How can we help to better support Neurodiverse children in schools?

[Trying2Learn]

Kind of a TAAT. Based on another poster who is saying they had no idea of what it would be like to parent a ND child.
Seeing lots of posts about how schools aren't geared up to support.

Background: I work in education but not as a teacher, work with schools across the country supporting a specific demographic but we have a lot of SEND. I've done the job for a while and am seeing a huge shift in how many ND children we support.

I am really interested to hear parents or carers opinions on this, as I don't get chance to engage with them in my role.

What would be your recommendations for a perfect school environment for a child who is Neurodiverse (either in a special or mainstream school)

My suggestion, and what is necessary for my son, is to listen to the child. My son’s teacher last year was brilliant at this. My son was asked to move in assembly for “making a bad choice in who to sit next to” and he started getting very upset about this. Rather than tell him off for not doing as he’s told, his teacher asked him what the problem was and he explained that he needed to sit at the end of the row and couldn’t sit in the middle as asked. So his teacher told the other child to move and problem solved. My son calmed down and other child was fine. Had she just told him off and insisted he move it would have escalated considerably and not been a nice outcome for anyone.

This. Outcomes could be vastly improved if schools listened to parents about their child's struggles at age 4 and brought in professionals at that point, rather than fobbing them off and gas lighting them for years until the wheels come off. Some kind of screening process at the end of reception to identify possible SEN.

Schools actually putting in place the provision in EHCPs etc, they promise so much in Senco meetings but then it doesn't happen and there's always an excuse.

Consistency, it's incredibly frustrating when it seems like they are describing completely different children in parents evenings, school reports and referrals/input to pathways.

More money for Ed Psych, OT, SALT etc

There are lots of really simple strategies that work well with ND (and of course NT) children. The PP above spoke of leaving longer pauses for questions to be processed before answering. Using visual cues like having page numbers written on the board before lessons in a dedicated space, always starting a question or instruction with the child’s name, giving thinking or planning time before expecting verbal answers to questions, having an age-appropriate visual timetable on the board, having quiet times, allowing ADHD children to have movement breaks and my own parental bugbear, giving information in timely fashion about ‘first days’ so that anxiety about which room, where to line up, how long is pastoral time etc do not spoil the last weekend/ last two weeks of the summer holiday each year and anxiety can be quelled. Also, allowing children to have their coat on or hat on/ hood up if it’s going to provide a sensory comfort. The number of times as a secondary teacher when I have had to shut down staff coming into my room from pulling up children for this ( and many ASD girls have eating disorders and feel cold a lot so want to wear their coat) when they’re not aware of the invisible disability and co-morbid MH issues is annoying. Also, training for teachers about how to use their voices so they’re not threatening and an awareness that many ND young people don’t ‘read’ body-language or tone of voice like NTs or mean to be rude - and also that the volume of a voice, not to mention a lively classroom for an ND child ( or smell/temperature/ light/ texture if uniform etc) can be much harder to tolerate than one would imagine as an NT person.

• Decent training for all teaching and support staff.
• Specialist, targeted support - with a focus on early intervention.
• Sound systems that amplify the teacher's voice (broadcasting on channels children with hearing aids can link directly into).
• Scrap whole class behaviour charts and other such "reward" schemes.
• A move away from the awful trend of "open" classrooms with no front wall/door. Who exactly does this benefit? The amount of children that struggle with noise travelling/constant distraction of adults/pupils walking past is outrageous.
• Bigger classrooms that are spacious and wheelchair accessible.
• Nurture rooms as an annex to classrooms for children to electively use when they are feeling overwhelmed.
• Ongoing lessons for pupils about inclusion/anti-bullying.
• Whole school standard signage (with visual aids).

Lots of good suggestions here already. As a parent of two DC with different SN and an ex-teacher, I would say the biggest thing we need to do is accept that school just isn’t a suitable environment for lots of children, especially autistic children.

Even special schools with smaller classes aren’t going to be the right place for some kids. I think there needs to be a completely different approach to how we school our children. We can start by accepting that we’re all different and just because something works for one person doesn’t mean it will work for the next, even if the diagnosis is the same.

More easily doable though is more thorough training for all staff on different needs. Listen to the children and their parents. Don’t blame them.

Less work to cram in as well. When I was teaching, the days were so rushed and it just felt stressful. I’m sure the kids felt it as well. Days where we can just spend time on a project, exploring, having fun… That would be wonderful. Get rid of exercise books for some subjects. Not everything needs to be written down.

Get rid of, or significantly reduce, assemblies. Honestly, they are pretty pointless a lot of the time and very boring. Trying to get kids to sit in a straight line, not talking, listening to things that just aren’t meaningful to them, especially the younger ones.

Thanks for asking 😀.

Outcomes could be vastly improved if schools listened to parents about their child's struggles at age 4 and brought in professionals at that point, rather than fobbing them off and gas lighting them for years until the wheels come off. Some kind of screening process at the end of reception to identify possible SEN.

