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Autism and the Government

skye1971

hi all i thought i would ask what everyone else was thinking on this subject to me the government dont really care from what i gather and i think its about time that they made people more aware of autism its like people dont care enough and its wrong i for one didnt know that what my little girl was showing was traits of autism if it wasnt for my sister and brother in law pointing it out we didnt put two and two together we just thought she was going through funny stages as it were because we didnt know what autism was yes we had heard of it obviously but we didnt know of any signs or that to look out for and i think people shoul be made aware of these signs for all our childrens sake so we can try and get early detection of this i suppose i,m just a bit angry that i didnt know our own child was showing signs of this condition and so many aswell yes the no talking or communicating we noticed but we put it down to she was just a late learner how sad is this? i think the government could supply classes or something so people can learn of the signs and traits maybe i,m wrong and maybe i,m just having a bad day of it today and need to let off some steam but it does make me angry as we had no idea that what she was showing was autism and we didnt know anyway i,ve finished ranting now sorry guys

skye xxxx

Parents

  • In respect of what Goatworshipper says about education staff spotting autism there really is a tricky dilemma there. 

    There seem to be no barriers to making a student aware they might have dyslexia, though having done so as a tutor in HE that's a painful enough process, and you need to be prepared to commit time to a student to support them through diagnosis. Some students get very affronted at the mere suggestion, even though we only attempt this when there is a clear benefit to the student and we've taken advice beforehand.

    The trouble is with autism/aspergers is you can spot it, but we are no allowed to take any action, or at least not without considerable consultation when there is an urgent need, which it rarely comes to.

    The problem is that an AS diagnosis can be very traumatic, and there is a real risk of suicide. Although two years retired now, I've kept my hand in and the position hasn't much changed.

    A further problem is that some students hide their diagnosis when coming into HE (it is true also I think in FE but harder to conceal because of school references). So staff have a pretty good idea someone is on the spectrum, but aren't allowed to ask. You can understand school leavers wanting to hide it - there is a fear that fellow students will find out and that their studies may be diverted onto yet more social stories (isn't there an age after which that sort of counselling framework ceases to be relevant?!).

    I suspect this is why a lot of young people don't get spotted in school, FE College or University is that staff are still struggling to get the right information and the right support. I have been through a diagnosis situation with a student but we weren't allowed to say anything directly, he had to be steered to an appropriate external councillor. It is a really tricky process. And it only happened because we were really struggling to support the student otherwise.

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  • In respect of what Goatworshipper says about education staff spotting autism there really is a tricky dilemma there. 

    There seem to be no barriers to making a student aware they might have dyslexia, though having done so as a tutor in HE that's a painful enough process, and you need to be prepared to commit time to a student to support them through diagnosis. Some students get very affronted at the mere suggestion, even though we only attempt this when there is a clear benefit to the student and we've taken advice beforehand.

    The trouble is with autism/aspergers is you can spot it, but we are no allowed to take any action, or at least not without considerable consultation when there is an urgent need, which it rarely comes to.

    The problem is that an AS diagnosis can be very traumatic, and there is a real risk of suicide. Although two years retired now, I've kept my hand in and the position hasn't much changed.

    A further problem is that some students hide their diagnosis when coming into HE (it is true also I think in FE but harder to conceal because of school references). So staff have a pretty good idea someone is on the spectrum, but aren't allowed to ask. You can understand school leavers wanting to hide it - there is a fear that fellow students will find out and that their studies may be diverted onto yet more social stories (isn't there an age after which that sort of counselling framework ceases to be relevant?!).

    I suspect this is why a lot of young people don't get spotted in school, FE College or University is that staff are still struggling to get the right information and the right support. I have been through a diagnosis situation with a student but we weren't allowed to say anything directly, he had to be steered to an appropriate external councillor. It is a really tricky process. And it only happened because we were really struggling to support the student otherwise.

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