To change the furniture whilst an autistic child is out of the room.

[goodgirlgonebad73]

Parents of ASD children (or anybody else really!) would it bother your child if they were at school, got sent out for a support lesson and came back to find the furniture changed.
As in completely different tables, chairs and cupboards?
Would they freak out or not mind?
More of a WIBU than AIBU as it's not me planning to do this.

This is the kind of thing that could upset my ds. Particularly if the furniture is always the same. If it was the kind of set up where sometimes tables are borrowed and moved around it would likely not upset him as he wouldn't have any expectation of it being the same. If it looked very different after thoughts that could unsettle him. If it was fully explained to him before hand with a positive spin then he would probably be ok. So if he was told they'd be getting nice new chairs that would be much comfier and that they would be there when he got back so he knew when it was going to happen. I also know kids with Asd who wouldn't be bothered in.the slightest as well so it really does depend on the individual. Do you mind me asking why the room has to be changed around in this way?

Not sure why furniture's being changed, nicer/newer furniture I'm assuming (new HT being a new broom??)

Or did you mean why it has to be done in a lesson?
So that more staff can help without paying overtime I think?

Obviously all children are different but this sort of thing would REALLY upset my daughter.

We thought we had prepared her well for a new toilet being fitted in the bathroom but she was out while it was done.

That was a year ago and she still won't use it (she was using it regularly before that)

This is a specialist school- they are not novices!

The teacher can prepare the pupils carefully that it is going to change, tell parents when it is happening, give kids catalogue pictures of new furniture etc- presumably there is a good while before this happens as it's only a proposal??

If the furniture needs changing how else do you suggest it is done?

Bizarre idea from the head imho!

Some children would be fine, others could go into a complete meltdown and be anxious for a long time afterwards.

I would want to prep them as much as possible. Pictures of the new furniture, stories around changing furniture, watching it arrive etc etc. At the very least, tey need some warning before walking back into what could seem to them a completely different room.

This is quite startling - the new HT has taken on a post in a school for children with SEN and she needs to be told that this will unsettle the children?!

Wow.

Even neurotypical children would respond better if prewarned.

Asperger and yes it would bother me. I once worked in an office where they moved desks and people around every 6 months. I hated it.

The teacher really does need to point out to the head all the ways that could end very badly.

Or they could go and say thank you for the new furniture and suggest all the ways the switch over could be managed with least disruption to that particular group of pupils?

There can't be a great relationship between this teacher and the Head if the teacher is complaining to her mate and her mate is asking for advice for her on mumsnet.

Do you all think specialist AS schools never have new furniture?

Some of them are a bit anxious about it for a while. I've never had anyone have a full meltdown about that particular issue. Maybe one day someone will- but it won't mean I can just not do it.
But you don't necessarily see the meltdown in school - the parent gets it later. Can you explain a circumstance where it would be both unavoidable to do and impossible to prepare the child for?

It shows a complete lack of regard for an autistic child's need for a teacher to do this without warning. I bet a teacher wouldn't do it if they had a blind child, or if it meant a wheelchair user could no longer access the room properly.

but can also see why a school might take this decision in some circumstances
What possible circumstances require a rearranging of the furniture without the time or ability to warn the child?
Even if a storage cupboard collapsed and had to be removed for safety, why couldn't someone warn the child before they got back to the room.
Of course there are some autistic children who would cope with this, but there are a huge number who wouldn't cope at all, and it would cause the child to be hugely unsettled which could affect them for a long time afterwards.

My son is on the spectrum and doesn't cope well with change. Whenever anything like this crops up they try to explain it to him beforehand as much as possible, take photos of the furniture, draw pictures of where things might go, tell him what is staying the same, etc. It has about a 75% success rate with him but that's way better than if they spring things on him!

I don't think for a minute the HT has said to the teacher 'look, don't tell the children, but we are going to whip in new furniture after morning break tomorrow'.

Why on earth are we imagining the teacher can't prepare the kids for it?

I am NT and they have refurbished one of the buildings where I work, including changing the internal layout. I cannot work it out at all. The colours are also garish. It gives me panic attacks and I am a grown adult, admittedly one who suffers from anxiety. It is just disorienting.

As for the OP, there is no reason why the DC cannot be told in advance with lots of prep as suggested above.

But you don't necessarily see the meltdown in school - the parent gets it later. Can you explain a circumstance where it would be both unavoidable to do and impossible to prepare the child for?

I am a specialist teacher for autistic children. I work closely with my parents to keep tabs on whether what we do at school is causing fall out at home. My staff talk to their key pupils parents every single day, often more than once a day. I will put my hand up right now and say that we do stuff at school that causes meltdowns at home- and it is my business to know when this happens and work on it. I've never known it to happen over furniture movement. If you note- I didn't say it couldn't happen, but it hasn't in over 10 years.

Recently had a pupil discover, with about 10mins to go til hometime, that he could scale from the back of a workstation board onto the top of a tall cupboard that was not secured to a wall. Against a stud wall so site staff not able to secure it. For H&S reasons the cupboard had to move, which meant that 2 other workstations had to move because there was nowhere else for cupboard.

It was moved after school, no opportunity to tell kids. Better than a kid pulling a cupboard down on themselves. There have been other things like this where risk assessments have changed and the environment has had to be altered immediately.

Tbh unless the furniture is an absolute state I'd expect routine replacement to be done over the summer when they will be coming back to lots of new things anyway. Never known teachers to be paid overtime for being expected to work the odd day in the summer so money shouldn't be a problem. Obviously if the furniture is unusable then it's unavoidable but if it's just a new ht wanting to put her stamp on things I can see why the teacher is questioning it.

Once, we had to swap the quiet room and a staff office overnight because somebody pulled a panel off the quiet room wall and exposed wires. Nobody could be found to replace panel overnight so room designation had to be temporarily switched.

It's not ideal, but this stuff happens in schools. We have to be pragmatic and do the best we can.

Me and ds have aspergers. It wouldn't bother me, but it would bother him and he'd get very anxious.

I asked DS and he said he would be confused and sad and want to know why.

My DS (17) would not be happy. I moved my settee an inch a few years ago to make getting out of the door easier, you could hardly even notice, he went on about it for days! Wanted me to put it back how it was

This would bother me and ds2, ds1 wouldn't be bothered.
As Polter said, it would be difficult to explain why we were bothered, and both ds2 and I would probably look like we were being arses and picking fights for no reason, because anxiety would be scooted right up.

We would probably manage it better if we were warned and involved in where to put new stuff.

It depnds tbh. Dd wouldn't care but ds would probably be a bit confused about it. I think a lot depends on the circumstances and the child. Not everything can be arranged around the needs of the child. For instance I changed my sofa at home. Ds came back and there was new living room furniture. He was surprised possibly it agitated him but he coped.

My son would be intrigued, constantly asking 'why?' and unable to concentrate for the next few days until he adjusted. Unless he didn't like it. Then he would just sit there saying 'no,no,no' repeatedly and shaking his head.

(I however, wouldn't thank you for it. We are still trying to process/come to terms with the IoS 10 updates on the iphone...