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Integration or an Asperger specific curriculum

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Do you think that too much emphasis is / was placed on trying to integrate kids with AS into the mainstream school curriculum and style of learning rather than in researching and developing a curriculum and style of learning that is better matched to the way their brains are wired? If so then do you think this is a good thing or should more research and development be carried out into creating a curriculum better matched to the AS brain?

 

I'm of the opinion that NC teaching materials and the GCSE exam have a populist bias intended for a neurotypical mindset that hinders many kids with AS. This all originates from initiatives in the 1980s to improve standards amongst the neurotypical and less intellectual masses who struggled with the basics. Very little research appears to have been carried out into whether kids with AS prefer and succeed better under alternative or foreign curricula and styles of learning rather than the NC.

Edited by Canopus

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I've trained many people on the spectrum, and think that there is definite scope to adapt the curriculum for specific learning styles. However these things, according to the government cost far too much to institute.

 

Personally I think that schools should be finding out about a pupils individual learning style and learning how to integrate that with the mainstream so that there is the best of both worlds.

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To the best of my knowledge AS was not taken into account when formulating and devising the National Curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence or the Northern Ireland Curriculum. It is added in as an afterthought. All three curricula have generated an entire textbook industry and state schools have to use these books.

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Yes definately for someone like my son.

 

But, as well as the teaching approach, his main barrier to mainstream is the number of children, environment etc. He struggles even with one or two other children. He is back to using ear defenders in the taxi because another child has joined and those two children talk/laugh/scream on the way into school. My son needs peace and quiet. He also has sensory issues and severe dyslexia, so there are a number of things going on.

 

But from my experience of families with children with aspergers who are mainstream, the majority of them tend to fall out of school when it gets to year 9 onwards. That could be to do with the 'student led' learning and approaching examinations.

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But from my experience of families with children with aspergers who are mainstream, the majority of them tend to fall out of school when it gets to year 9 onwards. That could be to do with the 'student led' learning and approaching examinations.

Would they have done better under the O Level system?

 

The NAS is not interested in any research into whether IGCSE or O Levels are more suited to kids with AS than GCSEs are. I have asked them. They are all for integration.

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That is really several questions rolled into one.

 

Certainly I am sure that the vast majority of AS children are NOT best educated in mainstream - every aspect of the environment is hostile to them. The first thing an AS specialist school will do is to provide a more appropriate environment, with the necessary therapy and provision so the children are not stressed and can concentrate on work.

 

The the style of teaching in mainstream is also hard for many AS children - a teacher in front of a large class relying primarily on the spoken word to teach also does not suit children like my son.

 

In terms of the academic curriculum itself I think that can be broadly similar for AS children, but each AS child is likely to find certain parts very difficult. However the subjects should be taught in different ways, e.g. making more use of visual and written information. However on top of that AS children need a lot more teaching in the area of communication, social skills, life skills and so on.

 

I think the GCSE approach they do today is probably easier for AS children than the old O Levels - the emphasis on course work and continuous assessment must be easier for most than having everything depending on a couple of exams at the end of the course - even the most able of AS children must find that very stressful. However that is changing again now and by the time my son gets to that age they will be more exam-orientated again.

 

I used to be all in favour of integration until it got to the stage of considering secondary education for our son - then just looking round a few schools I soon realised that it would never work for him. Seeing the AS schools they are set up so much better to cater for all the needs of the child.

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I really don't know about examinations. My son is assessed as around average cognitive ability, yet has severe dyslexia/dyscalculia and is not reading/writing much independently at age 12. So at this point I don't know what examinations he would take. He can absorb alot of information, and can answer questions about that knowledge - but his level of engagement is very variable.

 

All I know is that primary school was torture to him, to the point that he used to vomit on arrival at school. So if his anxiety was at such a level for years in a mainstream primary [and that chronic level of anxiety, I believe, was a major factor in him developing an Anxiety Disorder and OCD], then it certainly was not suitable for him.

 

I think his first major issue was getting overwhelmed with all the sensory input. So smaller classes and a plain environment helped. Then the way lessons were taught were the next hurdle. He cannot sit and listen for long. So ASD approaches helped. Then his Dyslexia needed addressing. Now the school is finding ways for him to access learning and to record his learning by most of it being on a laptop.

