DS1 recently dx with ASD, we are going to meet with headteacher and they want us to say "what we need".... suggestions please?

[MrsShrekTheThird]

Whilst we're already doing stuff at home that works (and have done since he was 2yo, if we're honest) and DH and I work in ASD services, we have absolutely no idea what we should be suggesting that school can do. The only thing that we've come up with so far is that the 'games club' (encouraging turn taking and 'rules' in game situation, therefore 'fun') I'm sure there are more, err, significant things we could suggest, but have no clue. I'm not holding my breath either - two years ago, after he was diagnosed as severely dyslexic, I took them cream paper to copy his stuff on to, as it helps him a lot... but it was never used.
Anyone who has experience of what a child with ASD needs in a mainstream primary classroom would be a massivew help. TIA!

Cor, that's longer than me.
So, do you think asking the parents for specific ideas on areas their child might need support in is a good idea?

Goblin - my experience isn't in mainstream year 5 classrooms. So I know about as much about them as an environment as I would about another planet. Hence asking advice. Not the ASD that's my difficulty, as it were, it's how it reflects or manifests in the environment, and the sorts of issues that children are likely to need to deal with. I've worked in SEN for so many years that I've entirely lost sight of what the mainstream environment is like Ta for the advice tho.

Indigo, that list is fantastic. Fire alarms and such, warnings, no deviation from timetable. All the sort of stuff that he needs. And which I couldn't get my brain in gear for.

As far as statementing goes, I think we're on thin ice. He doesn't have an 'Educational Need' except for his dyslexia, and you simply don't get statements for that round here. So as far as this authority's concerned there will be no educational need and thus no statement. I'm still going to rattle some cages and see what falls out, but not holding my breath.

Thank you all millions, I'm going to read the whole thing again....

You must get a statement to secure help/1:1 for your ds, the school might tell you 'no, you don't need one' but please make sure you do (its the best thing we did). You will need to ask the school about teacher training (have any of the staff had any training to deal with ASD?, are they willing to get staff training?), if he uses PEC'S or pictures scheduals then this will need to be explained, if he has sensory issues such as sensitivity to sound and light then they need to know this and how to deal with it.

Without a statemnt i dont think we would have got the support for dd2, the school still moan now even though its in a legal doccument that she needs 30hrs a week 1:1.

You need to sit down with the SENCO and head and go through all of your concerns and tell them you will be getting him statemnted.

Again, it depends so much on the child.
My son didn't need 1:1 support and had no other learning needs. He needed reasonable accommodation by all staff and a consistent and agreed sequence for handling him so that when he did get stressed or into meltdown, everyone was clear about what should happen.
The Ed psych was useful, and the Inclusion team.
Best of all as an entire school intending to support him as best they could, and this is a large MS secondary.

The children in my school sound very similar Goblinchild although parents are concerned about future transfers to secondary, which is why we applied for statements.

I can't begin to tell you how much we owe the school, the head, the SENCO and the staff. They've done their absolute best for him over the last 5 years, and given him a much better future than I'd hoped for.

Dd has a statement that we could manage without tbh because the school is supportive now they have grasped where her difficulties lie ie not with the academics. She has it because we got it before she started school when she was very delayed, we keep it because the LEA don't bother to reassess in case you ask for more support
Things that help dd are visual prompts for organisation of herself and her things. Traffic light cards to signal that she needs help. A quiet area when the class is noisy.Routines and sameness as much as possible but warnings and preparation for change.Good communication between home and school through a communication book.

In my county, a statement only comes with funding if the child is low incidence. EG: there are relatively few children like them in the system. Anyone else is high incidence (loads like them) and a statement is unfunded - the school has to find the money from their existing budget (often robbing Peter to pay Paul) because as the other poster said, a statement is legally binding and the school has no choice but to provide what it has to. Don't get me wrong - the schools do want to provide what each child needs, but no funding means a big headache!

MrsShrek - I forgot to say, if cream paper helps your DS you need to take him to a behaviour optometrist to check out what underlying vision problem he has....

Dyslexia does not make you need cream paper, vision problems do.....

