AUTISM RESOURCES
Is your child getting the help they need at school?
You wouldn’t give the wrong glasses to a child and expect them to see. When you take a child for an eye test, the optician doesn’t test your child’s eyes, prescribe glasses and then tell you to wait a while to see how things unfold. Neither does he pull out a second-hand pair and suggest that your child try those for a while. No. He assesses the need, writes the prescription and then voila, they are made and given to your child. All with the aim of helping them to see correctly.
So why do we support autistic children differently?
Parents are usually the first to notice a problem in their child. If concerns persist, they may look for further help from a healthcare professional. Following an assessment, the professional will make some suggestions for improving things. But bluntly put, things don’t always progress smoothly from there. What often follows is a “wait and see while we gather more evidence” approach. Especially if the difficulties are not particularly obvious.
Why the waiting game?
Last week I went to an EHCP (Education and Health Care Plan) meeting for an autistic child. The request for this plan was made nearly a year ago. So, why did it take so long to get to this point?
The child started secondary school and immediately began having trouble. If you have autism experience, you may know that this can be a challenging time for autistic students. Subject specific teachers, having to move from room to room (rather than staying in a home room for all lessons), a new peer group and the complex social rules of the teen world - make for a heady concoction of anxiety triggers.
Even If the primary school years were plain sailing, secondary school often marks the onset of difficulties. And if problems already existed, this phase may mean that things get worse for a while.
Regular reviews are needed
Children with sight problems have their vision checked regularly to make sure that their glasses are still suitable. Likewise, autistic children need regular reviews to update their “prescription”. Moving to secondary school is an obvious time to do this as we know it can be fraught with challenges. A revised support plan is necessary to help the child successfully meet the new challenges that are faced daily.
Our story continues ...
Back to the EHCP meeting and the child in question. The parents were concerned about their child who was showing high levels of anxiety at home. At school however, lack of negative emotions and neutral facial expressions were interpreted as a sign that all was well.
The parents requested further assessments from healthcare professionals to better understand needs and find ways to support at school and home. The opinion was that the child was at risk for Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Recommendations were made for support, concessions at school and an EHCP.
At first the school refused most of the requests even though it was explained that the child was hiding difficulties as a coping strategy. Things continued to deteriorate and the school responded by offering interventions such as a short course on anxiety management, a buddy system, homework concession and being allowed to drop two academic subjects. Once it became obvious that none of this was having any effect, the school requested an EHCP. By this time the child was refusing to attend school. A case of too little too late.
Once a child refuses to attend school, things are clearly far from OK.
A secondary school child isn’t like a toddler who can be carried somewhere. Parents of secondary school kids have few options to work with. They can’t make the child attend and they often agree to the child staying home because they can see the extent of their child's suffering.
Experienced healthcare professionals have the benefit of having seen hundreds of children with similar difficulties. Like skilled fire fighters who know how a fire will spread, they can predict likely outcomes with and without support. After an assessment, they can write a “prescription” to match the child’s needs.
Unfortunately, healthcare professionals have limitations when working in schools. Because they are employed by Health and not usually by Education (United Kingdom), they don’t have any authority to make decisions about resources within schools. They can’t provide access to funding for special schools or specialist resources. In the UK, this responsibility is held by the Education Authority and school staff. The healthcare professional can only give advice and hope for the best.
As a healthcare professional myself, I feel very concerned about the process of supporting children in UK mainstream schools. Unfortunately, this isn’t a one-off case. I’ve seen other children in similar situations who have ended up refusing to go to school because they feel unsupported and overwhelmed. I can’t help wondering “what if?”
The “what ifs”
- Where would we be now if the school had listened to the requests and recommendations in the first place?
- Would this child have been able to integrate with the right support?
- Why do we need to prove that certain interventions won’t work, thus allowing the child to fail, before we do what is needed? Especially when it was identified at the beginning.
Slow responses lead to greater costs in the long term
I understand that we live in the real world where we have financial constraints. But surely, this “wait and see” process ultimately costs far more? Not just financially but emotionally as well and with potentially catastrophic long-term effects. With school refusal now the main issue for the child described above, special education looks to be the only option. A far costlier measure than giving support in mainstream.
To me, this is like ignoring the crack in a car windscreen and ultimately having to buy a new one rather than a simple repair job.
What do we need?
The EHCP assessment is meant to be collaborative – a document that reflects the opinions of all those working with the child including the parents and child. But how collaborative can it truly be when the power rests solely with one party who is unfortunately biased from the outset due to resource issues?
I would like to see a school system where professional assessments and parental views are given the kudos they deserve, where decisions are based on the child’s needs, where all autistic children are supported even those with supposedly “mild” needs and where we truly respect each other’s expertise and opinions, not just pay lip serve. How about you?
