Why would an autistic child’s report show below expectations despite strong attainment?

[Sartre]

My DS is almost 6 and has autism. He is in mainstream provision and school have maintained he will remain there because he is so academic and they’re able to meet his needs. The other children in his year group with additional needs have all since moved to specialist provision.

I’ve just received his end of year 1 report and I’m baffled to be frank. He scored 39/40 in the phonics screening test, I know he is in the top reading group as I have been told and he’s on grey band books, plus I hear him read daily and he’s fluent. He’s always been fantastic at maths and spelling too. This is in spite of him being a GLP currently hovering around stage 4 so doesn’t reliably communicate with language. The teacher’s comments are all wonderful and positive.

Despite all of this, he is apparently significantly below age expectations in everything? He has been given the colour red across the board. I will of course be querying this tomorrow morning but just wanted to check if anyone knows why this would happen?

I wouldn’t query it in the morning when the class teacher will be busy and frazzled with end of term activities.

Instead I’d ask for a meeting with the SENCO to see if you can get some clarification.
You’d expect an autistic child to have a spiky profile especially at this age. From what you have described it doesn’t sound like he should be recorded as significantly below in all areas. If he is this should have been raised with you sooner.

Is he transferring skills or reading at home but not school? The phonics screen is good evidence of his ability in phonics.
I’m wondering if they’ve assessed him and these results haven’t been a reflection of his true ability? The assessments may have needed adapting or use of reduced language or extra processing time? Often observation is needed for example a child I taught would not recite numbers in order on request but when collecting him from the transport he’d chant numbers 1 to 8 as we came down steps ( 1 number for each step) Just speculating.

Does he have an EHCP?

I can think of a few possibilities.

1. The report is a mistake.
2. The school hasn’t been totally honest about how DS has been doing throughout the year.
3. The reports are based on certain tasks DS didn’t do so well on for whatever reason e.g. had off days.
4. While DS excels at certain things, he struggles with others within the same curriculum subject/area and so isn’t meeting expectations for the whole area/subject and therefore cannot be recorded as such.
5. What DS displays at home isn’t the same as what he demonstrates at school. This isn’t unusual.
6. The teacher has preconceived ideas and has judged DS on his communication difficulties.

I'd definitely ask the school to explain it, because from what you've described it doesn't seem to match the picture you've been given throughout the year. I know a parent whose autistic son had a report that looked much more negative than expected, and it turned out the ratings reflected broader classroom expectations rather than his academic ability alone. Hopefully it's something similar, but I completely understand why you'd want some clarity.

Thanks everyone. Going through the EHCP process right now, it’s been a bit of a slow slog and delayed a few times but hopefully nearing the back end now.

He is in the top phonics group and they have said they want to move him off the reading bands all together (he’s been on the top one for many months) but they’re debating how to because obviously online quizzes are part of this comprehension group. He likely wouldn’t answer those questions to progress so they’ve kept him in the top reading band as a result.

As I say, phonics screening was one off full marks and they’ve always said how great he is at maths too. They do have to shift his learning around sometimes to accommodate him e.g with spelling he uses magnetic letters or an iPad rather than writing but he can spell well.

I can’t ask for a SENCO meeting now I don’t think with two days left (she also failed to turn up to the online meeting with the ed psych yesterday…) and I don’t want to leave it because I’ve been stewing over it since I saw it.

Has the Ed Psych done the cognitive assessment yet or was it info gathering?
His comprehension will almost certainly be lagging behind his reading level so it’s a good idea to just widen his range of reading material.
Writing Wizard is really good on the iPad for spelling and writing. He can use his finger or a stylus pen.

When you say the EHCP has been delayed a few times, do you mean the LA is in breach of the timescales?

What is DS’s comprehension like when assessed via methods other than online quizzes?

Yes they are in breach of timescales. We had the first Ed psych meeting yesterday online, this was the reason for the delays (shortage of Ed psychs). School SENCO failed to turn up. It was information gathering, she said she was going to observe my DS at school after our meeting online but because SENCO failed to show and also hadn’t responded to her email, this now couldn’t happen. She said she will either observe him today if she can or it will have to be at home.

He reads lots of books at home so already reads widely.

Thank you for this recommendation, I’ve just put it on his iPad to try.

As an update, the teacher agrees with me and didn’t set him at significantly below. She said the SENCO lead did it and she had no idea, now she knows she’s going to speak with her about it. She said he isn’t below in anything, he’s above. She also said the targets for next year don’t make sense e.g read high frequency words because he reads fluently.

This is not the norm at all. The class teacher always writes the reports for every child in the class. I’ve never come across a SENCO writing a child’s report unless the SENCO was the teacher.
They would meet with parents and staff to set targets but often these would be related to any additional needs rather than specific curriculum targets unless related to an EHCP.
I’d ask for an appointment with the Head Teacher in September as there are things to unpick here.
Is she an experienced SENCO?
Glad you got to the bottom of it.

That is strange.

Lack of EPs is not a lawful excuse for breach of the timescales. If the LA continues to delay and the process doesn’t continue to progress at pace now, email the Director of Children’s Services reminding them of the timescales. If that doesn’t work, post back on MN for advice on next steps.

I would speak to the HT about the school not cooperating with the EP assessment.

This is all very odd OP, WTF is the SENCO playing at?

I think the SEND Governor may need to know about what has ( and hasn’t) been going on.

@inthequietofdawn

Possible explanation ?
7 - They have marked him down to add as evidence for gaining the EHCP.

@TeenToTwenties oh yes. I would include that under 6 because it is based on a preconceived idea about EHCPs and DC’s SEN.