prepared as he can be, and we've spent some time during lockdown setting him up a quiet zone (in his cupboard - he likes to shut himself in the dark to decompress) with cushions etc so he's got somewhere to go afterwards.

Lucky you. We have had nothing except the school letters aimed at parents.

Number2 sums up my dc

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1300352538064097281.html

Bump for the evening

My autistic son started high school after lockdown, he’s coping really well which is good

That’s great, Madame. Is there anything in particular that helped, do you think?

"Please don't patronise them" should be at the header of every communication about dd.

@noblegiraffe

That’s great, Madame. Is there anything in particular that helped, do you think?

I think getting to move to different classes every 50 minutes and not having to be in the same place all day helps. Also I think high school classrooms are generally less noisy than primary ones.

We got told there’d be pictures (for all kids) but dd3s class just had wall displays and a picture of a toilet door. Apparently wasn’t class teachers that took them and some teachers aren’t happy because they weren’t much use.