What do they actually learn in reception/ What do kids actually know going in?

[RBBMummy]

My son is Autistic and its given him certain abilities. He starts school in September and hes very excited. However i think hes expecting too much and i want to be realistic with him. He also doesn't understand that other children cant necessarily do what he can, but as hes my only child i don't know what other children can realistically do at 4 academically. If i can start talking to him about this now he should get it by the time school starts. I just don't know what im aiming for?

Steeley113 did they practice all that at Preschool then?

Chienrouge its ok if you don't understand autism

No, I don’t have a great knowledge of autism.
But what I’m asking is this... you said your DS won’t understand you explaining to him that all children are different. That is fine, I understand that. I’m just interested to know how the information you’ve learned from this thread (I.e that all children are different) will help you prepare him better? It’s a genuine question, in order to help me better understand autism. Apologies for asking.

Chiem, A’s a mentioned above children with asd oftenhabd difficulties in perceiving others are different from them and can have rigid thoughts. So a dc with autism might not spot/inter purely on their own that other children have different abilities.

However, they could be taught that if it is pointed out to them and explained and they are prepped to understand.

Obviously it’s a spectrum and some dc with autism wouldn’t be able to understand even if explained, but others would eg with use of social stories

Which are little books which real down real life scenarios and spell out eg unwritten rules

Thank you Onceuponatimethen

OP I have asked a few questions which I will repeat here for ease:

1. Will he be able to sit on the carpet with a group and not shout out?

You need to start with the basics. The sorts of things he will be asked to do will be:

Put on/take off his own coat
Change for pe by himself
Toilet and wash hands without assistance
Sit quietly and listen to the teacher
Put his hand up before offering any input
Share resources
Take turns
Play with other children
Feed himself lunch
Follow the class rules
Ask for things he needs

2. Do you think he will be able to manage all of that by himself?

If he can decode, the next step would be to see if he can comprehend.

This means answering literal questions from the text and also making some inference.

For example, if the story said that Ted put on his wellies, waterproof coat and took his umbrella, what was the weather like?

3. How would your son answer that question?

4. Will he need a 1-1?

I work with children with ASD in mainstream primary in case you think I don't understand autism.

@Chienrouge, autism is a massive spectrum so nothing is true of all children with autism but for a lot 'all children are different' won't work but 'all children are different, child A knew this, child b knew that, child c knew whatever else' will work, sometimes it is just about being able to give details.

A lot of the first term is not about anything academic. It is more about learning how to socialise - making friends, being nice to each other, taking turns etc.
Independence - hanging up coats, going to the toilet, changing for PE.
Following basic instructions and rules - lining up, sitting quiet on the carpet.
Doing things at specific times - playtime is at X time, we eat at X time etc.
I think that's what you should focus on for your little boy.

@RBBMummy yes, they made sure the children could do all those things before school. There’s actually good lists online of what reception teachers really want your child to be able to do and it’s all self care and social skills. They are there to teach the academic side with parental support at home.

My DS has ASD. He too started Reception as a very able child.

The academic side of things came very easily to him but he had to really work hard at learning the social skills involved in school life. It's easy to dismiss those skills as being unimportant but I can tell you that they will be needed for many years to come. DS is hoping to go to university in the next year or so, but even now he still has to work with other students and collaborate on projects to get the grades that he needs.

DS' teachers were able to use his hyperlexic tendencies to help him to learn about school life and how to try to get along with those around him. It wasn't always easy as he really didn't see why he needed to bother with the other children as they seemed to be pretty irrelevant to him.

The social stories that a PP mentioned were a great help. He was able to read them to himself whenever he needed a refresher. When the other children were learning about how things worked, DS was learning about how people 'worked'.

It took time for him to learn that the other children were different to him in some ways but that that there were also similarities.

His academic learning didn't stall at all. He was encouraged to build on what he already knew. This was also the case for my youngest child who was in Reception less than two years ago, so it's not a case of looking back with rose-tinted glasses.

As has also been mentioned on here, the skills required for making progress in literacy will include things like looking at inference and reading between the lines. Being able to decode complex texts will really only take you so far.

We also had a period of trying to teach DS that not everything he read should be taken quite so literally. The day he read about a character's eyes being "glued to the screen" was a particularly memorable one. :o

If you want to introduce your DS to the idea that other children may well be different to him, you could look at the social stories that have been mentioned. Also books that feature characters of a similar age to him but who have different lives to his own.

I think it's also important though to show him that he will also have things in common with his future classmates.

Good luck.

Chienrouge like others have said, you cant use fluffy, nonspecific language. It just doesn't compute. The more information you can give, the more specific you can be the better the outcome.

Steeley113 interesting, his preschool don't seem to be doing much of any of that

Do you do any ‘self care’ things with him at home, such as self toileting, dressing/undressing himself, learning to wash his hands properly?

I guess my point is, instead of trying to explain to him that the kids won’t be able to read, you should work on the practical skills because he’ll struggle without them way more then the reception children who can’t read.

