National Autistic Society response to the Independent Review on Home Education

11 June 2009

A National Autistic Society response to the Independent Review on Home Education

The National Autistic Society (NAS) welcomes the review's recognition of the challenges faced by families of children with autism who home educate and is calling for a stronger focus on making sure they get the support that should be theirs by right.

Mark Lever, chief executive of the NAS, said:

"A lack of understanding of autism means the school experiences of children with the condition are frequently marred by misunderstandings, inadequate support and often bullying.

"Some parents are, consequently, left with little alternative other than to home educate in the best interests of their child's mental and physical well-being. In some of the worst cases we hear that parents are placed under pressure by schools to remove their children under threat of permanent exclusion or prosecution.

"Under the report's recommendations parents would be required to register as home educators and have their progress reviewed by local authorities. Far too many parents of children with autism who home educate are simply left alone 'to get on with it'. We want to see local authorities who have the training and resources in autism to be able to work in partnership with parents. It is absolutely essential that this is a two-way relationship founded on support and not monitoring alone. This must also take account of whether local authorities are meeting their duties towards children with this complex condition.

"With the right help at the right time children with autism can and do flourish, so in the best interests of all concerned it is absolutely vital that appropriate safeguards and support are in place."

My comment

When will these prats from the NAS realise that HE parents overwhelmingly don't want LA officials dictating to their children what they should be learning and how lessons should be taught? They are more than happy to be simply left alone 'to get on with it'. With the right help at the right time children with autism can and do flourish - and the NAS has not provided my son with an ounce of help at any time. After years of misery at school he has turned out to be a happy HE 13 year old with a life of his own studying stuff that he enjoys and feels will be useful for him. He doesn't want, or need, intervention from officialdom who rarely understand HE and just do their jobs to pay the bills!

I am rapidly concluding that the NAS is another fake charity pushing government policy and diktat without the accountability of the government. The b*****d twin of the NSPCC.

The NAS has done absolutely naff all to help my son back when he was at school, or when he was HE, or whilst attending college. I approached the NAS when I suspected my son had AS after watching a documentary on television. They provided some useful information but repeated requests for them to actually do anything came to nothing.

I think the saddest thing is that so many parents of children with AS put too much faith and trust in the NAS that it causes them to be blinkered, and therefore overlook or underrate other sources of information and support. Over the last few years I have met numerous parents of children with AS who systematically think what the NAS says or believes in is the best advice.

We want to see local authorities who have the training and resources in autism to be able to work in partnership with parents. It is absolutely essential that this is a two-way relationship founded on support and not monitoring alone. This must also take account of whether local authorities are meeting their duties towards children with this complex condition.

Will LAs have appropriately trained SEN staff to teach 13 year olds how to ride a bike? The only LA provided cycling training courses are for primary school children; assume children initially can ride a bike; and do not specifically cater for children with SEN.

Secondary school age children with AS struggle with more issues than maths or spelling. To make matters worse, many of the difficulties facing secondary school age children with AS are things that society takes for granted that neurotypical children can do - like riding a bike. My son does not require help with maths and spelling. Neither does he want LA officials forcing him to participate in subjects he doesn't want to participate in such as French or team sports.

Does the NAS realise that many problems resulting from AS magically vanish when children are taken out of school and HE? Does the NAS realise that much of the SEN support offered in schools is no longer required for HE children? Does the NAS realise that parents of HE children with AS increasing migrate towards the HE community and away from the AS community because the HE community offers the services and advice the family needs whereas the AS community is tied-up with school related issues?

I recently attended a meeting at a local AS support group that was independent but became part of the NAS last year. All of the other people attending seemed to have their head in the sand over the Badman report and its possible effects on HE families. The support group has never been active in promoting HE despite quite a few children being HE themselves. One concern I have is that some HE families do not have regular access to the internet, making it difficult to get up to date with developments surrounding changes in HE policy. The AS support group premises doesn't have its own computer with internet access that its members can use. I have requested a computer (running Linux, so no games for kids) with internet access for the group but nothing has materialised.

If there is one service that LAs can provide that few parents are likely to object to, it is allowing HE children to take exams at state schools. Currently very few state schools are willing to allow private candidates or HE children to sit exams alongside children enrolled at the school. Opening up state schools to allow HE children to take exams is not without its difficulties and problems. Some of these difficulties result from the coursework content of the GCSE and how it is unlikely that state schools will offer all examination IGCSEs because they do not comply with the NC.