This happens already but honestly the answer is often that no money is made available to support until the wheels come off.

Get rid of, or significantly reduce, assemblies. Honestly, they are pretty pointless a lot of the time and very boring. Trying to get kids to sit in a straight line, not talking, listening to things that just aren’t meaningful to them, especially the younger ones.

This. They mainly exist due to the historical influence of christianity in british schools and the continuing requirement for daily collective worship.

Get rid and get rid of the religious influences at the same time.

I have about 6 (minimum) in my class. 1 Highly challenging. Disruptive, cannot be in class. About 3 who fall into the cannot work without intervention. 2 who just need extra guidance to work at the level they can. 1 of me. 1 teacher for the whole class.

My choice is limited to the one challenging child in the class. I have to remove and spend my time nurturing his choice of a school day. Please stop thinking it's more training. It's not. It's more support staff.

If there was no structure then we have to accommodate the other 20 children. That's another 3 staff then.

It's a luxury to be so open minded when you don't actually work in a school!

Listen to each individual child. Listen to the parents. Don't blame them or accuse them or disbelieve them.
Don't punish kids for not being able to conform to arbitrary rules.
Understand sensory needs.
Training for every single staff member that is more than just a nod to general sen.
Intensive training about all the aspects of neurodiversity and an understanding that there are many ways of being neurodivergent .
Training from people who are also neurodivergent, many of whom work within education already
Listen to the real experts.
Always ask the child. Be prepared to change the lessons, the seating, the lighting, the colour of the white board, the queues at lunch, times to access the toilet, how lunchtime and breaktimes work, not only rewarding the 100% attenders.
Bringing in speakers who are neurodivergent who have excelled in their field, adults and other kids, adults who are and have interesting jobs.
Making lessons more Interactive and practical
Understanding that nd kids are likely to have nd parents too, but that all families are under pressure, most parents are working now, so take off some of the pressure for everyone, less homework especially at high school.

Be more supportive of parents in this case. Promote ehcp, provide substantial evidence for ehcp, that informs where the funding goes for extra support.
Mainstream schools in my experience are really shit at supporting ehcp and making it a worse experience for everyone than it needs to be

This with bells on. The biggest issue with our current system is that it is set up to limit support and funding to cases where you can already prove the wheels have well and truly come off. If the child can't be shown to be significantly struggling, naff all is available to you.

By the time a child gets what he/her needs, the years of inadequate support have already taken their toll.

I have to disagree that this happens already. I asked DS’s primary for a referral for an assessment on many occasions after numerous complaints of theirs regarding behaviour, working at levels, social interactions etc. I actually went into school to discuss before he started in Reception as I knew he’d struggle. All blamed on him being immature and naughty (exact words) and our methods of discipline. Not taking into account his twin brother was a high achieving little angel. Much later I read a memo from the Head of Foundation year written after I’d met her before DS started there saying to the effect that I was trying to get in there first to excuse DS’s behaviour and they had a problem child on their hands!

They didn’t agree to assess until he was 9 and in Yr5 when they couldn’t ignore how behind he was any longer. He was diagnosed with severe learning difficulties at age 11 after starting at secondary school as it took 2 years to get the assessment. He was excluded from school trips in Yr6 due to ‘silly’ behaviour even after I offered to be responsible for him as he needed to be taught a lesson,

Later diagnosed at 17 (should have been diagnosed at 11 as well) with ASD after years in mainstream secondary where they tried everything to manage him out and didn’t even get an EHCP until the end of Yr10 as school refused to support one despite complaining that his LDs didn’t explain his lack of engagement and lack of social skills! Completely wasted years of education and I’m still battling to get him one now.

I sincerely hope no other child and parents have to go through what we have.

Thank you to everyone who has posted. Going to re read and digest some of this info, in the hopes that I can make a small difference for some children

This thread is so interesting and this post encapsulates the absolute dilemma for individual teachers. Zedcars says 'be prepared to change the lighting, the seating, the lesson plans etc etc. make more lessons stimulating and interactive' this might work for some ND children but for others would be a nightmare! I have so much sympathy for the parents posting on this about what would help their child, but as a teacher you're trying to manage sometimes completely opposite needs. I have several children who benefit from a very quiet, extremely routine-led environment. It helps them feel safe and comforted and is important in soothing their anxiety. How do I match this against the sensory seeking needs of others who need to make loud noises, twirl their fidget toys , chew their chewies loudly and are very impulsive and easily dysregulated? I can't provide completely distinct environments for different children of wildly differing needs in the same class. It's heartbreaking as a teacher when you realise vulnerable children can't have what helps them as it buffs right up against what helps someone else. Really hard.

when my child moved to an sen school, was he was in a class of 6, all had the same primary area of need.

In his mainstream there were 6 children with an ehcp all with wildly different areas of need. Plus the rest of the class. So i do see why its a challenge.

I also think it shows all schools are special schools - but special schools are specialists if that makes sense.

Smaller classes would be of huge benefit then individual needs could be met and children wouldn’t have sensory overload.