 

I think that alot more could be done for those children with Aspergers who are mainstream. I think they could have smaller class sizes for them [afterall there must be a handful in each mainstream secondary school]. And I think there could be much better support during breaks/dinnertime. If a school really wants to include those with an ASD they have to educate the staff and pupils. You cannot just leave those children to work it out for themselves because the very nature of an ASD means that they cannot.

 

I don't know whether GCSE or O Levels would be better. Every child on the spectrum is different. Some have brilliant memories. Others have problems with short term and working memory or problems with executive functions. Ability regarding theory of mind, inference, predicting outcomes etc varies greatly and these are all skills that are needed for learning both in understanding what is being taught and in demonstrating that they can apply that learning and how they record that ie. writing it down on paper or on a laptop.

 

Many children/adults on the spectrum can absorb information and regurgitate it ie. rote learning. But whether they can take that information and apply it, alter it, add to it etc is something totally different. And that is what our current system of learning/examinations requires. That the child answers specific questions that test that ability to understand information and draw out the salient points to answer the question.

 

And the level of speech and language difficulties also varies from child to child. And if there is a severe difficulty in this area it will affect the child's ability to read and comprehend and to formulate sentences/essays etc.

 

At my sons current school there is a former pupil who is now at the Royal Academy of Art and he exhibits his pictures. He is a very capable man. And yet he himself says he struggles to read/write as he too has dyslexia and the reading age of a 6 year old. So these vast differences in abilities/skill sets is something that sets ASD children apart, and each child has a different skill set. How do you get the best out of these children. A one size fits all system just does not work.

Edited by Sally44

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I think the GCSE approach they do today is probably easier for AS children than the old O Levels - the emphasis on course work and continuous assessment must be easier for most than having everything depending on a couple of exams at the end of the course - even the most able of AS children must find that very stressful. However that is changing again now and by the time my son gets to that age they will be more exam-orientated again.

I have mentioned before that my education psychologist said that I would do worse under the new style GCSEs with coursework than under the O Levels. I have also come across many other kids with AS who have strengths in the exam side of GCSE and struggle with the coursework. The exam has a structure and a target which can help in identifying what is required to obtain full marks but the unstructured nature of the coursework combined with a requirement for organisational and presentation skills can throw certain students and cause them to flounder and therefore fail to achieve full marks unless they are given much support.

 

Rather interestingly, I struggled with exams at university which are very different from GCSE and A Level exams.

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Only my personal experience, and I'm not from the UK:

I attended the equivalent of a grammar school, and did well, "integrated", probably because all the "loud" pupils were at other schools by then.

My son atm attends a special needs school for the physically disabled.

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I've just had a good school report for my son. His levels at age 12 are 2a for literacy, 3c for maths and 4c for science [which is very good considering we had years and years and years of him remaining on P levels]. So potentially he is capable of taking exams and getting good grades at age 16+. But what kind of examinations, or what level of support he will need we don't know yet.

 

I really dont think there is a one size fits all. My older brother who is probably Aspergers, and many others with Aspergers may do very well at O Level type examinations where they have the memory to remember facts and figures and write them down. But there are also alot of those on the spectrum with problems with speech and language, short term and working memory problems - like my son. What type of examination would suit them best?

 

When talking with professionals they seem to think my son is Aspergers [ie. cognitively able], but also with a severe speech and language, short term and working memory problems as well as dyslexia. So he doesn't fit into any box or category.

 

After leaving school there are maybe a wider option of further education or higher education available in general. But are those establishments able to meet the needs of ASD students to access those courses, get the support they need, and gain qualifications?

 

And although academic qualifications are very useful, what about social skills and life skills?

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This really shows the dilemma of ASD - there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

 

I know several people who I now believe to be AS who have done very well academically with an exam based approach, (aspergers was unheard of when I was doing exams). But these are mild forms of AS, even with the greater awareness these days they would not have been diagnosed until their teens, if at all. For them the ease of absorption of facts means the traditional exam plays to their strengths.

 

However in many more severe cases there are at lot of associated issues, such as anxiety, fear of failure, executive processing problems, issues with short term memory, not to mention motor skills problems that make writing very slow. For these children an exam is pretty much the worst possible environment.

