Early Bird Plus

[debs40]

Just got back from my first session. Got the feeling I know as much it than the people taking it. Not that I'm being arrogant or assuming there's nothing to be learnt, just that I've gone on so many courses and read so many books this last year, I feel like a bit of an armchair expert

The TA from school came on it which was good. As usual she was very guarded and not very communicative. She spent the break talking to the another TA. Maybe she'll loosen up over the weeks. DS doesn't get any 1:1 or indeed any other assistance to speak of so maybe it will help.

The course seems very much geared up to advising schools on managing difficult behaviour. But I got a bit exasperated correcting stereotypes ('autistic children lack empathy'.. and 'that's why we want to help children with autism be more socially acceptable' mmmmm, not my key objective).I'm sure the course leaders will quickly tire of me.

I am feeling frustrated at having to go on a course which will be more for school's benefit more than mine with no guarantee I won't still be banging my head against the wall at the end of it.

I went on the early birds course (not early birds +) and found the same, most of it we already knew or it didn't apply to us, most of the course was aimed at how to handle aggression and behaviour problems.

Hopefully the TA is getting more out of it, i took my mum with me a couple times and she found it very useful as she did not know a lot about ASD (used to always say there was nothing wrong with the dd's) and i think it made her open her eyes to the ASD world.

We just finished EB and agree it was pitched very low, very local authority line - mainstream is fine for all etc and lots of sweeping assumptions. I had to stop myself butting in all the time and just limited myself to a few comments a session as I began to feel I was taking over. We weren't toeing the line at all (doing ABA and taking LA to tribunal) and were probably considered a shocking influence on all the other parents. I had good chats with the other parents though and we are going to keep meeting up, so it was worth it from that perspective. But its not going to prepare anyone to deliver anything approaching effective intervention. Often at tribunals LAs raise EB as though it shows they are providing intervention - most of the research says parent training is key factor - but really the research meant parent training in ABA etc

Very interesting grumpy! I felt like I was constantly interrupting with a 'yeah but ...' intervention.

I think it was disappointing that there was no one there from the NAS just LA people.

I will maybe suggest that someone attends as we have just started a local branch.

I did early bird plus last summer, and though I did have criticisms of the course, overall I was very glad I'd done it. I'd make the following points in response to what you've said.
The sessions became more useful as the course went on, particularly as more time was allocated for talking about your child with the TA. We did some very useful work planning activities on things DS1 has difficulty with to co-ordinate home and school. One of the things that I found really valuable about the course was the hours we spent talking about DS1 with his TAs: you just never normally get that opportunity. It's made dialogue with the school so much easier (and given me an insight into how they work rather than simply banging on about my own point of view.)
It's not a perfect course. It's too short, and it has to cover too much because the autistic spectrum is so wide and people within it vary so in their strengths and weaknesses. But to be fair, it doesn't set itself up as 'everything you need to know about autism', it's particularly targeted at the newly diagnosed.
Because it's run by LEA/PCT it has a wide social remit, and has to be available to everyone with a child on the spectrum. You and I (and most others on this board) have the time, money and educational capital to read books, research interventions, find and talk to other SN parents. But many do not. What may seem over-simplified and inadequate to us may be a like a window opening on a new landscape to other people, and we needn't generalise from our own experience or views.
There were some lovely moments. Wait for the video of the enthusiastic lady and her visual aids -- she was a joy.
Finally, the course is owned by NAS and franchised to LEAs/PCTs. You have to do the NAS training course to be a tutor, but I don't think normally NAS volunteers/staff turn up.

Thanks likeacuppa.

Unfortunately, my experienc eis not likely to be ours and as you say we needn't generalise from our own.

Why?

Well because my son's TA is only her for two sessions. For the next lot the school are sending their 'social skills' TA who I have never met so they can 'get the most out of it'.

Also, I am quite aware that others may not know much about ASD. I am not being snobby or elitist. I was speaking from MY point of view and not about the course. For ME, losing valuable work time I cannot recover, I am annoyed at having to go so I can try and ensure my son's school have some inkling of ASD

Finally, I'm sorry but so far general statements about autistic people as a lump have been made which do not inspire me and I can't see others feeling better about their kids as a result. Perhaps we were also supposed to feel desperately sad as we label our children and seek to educate them out of their differences.

It's not how I feel about my son

Perhaps this is the tutors. The NAS do run some of these courses themselves.But then, as you say, we can't make generalisations from own experiences. I'm glad yours was a good one. Allow me to express my views on mine

I did the Eb course when DS2 was first dx and I found it quite helpful. Currently doing the EB+ one, and think it is pretty much the same course, except with someone from school being involved. DS2's LSA is doing it, and has picked up a lot of useful information from other LSA's and the EP who is teaching it. For that I will happily sit and listen to stuff I already know.

Again, I wasn't criticising the course per se, I'm just angry that I have to do it as the only way to get school to open their eyes to this.

With EB it was just families - it would have been more useful for us if our nursery staff could have gone - they needed the training more. Also they run the courses so infrequently that most people had a diagnosis for many months if not over a year. It would have been more useful to me before I went out and bought out the bookshop ie within 1-3 months of diagnosis. But I think it depends on the staff. Ours were all part of the LA autism advisory teacher team and as a result they were really cautious when discussions came up about mainstream -v- special and ABA etc. Which I felt was wrong because there was a family who had a quite severely affected non verbal boy who was quite violent and was struggling to cope. We talked to them about the special school we had been to see etc but the LA staff were really pushing m/s - fair enough its their job to work in m/s but I felt they were shutting down avenues eg statements, special school etc which would have been valuable to some there to have at least considered. One TA from the autism team who has seen my son told us she was "horrified" we had even been to see the special school as our son was "not that severe". It seemed really inappropriate comment to make because actually the staff who run the nursery are part of the same team and felt my son was very suitable to go there. I think if it were more independent of LA it would work better because you would be able to have more open debate. But then to be fair I disagree with some of the NAS approach to early intervention too!