How much classroom support is appropriate for ASD child?

[Eulalia]

Feeling a bit confused. Just had social work assessment completed. The SW visited ds's (age 6.5 with ASD) school and then had a meeting with me. She felt that he doesn't receive enough support. He gets 10 hours a week but 5 of them are for lunchtimes when he gets someone to sit with him eating and then watching him in the playground. That leaves 1 hour a day to try to get him to do his reading/writing and maths. His main problem is lack of attention and motivation and the speed with which he takes to do his tasks. He really needs someone to constantly 'prod' him. There is an auxilliary in addition to the teacher who can do this but she is shared with the rest of the class (16 pupils).

I had a meeting with his teacher and the head and brought up the possibility of more support. The head seemed to feel that it would be counterproductive and would create dependence within ds, ie he would always expect someone to be sitting with just him in order to complete his work. Also the classroom teacher is very keen on peer learning where the pupils read to each other and thinks this is important for encouraging social development. SW says its the teachers job to teach, not the children.

I don't know what to think, I can see both viewpoints in a way... but I know that ds does do a lot better if he is encouraged and motivated and he finds it hard to do this for himself as he doesn't see the point of a lot of the learning. He is behind the other children due to his learning difficulties and I feel he may just keep on slipping further and further. I've been told not to compare him and that he is progressing so perhaps I am worrying too much. Just feel totally confused as to what to do. I always felt support was a good thing but now I don't know????

Anyone help. Tried looking on the internet for resources etc but its taking too long and a lot of it I don't know where to start.

Forgot to add I requested that the ed psych see ds and then I'd be able to make a more informed decision. He's not been seen by a psychologist for over a year.

A lot will obviously depend on the individual child but I really don't understand the view that giving your ds support will somehow make him dependent on it.

In Reception my ds1 (now 5.5yrs) started off with a lot of extra 1:1 from his LSA. This was something he really needed at the time. As the year progressed his hours were reduced because increasingly he was insisting on trying to do things for himself. This year he has no LSA at all and is doing really well. Certainly no signs of any dependency!

I think that in your position I would probably be pushing for more hours as it sounds as though your ds needs that extra help. Learning from peers may be a good thing for a lot of children but it's certainly not a good substitute for 1:1 help from an adult for a child with SN. In your ds' case I think I agree with the SW about him needing adult help rather than a child's help.

I also understand the need to have someone 'prod' ds and motivate him. My ds1 has a tendency to 'dither' over certain tasks, particularly those that involve handwriting. Fortunately he gets enough help from the teacher and her assistant to keep him on track but if that help was lacking in any way (as it certainly appears to be in your case) then I would want more class-based help.

I know the system is different up in Scotland but have no idea about the practical steps you would need to take to get the hours increased. Hopefully someone with more knowledge would be able to help with that aspect.

I would also agree with Coppertop - I don't understand their view either that fiving your ds support would somehow make him dependent on it. I would agree with your social worker in that the more support the better. A few more hours a week in classroom support would perhaps make a lot of difference. As it stands he's really only getting five hours a week in class (the rest of the time is for lunchtimes) and to me its not enough.

My son is not ASD but he's getting more hours a week than your son in terms of support and this is all in the classroom. The statement for him specified 10 hours.

BTW the school did wonder if my son would become somehow dependent on the LSA helping him but their fears were groundless. He does not get LSA help every day and he does not mind in the slightest.

The autistic child at my son's infants school eventually got the full 25 hours per week support.

Does your child have a Statement of Special Needs?. In Scotland this is known by another name but its basically the same. If there is a statement or some other such document in place you can ask the LEA to request the support hours to be increased.

If there is no statement of special need in place I would strongly urge you to apply for such a document now. IPSEA are very good in this regard and their web address is www.ipsea.org.uk.

You are your son's best advocate - don't let this Head put your off. It sounds like this person does not have much if any understanding of ASD.

I wish my son got a whole 10 hours, he gets 1 hour and 15 minutes a week, just 15 minutes a day (10 minutes of that is his physio).

Let's face it, apart from the 1hr at lunchtime, 1hr a day isn't going to anything much to help him It just isn't enough.

When my ds (asd) was statemented i was told approx 18 hrs but my ds requires more. At the moment he has ft 1:1 which the school make up the shortfall.HTH

Just wanted to say thanks for responses, can't reply justnow but will be back later.

Hi and thanks again. In Scotland it used to be called a Record of Needs which ds didn't have as it was all in process of changing. Now there is a new Act and he could have what is known as a Co-ordinated Support Plan which can involve any agency. Now that Social Services are involved I think this is necessary and am going to push for it. Am also seeing a friend next week who used to work with ds at lunchtimes and really got on well with him. Her daughter has Aspergers so she can provide valuable advice. Also asking the people who ran the Earlybird Plus course for advice.

What I was really looking for was some research which showed how classroom support helped autistic kids. I know some of them can become 'prompt dependent' but I don't feel that ds is as rigid as this and basically just needs someone to keep him on track. He's still quite young so I think its a bit silly to worry about his lack of independence skills at this stage.

Anyway off to do a bit of surfing... thanks again.

I think prompt dependency is just an excuse not to provide enough support/intervention. If they can do something then they will leave the prompts behind. If they need prompts to do something then fine, its better than not being able to do it.

My ds is 5 1/2 and he doesn't have a dx although the paed thinks he probably has AS and I know he is on the spectrum. He started school in sept 04 and had major problems which were made worse by the lack of provision in the school and their inability and unwillingness to meet his needs.I removed him from that school this time last year and the LEA agreed to backyear him.

When everything kicked off at his first school we asked the LEA to do a statutory assessment and he got his statement in may last year. He started in reception in a new school in sept 05 with full time 1:1 support and he is like a different child. I know that there is no way he would be coping so well without this level of support and that the school would not be able to provide this much support without the extra funding he gets as a result of his statement. Friends that I have from his old school cannot believe how different he is now. For us a statement has been so much more important and useful than a dx would have been.

Agree with Davros. My LEA has tried to argue that my ds is a very prompt dependent child but at the moment that is the level he is at. I saw him in an unsupported m/s class last week and he was clueless. The teacher explained the work to the whole class then individually to ds and then she had to move on as other kids needed her. He was just left sitting and not understanding what to do. By the way he is in sn provision not m/s yet, this was a trial session.

The number of hours your ds needs depends on which aspects of the school day he has difficulties with. A good ISA will know when support is needed and when to back off. IME ISA's normally spend this time helping other kids or making visual timetables,training etc.

Hope you are all well and baby is letting you get some rest

Thanks again. I wrote a letter today setting everything and made your point exactly Davros. At this stage of reading I would rather he was doing it with a lot of support rather than not reading at all as the consequences of that are much worse. Also I pointed out that extra support doesn't necessarily mean someone constantly standing over him - s(he) could be using the time to prepare materials suited to his needs for example.

I wouldn't worry overly about it. I teach in secondary and work with a number of LSWs with lots of different children.

I have seen one child, a boy with ASD go from needing total 1 to 1 support (in and out of class) to working totaly independently.

I have occasionaly seen children become dependent, but these have usualy been children with a dx of EBD, coming from highly dysfunctional homes.....a case of them needing far more attention that 'usual' IYSWIM

Thanks again, just waiting to hear about an appointment with the educ psych.