Autism and Inclusive Education - help desperately needed!

[bloss]

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This all begs the question why we have untrained classroom assistants in mainstream schools. It would make so much more sense to actually have newly qualified teachers in the schools (at decent pay and under a different title) learning how to work with special needs kids. The potential for learning that the classroom assistants have before them is awesome, yet what is done with this experience? Generally, they leave. The pay is awful and their "students" leave after a year or two. Every teacher should have hands on experience working with SEN kids before entering the schools. My own son's nursery has 23 children on various levels of the code of practice, some statemented, some not. The potential for learning from this kids is wasted on the classroom assistant, many of which have NO intention of becoming teachers and who are barely literate themselves. My own son's classroom assistant did not know what ASD stood for, cannot spell "Thursday" , i mean WTF!

Its known and there have been recent studies that kids literacy skills are heightened by teachers and parents who have good literacy skills and good social skills etc etc. 3rd level education should be a pre requisite to teach our kids.

In terms of inclusion, there are a lot of studies out there, recent ones. Read up on them and disseminate what could really work and what is just bogus illusion.

Inclusion HAS to happen. Its not enough to just put kids in special schools, particularly in light of the fact special schools and special funding is limited.

Its the teachers who have to cop on to this and understand that they MUST learn the definition of inclusion. I mean ask your child's teacher what "inclusion" means and you will get hundreds of different answers. We are still at the initial stages of "inclusion" and have so far to go that is why the word and the concept are all over the place. Further there isnt really a political "will" to include sen kids. Not really. I think my child and many like him are jus seen as a huge pain in the proverbial. I am not whitewashing all teachers in this regard but from my own experience, this is what i see.

"Inclusion HAS to happen. Its not enough to just put kids in special schools, particularly in light of the fact special schools and special funding is limited."

MMDDWW I'm sorry but including my son would be cruel in the extreme/was cruel in the extreme/done with an trained teacher 1;1 would be cruel in the extreme. He needs to be with his peer group, which is not and never will be NT children. he needs to be taught the things that matter to him, such as learning how to shop, such as learning how to spread butter on toast, such as having sensoory sessions- he needs to learn that in an environment that is safe for him. He needs a secure (and often that means locked) environment, which is very different from the outgoing, open environment NT children need.

Putting children together with such didfferent needs means that one lot have to be overlooked. I wouldn't be happy for eother my autistic son's or my NT's son's needs to be overlooked.

As I have repeatedly said on here now my son is in special school he is included in society, he shops with school, he goes to cafes, he goes to exhibitions. In maintream he could never be included with the rest of the class as he couldn't cope with 30 chilkdren, he couldn';t cope with open plan calssrooms, he couldn't cope with unlocked doors, he couldn;'t use the toilets there (too smelly, too dark), he couldn't cope with the noise. The absolute failure of his mainstream experience had something to do with untrained staff but far more to do with his inability to cope with the environment of a mainstream sachool.

The day inclusion has to happen is the day I leap off the nearest bridge with him- and I feel that strongly about it- I never want to expose him to that again (unlkess of course he suddenly becomes high functioning and asks to attend, which is hihgly unlikely).

They couldn't Christie they couldn't.

I don't completely buy this :the other children learn" from them either. We bumped into a boy who had spent 4 terms in the same class as ds1 - he couldn't even remember him (prob because he wasn't included with the class). Another (older) boy asked his Mum "Has ds1 left the school" his mum said yes and he said "good, I'm, pleased because he was always standing in the playground by himself crying, I hope he's happier at his new school" (this was during lesson times incidentally).

"Inclusion HAS to happen. Its not enough to just put kids in special schools, particularly in light of the fact special schools and special funding is limited."

they will close dd's special school over my dead body oh christie please be blase like my dd's headteacher and say 'bah they will never close SLD/PMLD schools and the like'

I often wonder whether 'some' parents of SN children have ever visited a special school and seen the absolute professional input our children receive there before poo-pooing the idea completely

I see what it is like for some high functioning children in mainstream. If they were mine I would not want them there. I would want them in a place where they can reach their full potential.

It isn't because I don't care about them, or see them as troublemakers, it really isn't. When you have seen a child with 1 to 1 go into meltdown for the nth time in the class room, because of the noise, or something that another child has said or done it breaks your heart. These children are not getting what they need in many cases. And while they are not getting an education, neither are the other children in the classroom. Now that latter catagoricaly should not be the worry of the parents of the child with ASD. But it has to be mine.

That said one of my lad (high functioning autism) just got two A grades at GCSE science, with an astonishing perfect set of scores in his synoptic papres. Be he was high functioning enough to learn to cope. Not all children can. And for children like that real* fully trained professionals, with the equipment and support, like Christie are the way to go.

