I have been reading about one of the toolboxes/toolkits used to inform teachers about autism needs in schools and am very puzzled about what I've seen.
My background is adult education, so I don't have the opportunity to scrutinise what might be happening in schools. I wondered therefore if parents of children on the spectrum had seen in practice some of the things I've just seen explained in one of these toolboxes (the one used in Scottish schools http://www.autismtoolbox.co.uk/ ).
It is very closely based around Triad of Impairments. It is very limited on sensory issues and things like eye contact. For example sensory issues seem to be being confused with motor control - they list the sensory types, but there is no grasp of people being affected by noise etc. Take this paragraph linking sensory processing to coordination(2.3.8 in the toolbox background text http://educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/a/genericresource_tcm545007.asp ):
"Children who have difficulty with sensory process can often have issues with coordination, so may have problems with writing tasks, or self care skills such as tying shoe laces, doing zips and buttons, or cleaning themselves effectively after being to the toilet"
Or this from a section on solutions, if a child uses visuals as a stimulus "keep classroom environments as clutter-free as possible. If your preferred teaching style is to have busy walls then ensure the child has a screened off workstation with high sides, blank wall and a visible timetable only".
Or the proposition that school books have colourful pictures, so for autistic spectrum children cover over the pictures so they only see the text.
The toolbox goes to great lengths to provide every opportunity for group work and exposure to social interactions as if this is curable. Section 2.1 explains the difficulty with social interaction:
"Limited awareness and difficulty forming and sustaining social relationships due to lower awareness and appreciation of the perspectives of others. This may be interpreted by others as a lack of empathy".
Thus the entire basis of social difficulties is lack of empathy - and that it seems can be cured by maximising exposure to it.
What I've read is terrifying. Its an Orwellian nightmare where a set of teaching packages have been created based on a garbled vision of autism which sees coercion and shock tereatment as the way to cure autism.
How does this sort of thing come about?
Have any parents encountered evidence of these tool boxes in practice? And has NAS any grasp of what is going on?
