Guardian supplement about autism and education on Tuesday 19th May

On Tuesday 19th May the Guardian have a supplement about autism and education.

This four-page supplement, in partnership with the Autism Education Trust, will provide an in-depth look at autism education in England, with case studies from teaching staff, families and young people on the autism spectrum across the country.

I don't usually read the Guardian and neither do I know anyone else who does, so I had to go out and buy it. The articles in the 4-page supplement were written by people from an organisation called the Autism Education Trust (AET) and not produced in house by Guardian journalists.

Overall I found the articles less than impressive. There was a bias towards traditional low functioning autism with only a superficial mention of Asperger syndrome, and little in the way of new material on the subjects. A very good point was raised about the lack of connectivity between different organisations (such as the NHS, education system, and social services) that provides support and services to people with ASDs and how each organisation has a liking for offloading the responsibility for services to others. Lack of collaboration between different organisations is often the result of separate funding and budgets for each organisation, leading to many organisations providing services according to their budgets rather than the needs of people with ASD.

What disappointed me the most is that almost the entire theme of the supplement was about the provision of services for children with ASD within the state school system, such as inclusion strategies and teacher training. Home education was mentioned only once as an option in situations of refusing to attend school due to anxiety. Inclusion strategies mentioned the use of special ASD units attached to a mainstream state school. There is much controversy and debate in whether this really is inclusion if children with ASD spend most of their time in these units rather than in the school itself mixing with children not in the unit.

Another disappointment was that the supplement focused on children with no mention of adults apart from one statement by the chief executive of the NAS that ASD is a lifelong condition. There were also no articles about further education and strategies to support students with ASD in colleges and universities. This lack of coverage of older teenagers and adults could create a false impression in the minds of people unfamiliar with ASD that children naturally grow out of their condition at the age of 16 and it no longer affects them. This of course is untrue.

One of the articles contained a glaring mistake - which in my opinion is inexcusable considering the background of the person who wrote it. The article stated that diagnosis of ASD by a professional triggers a Statement of Special Educational Needs. This is untrue because there is no legislation in place that demands that a LA creates a statement of SEN for a child automatically following their official diagnosis of ASD.

Finally, just exactly who is the AET? They were launched in November 2007 with funding from the Department of Children, Schools and Families. In other words, a government funded body. I am concerned that the AET may be operating in the interests of the government more than in the interests of the people that it is supposed to serve.

What do you expect from the Guardian?

I read it and was disappointed. There was nothing in it that would have been of benefit to my son when he was at school. An ASD unit attached to a mainstream school would have been unsuitable for my son because he would not be able to access various resources that the school provides including computer rooms and science labs. My findings are that ASD units are rarely used primarily as resource centres for ASD to support staff and children with ASD, but are used to contain children with ASD for long periods of time, therefore keeping them away from the main school.

The AET looks ominous and is almost certainly an outfit that believes that ALL children should attend school and despises HE families or those who consider HE a viable and productive choice for children with ASD.