(And an optician does not check for very many eye problems....)

spot on indigo, he's having the colorimetry test next week and Irlen lenses are on the agenda as it were, he's done all sorts of tests already and the optician/optometrist is fairly confident we know where we are heading :)

Wow! Indigo did your son's primary school really manage: "Timetable on the board (not visual) - and no deviations from it"
I have a personal visual timetable that I talk through with my ASD pupils each morning, but I frequently have to find time to have another chat to explain that something has to change for example it's raining hard so we can't do games or another year group have an unexpected visitor so assmbly will be after play now. Or the computer network is down and so we won't be having our ICT lesson this afternoon.
Or sometimes just have to change the plan without spending 5 minutes explaining first! e.g. OK everyone outside for early play now because X has just been sick all over the table, carpet, books on the middle of the room and Mrs Z will clean it all up for us while we are outside.

No, of course they didn't achieve it. :) But at least they tried. And then like you, they either managed to adequately explain the deviation - or the coped with his meltdown

But they learnt from every meltdown....

And most importantly they didn't blame him or tell him off. They just continually try to make the classroom a place that he can stay in....

Agree with Abigail; I doubt, with the best will in the world, I have ever done a single whole day without any deviations. I do try to be sensitive to the effect of this on certain pupils.

Indigo, how do they manage Golden Time? Surely the children always know ahead of time what they will be doing?

I think the aim is that they [school] recognise what they are changing and when - those of us who work in ASD services or SEN know what can happen when things are altered even slightly so we explain it properly and thoroughly, and then it can be dealt with. The thing Indigo was pointing out to me was the potential for things to change (as they do in DS1's class) and for him not to have been warned, therefore getting him very very anxious. It will certainly be a point for the school to address, even if only that they need to warn him of things they are changing, before he thumps someone they do it

I don't have a SEN child, but taught many ASD pupils in mainstream. Has the child had an Ed Psyc assessment? Even without a statement that could narrow down your child's support needs and they usually make suggestions. You could ask the school to request one.

I don't know how you feel about the use of social stories? Has the school got anyone skilled in using them? I haven't found them useful with all ASD's but they have been helpful with a few children.

The incredible 5 point scale ?

We had a mum who has deliberately changed things for her son so he couldn't get into a routine...walking different ways to school, entering through different entrances, different coat/bag/lunchbox each day ...
wonder how others feel

He had an EP assessment three years ago, but the more recent developments have now resulted in an ASD dx. In reality funding and support are on the decrease, and he'd have no chance of getting a statement imho (although I'm going to discuss it anyway) The Ed Psych's recommendations are just that, and the school only do what they can / what they have time and or money for. They're doing well with him on the whole, and he's not challenging in school, oh he'd rather save all that for home

Mrz, I've tried to make him as flexible as is practical - but different route, coat etc would give us a[nother] daily screaming meltdown in the middle of the road. He's good in other areas, but not on routines altering.

Her son was the same for a long time but he is off to university in the autumn and she believes it will allow him to cope.

awesome :)

Considering she was told he would never speak ...awesome just about sums it up.

My son is 16, he has a much greater tolerance for change now than he had a decade ago. For us, it was a question of changing one thing and embedding that as an alternative before changing something else, and doing it in a low pressure and unhurried way.
There are some things that were much harder for him to change than others, clothing is still an issue.

to get to that degree of flexibility is one heck of a feat. We're in a bit of an odd situation, in that he's only just been dx and he's 10yo, and would probably have been one of the ones who 'got away with it' because we do lots stuff with him at home basically resulting in the fact that he can disguise his aspie traits very well. It's just routines, hypersensitivity and personal care stuff that are a huge issue. If we can start to deal with that lot properly now, then we're setting him up for a better future.

Without routines dd would need far more support than she needs now tbh. She is pretty flexible though and doesn't flap when things change so long as someone has taken the time to just warn her first. So he fact her TA can alert her that the class TA will take the register and then it's early literacy (she moves classes for that) as she meets her at the door ensures she copes independently then for 1hr 20mins. Without that she would be anxious, needing reassurance and unable to concentrate as well.

Mine got his dx at 9.