Access to the curriculum

[Sally44]

 

It seems, from speaking to some ER secondary schools that the above question is going to be one I have to think about.

It appears that access to the classroom will be just that. My son would have to be in the mainstream class and cope with whatever support is provided in the Statement and where he would attend classes in all the subjects - I doubt he could be able to access that. But they tell me they do have children on the P scales in those classes.

Or the alternative is for him to be in a smaller environment ie. 'unit' where there is not access to all the curriculum and they concentrate on learning basic skills.

They did make the point that the more time he spends in the unit, the further he would fall behind academically from the mainstream point of view.

What a decision to make. At this stage I don't know what my son is capable of learning from a cognitive point of view. But I know he isn't reading or writing independently and although mainstream now, he is basically in an SEN only class.

I'm hoping that at the AR and afterwards I will be able to concentrate this question and the possible answers more.

 

But I feel like mainstream = struggle and cannot cope.

SEN = under achieve compared with capability.

 

The Head of SEN I spoke to did make it absolutely clear that the amount of the provison specified in the Statement would be crucial to the amount of support he received.

[Sally44]

Interestingly she also said that the school had recently stopped using phonics as they found IT DID NOT WORK WITH CHILDREN THAT CANNOT READ OR WRITE - well tell me something I don't already know.

She said they are waiting for the EP department to come back with a different system they can try, but she had no idea what that might be.

[JsMum]

SEN = under achieve compared with capability. not nessasarily the case for children with ASD who go to specialist schools, where they take into account thier potential that meets their needs.

 

Js in a school where some take mathematical GCSEs and do very well and then progress onto uni, or further education with specialist provision, there is some special schools that take children with ASD and have high to average Intelligence but are underachieving due to lack of specialist provisions.

 

My son has been at his school for 14 months and has increased his reading age by nearly three years! he was illiterate when he started.

 

 

JsMumxxx

 

Added, when in mainstream they where unsuccessful to get him to learn to read words more than 3 words, the following targets where to read words of four or more, yet he hadnt even managed to read 3 letter words, yet now they where expecting him to learn words with four or more in it, obvously he failed to progress.

 

In the SEN unit/school going back to basics will also be beneficial if they havent yet grasped the basics in the first place.

 

JsMUMXXX

 

Edited January 27, 2010 by JsMum

[Karen A]

Hi Sally.

At Ben's mainstream secondary there are pupils who do not do all subjects.For example some pupils do not do languages but have extra support for literacy and numeracy during that time.

I do know it is a difficult problem though.

From experience though it is just one example it is not always the accademic level that is the biggest difficulty.

At Ben's secondary school there are three pupils in year 7 and 8 with ASD.

Ben and another pupil are both able to cope well with the accademic work and are on a level with peers.However both pupils for different reasons have had social or behavioural difficulties related to AS or teacher lack of understanding of AS which have led to major difficulties with remaining at school.

However the other pupil has significant difficulties with accademic learning so much so that his parents considered specialist provision.He is a long way behind his peers and needs a lot of TA support in lessons.He has settled well in school and school have been really pleased.I admit though that I am not sure how much he is learning.

 

In our area there are also only two options for secondary.

There is an ASD specialist school which is excellent but offeres only art GCSE and skills at a basic level or there is mainstream with ASD outreach support.

The only other specialist secondary school within the LA caters for pupils with severe learning difficulties and medical needs.

I think most pupils with other learning difficulties or SLD go to mainstream secondary schools with some pupils in all of the them.

Karen.

[Suze]

Hi sally.My son attends a resourced asd unit within a mainstream high school.At primary level he had 25 hrs support as well as specialist english/maths tuition provided by a LA specialist teacher and typing tuition aswell so he could access a computer easier.However since he has gone to the uit he does,nt have quantified hours but a curriculum to suit his needs.He has had so much more help and understanding since he has been there.He has access to SALT once a fortnight, a friendhip social skills club and PE club too.All the staff are specifically qualified to teach ASD kids.His curriculum has been personalised to suit him , so he does,nt go to registration or assem,bly, he has freee study to do his homework in , and 1;1 english and maths.Aswell as accessing mainstream classes, he is due to be taking his gcse,s next yr....I cannot speak highly enough of the support he has had there

[Sally44]

I think he is still going to need to work in small groups etc. Not just because of 'autism', but because of the accompanying dx he has of moderate to severe speech disorder and also auditory processing disorder and processing delays.

However I am convinced that he is capable of passing exams. I don't know in what subjects yet - probably science and engineering or construction based. And I don't know how they would get that information out of him.

I feel that covering every subject may not be possible.

But the main thrust behind it has got to be that he is working towards some accredation.

 

I am finding it all a bit scary.