One problem with inclusion seems to be that it is being seen as a ?one size fits all? solution by some authorities. Our resource was originally set up specifically to help children with ASD who could be helped to access the mainstream curriculum, and in that respect it has been very successful ? more and more of our children now are going to mainstream secondary schools, they have a very thorough induction programme and are having a great degree of success.
But because there is very little ASD provision in this area (and, it seems, an above average incidence) the resource is increasingly often being asked (and in some cases forced) to take children who have little or no hope of ever accessing the mainstream curriculum. One in particular was doing very well in a special unit which was ideally suited to his needs ? so he began to make progress. Oddly, this apparently meant that he should leave this environment and be transferred to mainstream. He couldn?t cope with it at all

On the point by MMDDWW about classroom assistants v NQTs ? we have excellent TA?s who can certainly spell better than many of the final practice students we have had in recent years. We have an excellent training programme (including TeamTeach training and the opportunity to go for HLTA), regular meetings to pool ideas & strategies and our TA?s tend to stay for several years, (until they get headhunted by the local special school!) This may be because our management take a great deal of trouble over TA appointments - I would suggest that this is what your child?s school needs to do.

rustybear - one thing my son's (SLD/PMLD) school has is a base on a mainstream primary. Staffed by special school staff it allows the more able (socially and/or academically) to access mainstream where appropriate. They are apparently looking to set up something similar at secondary level. At that level they currently have things like joint circus skills workshops with a local secondary. All of which I think is an excellent and appropriate way to encourage inclusion, as indeed your base sounds. As you say its the one size fits all approach that's the problem.

Well first day of school arrived and we had a blast. Our boy surprised all the teachers as they did not know really what to expect and I was so very happy that they were very interested in what I had to tell them about behaviour interventions, ABA and our son's diet, etc.

Our boy coped well with the other children and made a great start. Mainstream obviously won't be for every child but for our little guy, i definitely made the right decision, so far, in the school i chose for him. The teachers were falling over themselves trying to accommodate his sensory needs and to learn from me.

We have had a year of ABA which we have no received funding for so we can continue at home. Our boy has a full time 1:1 who has some training but along with the Head, they are very eager to learn about what we do at home and to bring those successes into the school.

I am over the moon about this as I didnt expect so much help. I suppose it all depends on which school you choose and though its still early days, at least we had a good start.

Over the summer we visited a local "special school", the only one in our area which deals with children on the spectrum. All manner of children were in the class however, for lack of a better word. children with Downs, and unidentified behaviour and delay problems. There is no way our boy would have received a 1:1 there, as they claim they are "knowledgeable" already about ASD that they are specialists in the field.

By going to the mainstream school, I have noticed a willingness to learn that I did not notice at the special school where they seem to have knowledge "wrapped up" in a nice little package and were not as willing to listen to "me" the parent. They were telling "me" about autism. I have lived and breathed it for two years and young women were trying to tell me what "they" knew. Sorry but just because you have a year of experience and a bachelors degree in education, dosent mean you are qualified to work with my child. I am not bashing special schools here, but ours is dreadful and i wouldnt send my dog there. I felt there was very little hope of my son ever reaching mainstream if we went to our special school and there was no talk of "future" at a mainstream school either.

Thankfully our boy is now learning to talk and apart from sensory problems, he fits in with the class for the most part. He is smart, knows his letters and can use a computer. (He is 3) It all very much depends on the child at the end of the day. I wouldnt throw either type of school out with the bathwater but i dont believe we can make blanket statements that special schools are the "best" or the most efficacious cause we need to be looking at the child first and foremost.

I'm glad its working out for you MMDDWW.

II wouild agree that it is best to look at the individual (and the available schools- the other special school in our city would not be suitable for ds1). I think this actual case though of theoretical 17 year old non verbal boy in a secondary maths class is so unlikely to work in any shape or form that it is appropriate to say that he should be in a special school.

Hope things continue to go well- it;s such a relief when they're in the right school.

Thanks fellow listers. Taking it all with a grain of salt. Too long in the tooth now to expect good luck to last where school is concerned! But enjoying it for the minute.

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Oh god, just seen, agh will try and sort out something but am away tomorrow am for the rest of the week (autism workshop). Will try and leave dh with instructions to give to my parents to fax.......

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oh yes

I've emailed you and given you my normal emaill address.....

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bloss I'm so sorry- I took the reports away with me but couldn't find anywhere to fax them (or time- it was a bit full on)

I hope you passed though!

For further reading I'd recommend another Australian- Donna Williams really. She's written a lot, and has a website (you'll find it on google).

Glad you enjoyed Lucy's book. It taught me an awful lot.....