Have your say! Autism and education.

[woolytree]

Hi Ladies,

A relative of mine is doing research, for civil service, on the Educational needs of Autistic children in mainstream schools. She would like to know;

What are the main problems you come across?
Any positive points???
Any suggestions?

Short and sweet please ladies....not a rant post.

Thanks.

anonandlikeit - our kids seem to be at very similar schools. Most classes inours are of 20, but because of sheer lack of space, yeas 3, 4 and 5 are combined into 2 classes of 30, so I'm looking forward to that less. It will hopefully mean 2 years of continuity with the same teacher, though, and will allow for DS1 to be extended without him objecting, so could be a positive.

Other parents tend to bring pressure to bear more frequently in primary too, and that alters the response of some individuals and some schools to a child who doesn't conform easily.

Agree 100% with this speaking as the parent of a child where more than half the parents in the school signed a petition to get my ds removed and the head used this as justification to unofficially exclude him and make no allowances for his difficulties .

Mine had some very nasty letters written about him, trying to put pressure on the head.
Not nice to walk the gauntlet of hissing geese in the playground of a morning, is it?

No I was deeply hurt tbh. Some of the parents were aggressive towards ds and myself. School had to involve police because one parent (ex jail with history of violence) threatened to set fire to our house when he was stopped from entering the classroom "to teach ds aged 5 a lesson . Ds admittedly was no angel but many of the difficulties were a result of the school being bloody minded about ds's need to conform. We left before he was pushed.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your posts.....anymore before I forward your points?????

My DS' Secondary School said that he really struggled in Mainstream at every meeting we had for the first three years. There were no ASD units with spaces and the units that existed were on the other side of the County. I would like to see a lot more Secondary units attached to Mainstream schools. He did manage to cope eventually but it was hard going for all concerned.

My DS1 has AS, and I'm aware I don't stuggle with him anywhere near a much as other parents do with their DC's. But the problem we have found is that because DS is exceptional in Maths, they don't bother when he struggles in English. He has no imagination, and finds is very hard to write stories or answer 'What do you think' type questions. I feel this is a direct symptom of his AS, but he is prevented from achieveing as much as he could because it would require alot of extra support. I don't think they want to give him that extra support because he is strong in other areas. He then gets frustrated because he simply can't do what is being asked of him, which then leads to him digging his heels in and not even trying. The school acnowledge that this happens, but they don't do anything about it. I'm hoping his new teacher in Sept will help.