Hi Early Years teacher with lots of autism experience here . Sorry if I repeat what others have said
Once you get your school place offer I would be in contact and ask to speak to the SENCO to see about potentially arranging some extra transition visits if you think that would help . Maybe his Pre school could do this - transition will be the focus of my work next term .
Take photos make a social story outlining the school day etc
This could also be a good opportunity to simply explain the types of activity that they will do in Reception - it will still ( or at least should !!) be very play based and open ended will he like this?
I would also have a chat so that the school understand your ds's academic strengths and things that he struggles with
If he was coming into my class I would also want to focus on the independence and social skills side of things . Also following instructions and sitting and listening and working in small and large groups because this is what they will need to do to thrive at school beyond Reception . If he struggles with these things a good school should plan for interventions to support him regardless of whether he has 1-1 or not . You can definitely use their interests to make the areas that they need to work on more relevant .
Like others have said schools should stretch children's abilities and plan for the more able , but mastery and a deep understanding is what is currently in favour and I think with good reason to a certain extent

My ds was able to read, and was way ahead than others in reception. He never had any dull moment in reception. Reception is all about learn through play. So, he can pretty much pursue what he likes. He enjoyed whole class teaching of phonics too. It just made him understand what he was able to do in more systematic way.
Reception is mostly about getting into habit of following instruction, making friendships, learning about social skills, all those important stuff for children, with added bonus of doing what they like.

Lots of reception learning is structured play, where children explore and learn through carefully planned play-based activities. We invest lots of time in learning about how to be kind, how to persevere and how to be independent and resilient learners. Lots of children can rote count really well but many don't have a secure understanding of number so we do lots of number bond activities and practical activities to support understanding of number. We do lots of role play and storytelling and lots of work on gross and fine motor skills. We find out about the world and explore pushes and pulls, electricity and magnetism, floating and sinking. We look at the local area and make 3D maps, we do loads of creative activities and colour mixing, model making, sewing etc. The foundations set in reception are so important and it's a time to help children to become eager, enthusiastic learners through exploring a range of topics.

This has just made me worry more about ending up in a special school

Try not to worry if he's bright with the right support in place he could do very well indeed . Lots of children don't have many of the social skills that we have talked about when they start at school ( and it takes some children a really long time to develop them )

If a special school is found to be the one that best suits his needs then that’s not a bad thing. All that matters really is that he gets whatever support he needs.

Why though OP? You haven't said what you think he might need support with, just that he's a very advanced reader.

There are lots of children with autism in mainstream school. What specifically do you think he will need help with? Most staff are well trained and will understand your child's needs.

OP, you’ve ignored questions about your ds’ social abilities and personal care skills.

It is clear that your ds is academically well ahead of where he will need to be in reception, but academic skills alone are not going to ensure he has an enjoyable time at school, particularly in reception.

Can he:

recognise authority, and know that he needs to follow the rules/instructions, even if he thinks there is a better way, or doesn’t understand why he is being asked to do it that way?

can he sit quietly, without interrupting with ‘facts’, while a teacher explains a concept?

can he listen to a story all the way through without interrupting with a million questions and tangential thoughts?

can he recognise that there is a time for questions (and that it isn’t always a time of his choosing)

can he accept not always being right?

can he accept that while he may well be the best at reading, he might not be the best at model making, running, role playing, etc?

can he accept that a large part of learning for a lot of children in reception is trying, failing, and working out where it went wrong (in the case of model building)?can he understand that the teacher won’t necessarily correct children ‘doing it wrong’, because the learning curve from getting your idea out there, seeing it through, and troubleshooting what could be done better is more valuable than just telling the children the ‘right’ answer?

does he have any sensory difficulties? Carpet/circle time has been difficult for all 3 of my ASD children, for various sensory reasons. (As has using the toilet at school, eating in the dining hall (both food issues and sensory - noise and smell) and swimming lessons)

can he tolerate other children knowing less than him on a topic, without making them feel inferior?

how are his gross motor skills? Is he sporty? If not, how will he react to others being better than him?

Is he a perfectionist? Two of my dc have/had huge issues with it getting things right straightaway. The crash and feelings of abject failure are not to be underestimated. My middle child (not in reception at the time!) told me very seriously that she felt she had done really badly in a test, and that her teacher was going to be cross with her. Surprised (she is effortlessly top of the class, usually) I proved a little further. Turns out she had ‘only’ got 97%, and felt she had failed because for once someone had got a higher mark than her. It really felt like failure to her at that time.

Will he be able to work in a group with other children, and let them share ideas, even if he feels he knows more/best?

Can he recognise when people are just not that interested in his eleventy billion facts about a topic, and stop talking? Can he let others take turns in conversation, and is he able to think flexibly when conversations go off at a tangent?

And that’s all just off the top off my head. If the answer to any of the above is ‘no’, then that’s what you need to work on before he starts school.

Incidentally, does he know he is autistic? Because if not, you might want to start exploring the topic with him. He is about to be put into a class of 30ish children, and may well start recognising that he does not think, feel, or process things the same as most of the other children. Mental health shouldn’t be overlooked, and feeling like you don’t fit in is very difficult. If he does need any adjustments make sure he is comfortable with it happening - one of mine cannot bear to stand out/be seen as different, while another (currently in year 1, so have recent reception experience) couldn’t care less, and eg happily wears ear defenders when needed and just tells people “I find things too loud somethings, and these help” - his sister, with the same auditory issues, would rather die than be so upfront about it.

Op, can't help noticing you are concentrating overmuch on the high level achievements, but not addressing other things which pp such as fairenuff have mentioned. At the end of the day, the school will have more interest in making sure he progresses socially and can interact with peers (as one example), rather than encouraging him to read 'war and peace' or program a computer (slightly exaggerated, but you know what I mean). With the best will in the world, he is one of approx 30 and won't get a massively disproportionate amount of time allocated to his interests, beyond how they can be used to follow the terms objectives. I hope you're not going to be disappointed.