Statement for High functioning autism?

[CamillaCamellia]

Hi, I am new to this board and would really appreciate any advice. I wanted to ask please if other HFA children have got Statements and what sort of help has been included on the Statement?

DS is 4 years old and was recently diagnosed with ASD. His old doctor (in London) said its likely to be the high functioning end. We moved for work 2 months ago to one of Britain's "islands" (don't want to say which one, as don't want to out myself). Suffice to say, English law doesn't apply here and disability discrimination is not illegal. DS starts school in September at a mainstream school because they say his needs aren't great enough to require a special school.

London doctor had previously said that we should apply for a Statement and that he knows similar (HFA) cases in England where the child has got a Statement. On the "island" where we live now, they have something very similar to a Statement, although it is governed by our island's laws (not English law).

I have already met the person who would lead the Statementing process on the island (its a very small place) and he has already said DS will definitely not get a Statement. His reason was that DS, after a delayed start, is now academically on a par with other children his age (e.g. in speech, knowing numbers, etc). They have said they will assess DS at school occasionally to see if he needs any help with communication and social skills, but have already said they do not think he needs that much help in this area and his speech is well in advance of his age group.

I am worried as he gets very stressed out and anxious, but will just retreat into his shell and never cause any trouble so people think there are no issues. Then he will explode when he gets home and release the stress that has been building up at nursery. He finds it difficult to play with other children and is socially awkward and anxious.

Can anyone tell me what sort of help has been mentioned on their child's Statement? The Education Dept on the island and DS's prospective school keep saying there isn't much more help they or a Statement can give, as DS is fine with his academic levels. I'm feeing a bit lost as I'm not really sure what sort of help I should be asking for. If I could be more specific, that might help me. Sorry for the very long post!

DS1 has one, which is mainly because of his behaviour under stress. He's had it since he was 4 and it's evolved over the years, for increased TA support. It's evolved over the years and, after some effort, it's now had a big shake up to include how his sensory difficulties impact on his learning needs. He's bright and needs small group teaching, which he now gets via an independent special school.

I would suggest that it's easier to get difficulties acknowledged for a child who doesn't go into their shell, but a school that isn't particularly inclusive would probably get rid of a child who explodes in school in a flash, so you probably can't win with that one.

Even if your DS's language is technically advanced, his ability to both process language and pick up on meaning may not be at the same level. That's something to ask the SALT to check up on, as it can be a source of frustration and anxiety.

Ds' statement includes help with social skills. The areas he's been working on have been things like:

• learning how to cope with losing at games etc

• learning how to work with other children (listening to their ideas, taking turns, co-operating with them)

• learning ways of dealing with things when he feels upset or angry (including getting him to communicate what the problem is, walking away from situations, calming himself down)

Many thanks Ouryve. Your post includes some very useful ideas - small group teaching, increased TA support.

I get a mental block because everything I have suggested so far has been turned down or they look at me like I am mad (e.g. for asking for DS to gradually increase his hours over the first term until he can cope with a full day at school). The primary school is being very unhelpful and it is worrying me a lot.

Yes I don't actually believe that his speech is advanced for his age. He knows a huge number of words for his age, but he still has issues communicating and putting together sentences, particularly when stressed. We are trying to get the island's SALT involved with DS, but that is another battle.

Thank you Coppertop! The 'learning how to deal with things when he is upset and learning to communicate the problem' is a really good one - this is a big area he struggles with.

I have asked about things like turn taking and working with other children but they keep saying DS will learn these things naturally in life - sigh.

He also needs to learns about losing games. Thanks so much for the ideas.

DS has classic autism and speech disordered but he's bright and academically just behind, and reading, numbers etc always been strong
He has a statement of FT specialist support (ABA - applied behaviour analysis) including ABA 1:1 in mainstream school. He needs the work broken down into small parts and taught individually, he needs tasks chained together so for eg sport we have to teach one step eg how to hold the racket at a time and then chain it together, he needs much more repetition, he doesn't learn incidentally it all has to be directly taught. He gets easily distracted. He learns best 1:1 with no distractions, then small group, large group teaching is difficult unless it's something visual (smart board) and motivating (numbers). He needs much more frequent instructions to stay on task (every 20 seconds not 20 minutes). He needs individual behaviour plan and earns tokens towards motivating rewards which are more immediate eg 10 mins in book corner throughout the day, not marbles in a jar for a treat at end of term / sticker like other kids get. He can only do 3 key words in sentence, he needs lists of instructions or frequent verbal instructions he can't process chunks of language so teacher has to give short instructions to him, she often had to cue him in individually. He can't do skills like predict what will happen next, infer things from story etc (higher level pragmatic language). A private SLT report can be not too expensive even if they just do some testing to highlight gaps. At 4 DS needs in school were mainly around safety (he'd bolt), no awareness danger, behaviour could be challenging, little social interest. Sounds like your DS would benefit from frequent breaks through the day to avoid exploding when gets home. Also pointing out playtime for children like ours are not play, they are work, figuring out who to play with, how to play the game, what to say, where to look and then usually just get it and the other kids change the game. Break time is hugely hard work and stressful and they need to give him quiet breaks within the school day when he doesn't have to socialise so he isn't so exhausted and overwhelmed by home time.

Wow Agnes, thanks so much for taking the time to write all that advice. Lots of helpful things in there to consider like playtimes and breaking down the work. A private SLT report could well prove useful so I will look into that.