The SEN teacher I spoke to was very forceful about 'what the statement contains' is what the child gets.

So it would appear that when it is tailored to the child, that is probably via the statement and that there probably are not many placements geared towards capable children on the spectrum.

 

It just makes me wonder why that is the case.

[Sally44]

I have today asked our LEA to send me a list of SEN, ER and Independent SEN schools. I am sure they never sent me this list initially. It will be interesting to see what schools are on it, and especially if any of them are ER for autism and SPLD and communication disorders.

[Karen A]

So it would appear that when it is tailored to the child, that is probably via the statement and that there probably are not many placements geared towards capable children on the spectrum.

 

It just makes me wonder why that is the case.

 

Able children with ASD are expected to fit in mainstream.Specialist Provision tailored to their specific needs would be expensive and current fashion is very much pro-inclusion.

 

I have to say that having found out how well Ben is doing last night I am much more positive than I was yesterday though.

The reality is that Ben does not currently wish to be out of class with the ASD outreach teacher and very much wants to be with his NT peers.So he certainly would not want ASD specialist provision even if it was available.

Karen.

 

 

[Karen A]

I have today asked our LEA to send me a list of SEN, ER and Independent SEN schools. I am sure they never sent me this list initially. It will be interesting to see what schools are on it, and especially if any of them are ER for autism and SPLD and communication disorders.

 

Have you looked on the NAS autism services directory for your area ?

You could also check which schools have ''Autism Accreditation'' through the NAS.

 

[Suze]

Sally just wanted to add that although my son is in alot of mainstream classes at high school , these are invaraiably smaller classes and have at least 2 TA in them aswell, there is a deaf child,2 asd kids, in my sons english tutor group, its a high school mainstream class but has 12 kids in a teacher and 2 lsa,s ....so if you are imagining that your son could end up in a class with 30 other kids , its not always the case.My son is at a school with over 2000 kids in it , they have lots of kids with SEN , some very severe as these kids are now "included" in mainstream, I,ve found that his school are more than capable of giving him a really good crack at mainstream education.It has been positive for us.....still problematic , but positive,

[Michele17]

My son is in year 8, mainstream secondary and only did a full curriculum for the first term of year 7. We are now talking about him taking his options this year, and only 6 subjects - basically because you only need 6 GCSE's to carry on with A levels. He doesn't do PE, a language, drama, RE, History or art. It's not that he doesn't enjoy these - he can't cope with the lessons, even with support. He's going to do some extra curricular stuff in school time EG horse riding (we pay for it and take him!) so he's at least getting some physical activity. If we didn't do this, he'd be a complete hermit. The school - well, the SEN department - have been brilliant. His statement review last week was very positive and everyone was really trying to be creative about the way he can access his curriculum.

[Sally44]

There is only one secondary school within our LEA that is enhanced resource for ASD. My son is too capable for their autism unit. The classes are large and noisy - well they were when I visited!! The ASD children did have another area they could go to during breaktimes etc and some did their homework there. But, unless there is some dramatic improvement, my son is not going to be able to even 'hear' what the teacher says. He cannot read or write etc. But he probably could understand the lesson when given in a smaller group - and that option is not available.

 

The other school has children that go mainstream or they have a behavioural unit. Again they said that my son might be able to do some work there, but those children are much lower cognitive ability - which my son isn't. Also the behavioural and emotional aspect of it worries me because my son is very quiet and passive and would be frightened by other children acting in this way.

 

Both of the above schools do not have expertise in SPLD.

 

So the only other option looks like independent. But I can see from the different posts that I am really going to have to think outside the box, and visit every single school to see how they do things.

[Karen A]

There is only one secondary school within our LEA that is enhanced resource for ASD. My son is too capable for their autism unit. The classes are large and noisy - well they were when I visited!! The ASD children did have another area they could go to during breaktimes etc and some did their homework there. But, unless there is some dramatic improvement, my son is not going to be able to even 'hear' what the teacher says. He cannot read or write etc. But he probably could understand the lesson when given in a smaller group - and that option is not available.

 

The other school has children that go mainstream or they have a behavioural unit. Again they said that my son might be able to do some work there, but those children are much lower cognitive ability - which my son isn't. Also the behavioural and emotional aspect of it worries me because my son is very quiet and passive and would be frightened by other children acting in this way.

 

Both of the above schools do not have expertise in SPLD.

 

So the only other option looks like independent. But I can see from the different posts that I am really going to have to think outside the box, and visit every single school to see how they do things.

 

Hi Sally.

It sounds to meas though you may need to start by visiting every potential school in your LA in order to come up with solid reasons as to why they would not be suitable and could not be made suitable with appropriate provision.The LA are likely to push very hard to avoid independent provision unless as a last resort.

What year is your son in now ?