 

My son hates being tested, if he comes across a question he can't do or does not understand he will just give up - not just on the question but on the whole test. He is very good at recalling facts, and so has the ability to do well in exams, but he builds such barriers that it is hard to see if he will get anywhere near his potential. On the other hand he does not really have the skills required for coursework - where the emphasis is more likely to be on the interpretation of facts rather than the facts themselves, but I think the lack of sch obvious pressure on course work means he may actually achieve more with that approach

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The subjects I found easiest at school were the sciences. The only coursework they had were assessed practicals which involved carrying out an experiment and writing a summary and conclusion for it in the space of one lesson. The subject I found hardest was English because it was all coursework with no exam. The lack of a structure and a target combined with a less than helpful teacher meant that I floundered around and got nowhere for all of Y10. Geography had a large coursework component but I was given a lot of help and support with it. Looking at good examples of previous assignments was very useful in determining a standard and a target to aim for.

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This really shows the dilemma of ASD - there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

 

I know several people who I now believe to be AS who have done very well academically with an exam based approach, (aspergers was unheard of when I was doing exams). But these are mild forms of AS, even with the greater awareness these days they would not have been diagnosed until their teens, if at all. For them the ease of absorption of facts means the traditional exam plays to their strengths.

 

...

I want to back you there, only I think it depends on the level of compensation you have (IQ-wise). I did well academically, but looking back I think I "invested" the equivalent of 20 IQ points in compensating for lack of skills due to autism.

 

Btw, I don't think you can call it mild, if you (as in my case) are totally unable to write any fictional text. I can only reproduce what I have seen or read or heard (verbatim, that is).

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Do you think that too much emphasis is / was placed on trying to integrate kids with AS into the mainstream school curriculum and style of learning rather than in researching and developing a curriculum and style of learning that is better matched to the way their brains are wired? If so then do you think this is a good thing or should more research and development be carried out into creating a curriculum better matched to the AS brain?

 

I'm of the opinion that NC teaching materials and the GCSE exam have a populist bias intended for a neurotypical mindset that hinders many kids with AS. This all originates from initiatives in the 1980s to improve standards amongst the neurotypical and less intellectual masses who struggled with the basics. Very little research appears to have been carried out into whether kids with AS prefer and succeed better under alternative or foreign curricula and styles of learning rather than the NC.

 

I think integration was just an excuse to close specialized support frankly. I cannot speak for others but my son has no desire or interest at ALL in anything integrational, and has told the system himself he won't cooperate because it is total stress to him.. There were numerous very heavy rows between us and the system, in that they suggested we were trying to keep him apart from others ! This was blackmail of the worst kind, but they refused him special education for years on that basis, until the 3 schools he was shunted to, said they themselves he should not be in mainstream at all. He was to them unteachable. Even when we used the legal aspect and got him special school placing, the extra curriculor support STILL demanded he attend integrated settings or, they would withdraw help. They said they were bound by law to do this, I said tell it to my son ! And went back to a solicitor who said SS could be in court for child abuse. Even at near adulthood residential supported living is based on him 'Integrating' with others, and it simply will not work on any valid level. Sadly there are austistic children for whom integration equals total stress. I threatened my SS AND his Dr with a court case to put a stop to integrated options, lie most parents we always hope our child can function on some level, but there are too some of our children who simply cannot. The analogy is a blind person being made to watch videos all day, but with no sound back up.

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I made a similar analogy to LGO that saying my son was on roll at a mainstream school was like supplying a blind person with a pair of spectacles. The placement is absolutely useless if the environment causes extreme anxiety and cannot be accessed. By being 'inclusive' they are excluding vulnerable children.

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I made a similar analogy to LGO that saying my son was on roll at a mainstream school was like supplying a blind person with a pair of spectacles. The placement is absolutely useless if the environment causes extreme anxiety and cannot be accessed. By being 'inclusive' they are excluding vulnerable children.

That's the feeling I get, too. How should mainstream school cope with hearing aids, epilepsy, motor skill problems and autism - and that's just in one child? I don't see that at all.

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It is a misguided and dogmatic a sop to political correctness. Basically it is to save money, by using moral blackmail on already pressurized parents, by suggesting WE are the issue, and not the fact mainstream is not equipped with the staff or professionalism to support our children. Even IF support was in mainstream, what we saw of the attempts, showed us, they still segregated our children in 'annexes' and rooms apart from mainstream peers, so it isn't even integration on any equal terms. The image' is still of autistics being kept apart from the rest. Either you can operate an equal access environment or you can't. Just putting our children on the same school site, is NOT integration.

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