Don't Think School Teaches DS a Lot

[Ezabelle]

Hello, I'm new to Netmums and hope someone here has some experience or advice about an issue I'm presently going through.

I don't think my child is really learning anything at school. He is five and in reception, he has autism.

I have to give my son daily lessons after school every day as he comes home with a list of questions about things that were obviously mentioned at school but not explained in any detail.

He gives me bits of plain paper that have childish scrawls on them done with chunky yellow crayons, and yet at home he writes neatly with a pen on narrow lined paper!! School know this, I showed them a big stack of paper he'd written neatly on at the end of last term (nursery) and they then asked him to write on lined paper themselves and saw it in person. So it's not like they don't know what he's capable of!

He uses a variety of techniques to produce some really lovely pictures at home. At school he scrawls people without arms and legs in a single coloured crayon.

He's generally happy about school, but he's had a number of accidents recently. Staff also complain that he hits them at times. He has tantrums at home but he does not hit and kick like they say he does at school.

He's got a statement, and the statement was written before we were really sure about how bright he was. A lot of the more amazing intelligence came suddenly out of the last few months, especially during the summer holidays. The autism means he doesn't occupy his time very well, so I tend to arrange activities all the time, even if sometimes that activity is just 'paint a butterfly on the computer and print it out' or 'watch 2 programs on CBeebies'.

Any advice or similar experiences?

Well, it sounds useless if the school can't get to grips with his IEP targets.

What sort of targets has he got? You don't have to share the actual targets, of course, but what sort of areas are the school supposed to be working on?

I must say that at first glance he sounds like exactly the sort of child that would love to be home educated. Is that a possibility for you as a family?

I hope that some other parents with experience of this will post here- you could try starting another thread (sorry!) on the Special needs board within Mumsnet. I wonder if the Autism education Trustwebsite is any use to you, though you've probably seen it before?

Ezabelle, many ASD children find school too stressful and teachers often do not have the time they would need to address the social issues - schools are organised around neurotypical children. Home education works really well for such children - they can do activities at their own level and they (and their parents) have control over the social situations to which they are exposed. It means that the parent can react very quickly and deal with situations that may cause a meltdown.

You may find it helpful to read the HE special website. It has a related email list.