what education problems?

The education system lets down a whole bunch of kids that arent the "norm", not just those who have difficulty learning but also those who are very able academically.

i hear time and time again about autistic people and their rigid views, actually those who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones.

i wonder how many authorities actually have people diagnosed asc actually advising them. im guessing that this wont be many.

Those who do claim to be all knowledgable in fact hold very narrow views.

Indeed. It seems as though they think because they've met a child with Autism who has these needs, every child with Autism will have those same needs. That's not true at all.

From my experience, school teachers and nursery teachers are a bit hit and miss with skills in this area. My son's nursery keyworker is fantastic and has completed a lot of further training but she has done this because she has an autistic child herself and therefore has an interest and dedication. As the nursery knew about my son's situation before hand, they were able to place him under this ladies care intentionally and for that I will be eternally grateful.

That sounds brilliant! Well, not that the keyworker has an Autistic child; but it's nice that your son has been put with someone who understands.

For me personally, I wasn't diagnosed until I was 23. I hated most lessons, got bored because I was put in a class of people who were at a different learning level than myself and had (and still do) organisational issues.

Hi,

I'm maybe not best placed to be commenting here as my son has not yet started school but I already have concerns (as posted on another thread), therefore I do have an opinion on this.

From my experience, school teachers and nursery teachers are a bit hit and miss with skills in this area. My son's nursery keyworker is fantastic and has completed a lot of further training but she has done this because she has an autistic child herself and therefore has an interest and dedication. As the nursery knew about my son's situation before hand, they were able to place him under this ladies care intentionally and for that I will be eternally grateful. However, I know of a mother who placed her son in a private nursery and they had no clue of how to deal with his autism, set him back a few steps and she paid for it!

Outwith autism, I think there are many varied needs of children which are not being met in our school systems. The teacher of my elder daughter told me last year that my daughter was 'new ground' for her as they had never had a child with such a high reading level in the school before and they didnt know what to do for her. A year later her new teacher has stopped giving her the standard reading books as there is no point and they bore her. Effectively they didnt know what to do so are doing nothing and she is stagnating.This school in particular seams to want only this middleing group of children with no specialised needs (I dont believe they exist) and can not cope with anything outside it.

I dont know how much focus is on dealing with children with specialised needs in teaching degrees but surely, this is where training on the matter should begin. Similarly, student teachers require to do a number of placements, is there any requirement that at least one of these placements should be within a specialised school? More focus during teacher training potentially would spark more interest among teachers and promt more of them to follow specialised careers or even just aquire extra training on the issue. Like I said, currently its hit or miss whether your child has a teacher who is willing and able to provide the support they need. I know of 2 autistic children who have been removed from the school my son is meant to be attending and i'm not holding out much hope that he'll get what he needs from them.

I know there are fantastic teachers out there with the patience, ability and want to help children like mine develop and learn but there is no standardisation of basic knowledge and awareness. In the case of autism and related conditions, it is not that children are just simply not improving because there is no support, it is actually detrimental and can make the child's specific symptoms worse which is unacceptable.

Sorry if I went on a rant,

Cheers, Silver

My personal view is that the the educators( teachers etc) are not educated, at least not about asc. Those who do claim to be all knowledgable in fact hold very narrow views. I think this is the root of the vast majority of problems kids with asc encounter in school, a complete lack of understanding about behaviours, communication and understanding difficulties, Physical dificulties,... everything really!

 I dont really think that untill a reasonable understanding is achieved right across the board starting at the top, that any of the continuing problems with education will ever get any better.

My personal view is that all education authorities should ensure that all staff are knowledgable and  have an understanding of asc, after all its most unlikely that staff are not going to come across asc children. Maybe then the support would be a little easier to get. More Autism specific schools would appear, etc

What does anybody else think?

I was wondering this as well my son has only turned 3 and due to start maistream school in 2 years, someone had told me to fight for him to go to a school which specialises in autism but the only school nearest to us is for children who has aspergars and high functioning autism with additional needs like adhd or with other learning difficulties? The problem is now all children are diagnosed with asd not hfa or ap etc which makes it in my opinion confusing. I dont my child going to mainstream if there is not much help for him and hes singal out for not being able to sit there and understand what the teacher says?

From my own experience as someone with late diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome, the problems stem from the child's confusion and lack of social understanding, problems with organization, staying focused, taking things literally, difficulty staying still and seated in one place and problems staying focused on the task in hand. I had real problems with all these areas and ended up getting into trouble, with my parents called in because I was annoying the other children or because I did not understand basic instructions.

hi

1.  not enough provision to meet the needs of kids with asd in mainstream

2.  not enough autism-specific schools

3.  not enough knowledge/understanding of asd amongst some of staff, teachers or otherwise, in mainstream.

4.  Commissioners who don't want to spend money on the above because their budget is tight and/or they don't understand enough about asd

For me i'd say the high number of exclusions for youngsters with autism, where the school judge the behaviour rather than support the individuals to manage the anxiety and kkep the incidents to a minimum.

They need to work with the individual and the parents to get the best outcome - its not one size fits all.