How many strings will be attached to this? I can envisage a situation where HE children registered with the LA are automatically entered in for GCSE exams in certain subjects whether they want to take them or not. The grades they get will then be used by the government as a quantitative means to assess the quality of HE. There are tons of material out there praising the virtues of HE, but on closer examination, most of it is qualitative rather than quantitative. Secondary schools are rated by how many students get 5 GCSEs, C grade or above.

A letter to the NAS

Dear National Autistic Society

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly. ... 74&a=19805

On the above web page your press release states:

The National Autistic Society (NAS) welcomes the review's recognition of the challenges faced by families of children with autism who home educate and is calling for a stronger focus on making sure they get the support that should be theirs by right.

and that Mark Lever said

"Under the report's recommendations parents would be required to register as home educators and have their progress reviewed by local authorities. Far too many parents of children with autism who home educate are simply left alone 'to get on with it'. We want to see local authorities who have the training and resources in autism to be able to work in partnership with parents. It is absolutely essential that this is a two-way relationship founded on support and not monitoring alone. This must also take account of whether local authorities are meeting their duties towards children with this complex condition."

I urge Mr Lever and the NAS to re-evaluate the recommendations in this report.

Those home educating families with children with autism who want state assistance are able to ask for it without being forced to register, to be inspected and to subject their children to interviews by LA staff without a chosen advocate or parent present. Mr Badman's proposals are totally disproportionate to the preceived problems.

If autistic children are not getting access to the services they require, it is the services access that needs addressing. It is a complete misdirection of effort to create a home education monitoring system that in itself is damaging to children. This back to front thinking would create a system where in order for a child to have the best chance of accessing appropriate services for their autistic needs, they would of necessity have to be home educated because no such proposal is being made for schooled children.

If the council refuse collector keeps leaving my dustbin unemptied it would be disproportionate to require me to register with the LA and have my dustbin inspected and the refuse collection monitored (all very costly and time consuming and invasive) when simple instruction to the refuse collector to do the job properly or lose the job is all that is required.

To save me repeating what someone else has already said very eloquently, I refer you to a letter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman which explains why the Badman Review is discredited. I hope you will take the time to read it and that you will reconsider your press release and your support for the review.

http://maire-staffordshire.blogspot.com ... dsman.html

Yours sincerely
Clare Murton

More like HE children returning to school in Y11 to do their GCSE coursework. Most GCSEs have such a large coursework content that there is often no choice but to take them at an educational institution with the required equipment and staff.

There is no evidence that the NAS has even looked into alternative qualifications such as IGCSEs. They are strongly committed to ensuring that ALL children with autism have full access to the NC and its prescribed exams whether they want it or not.

I have been so busy reading all the home ed stuff on this review/proposals that I hadn't seen the NAS response and quite frankly it makes me quite sick. They apparently have no idea what makes the average home ed family tick or indeed the autistic family. How on earth can they believe that we should want ANY local authority intervention? Just when i was trying to recover from the propsect of a local authoritarian marching into my home with the weight of the law behind them, casting their judgemental eye about my home and deciding that my home ed provision doesn't tick their boxes, now they'll want to intervene with services that they deem necessary because of my sons perceived special needs?

school was a huge let down for him, he only managed for a term with all the associated stress and depression, because he wanted to see santa at the xmas party. After that he wanted no more. In school we had no local authority help and statementing was refused twice, because the LA knew better. Would i want them 'helping me' now? I don't think so. He taught himself to read, does maths in his head from real world problems and doesn't yet write (he is not quite 7) tho' I can see a gradual improvement in his development each time he attempts a greetings card. Whatever he puts his mind to he does well and quickly. He rode a bike within minutes because he wanted to. Learned to swim, under water first, again because its fun. He is also doing some gcse level history, geography and science, with no curriculum, but he loves them. Would i want an LA nimby messing that all up with their own imposed idea of appropriate? ABSOLUTELY not.

The idea makes me shudder...

I'm tempted to say that the NAS are living in a timewarp. There was a time when children with ASD were sent to SEN schools that offered an inferior curriculum to that offered at a state school, such as only teaching basic primary school knowledge at secondary level, or lacking the resources to teach certain subjects that were either useful or what the children attending the school wanted to study. I attended a residential SEN school that lacked computer facilities and didn't offer a computing GCSE that I wanted to take. These days are now history as most children with SEN can access the best part of the NC regardless of what school they attend. You are right in saying that the issue nowadays is whether the children do or don't want to study NC subjects.



The NAS appears to side more with the establishment than the people they are supposed to support.

The NAS is suspiciously quiet about the defeat of Badman's proposals to implement compulsory registration and monitoring of HE children.