Autism and Aspergers Syndrome

[User10119]

Interesting that Shooter was working in Gwent, to me at least. Some good friends of mine live in that neck of the woods, with two kids. One has ASC and personifies nicely the term 'diagnosed in Tesco aspie' - as in it is blindingly obvious - but it took years of their parents fighting to even get assessed followed by more years of battles to get a statement. Although when that finally got put on place it was for the practically unheard of 25 hours of 1-2-1. Said child, finally diagnosed and suitably supported, has flourished in secondary school - top results in year/school/county in some exams - after years of primary school misery with their parents being told that their child was just naughty and not as clever as they, with their aspirational middle class expectations, believed.

Their second child has no statement - because statements were no longer being awarded to any child - and they _definitely_ didn't have dyslexia, apparently, because no children were being diagnosed with the condition any more. My friends were told, once again, that the problem was their refusal to accept that their kid was just a bit thick which, having known said child their whole life, I know isn't true. Fortunately, their secondary school believes that the kid has genuine barriers to learning and act accordingly. Yes, it is only anecdata from one family but services in Gwent hardly seem to be a shining beacon of best practice to me..

 

[Bazzer]

[QUOTE 5194622, member: 10119"]Interesting that Shooter was working in Gwent, to me at least. Some good friends of mine live in that neck of the woods, with two kids. One has ASC and personifies nicely the term 'diagnosed in Tesco aspie' - as in it is blindingly obvious - but it took years of their parents fighting to even get assessed followed by more years of battles to get a statement. Although when that finally got put on place it was for the practically unheard of 25 hours of 1-2-1. Said child, finally diagnosed and suitably supported, has flourished in secondary school - top results in year/school/county in some exams - after years of primary school misery with their parents being told that their child was just naughty and not as clever as they, with their aspirational middle class expectations, believed.

Their second child has no statement - because statements were no longer being awarded to any child - and they _definitely_ didn't have dyslexia, apparently, because no children were being diagnosed with the condition any more. My friends were told, once again, that the problem was their refusal to accept that their kid was just a bit thick which, having known said child their whole life, I know isn't true. Fortunately, their secondary school believes that the kid has genuine barriers to learning and act accordingly. Yes, it is only anecdata from one family but services in Gwent hardly seem to be a shining beacon of best practice to me..[/QUOTE]

I think it is very much a mixed picture. A previous LA Mrs B worked for, was wholly behind identification of children with SEN. When she had to change LA because of my job, she moved to one where, shall we say, there was less enthusiasm. And was at one time, accused by the head of the school she was in at the time, of wanting to turn his secondary school into a special school because of her identification of children with SEN and the support she tried to get into place.

 

[Turdus philomelos]

Though no expert, I have worked in education for 15 years. What I have learnt is Asperger's presents differently in girls in comparison to boys. I am also led to believe that the testing is also different between sexes. Though this was not always the case and many girls were not diagnosed.

One year, a pupil who had went through 7 years of primary school turned up at first day at secondary with no cause for concerns. I observed straight something needed investigated further. They had their diagnoses a few months later.

One pupil I worked with was delighted with their diagnoses as it explained to them why they were different to their peers.

 

[MikeG]

[QUOTE 5194622, member: 10119"].........didn't have dyslexia, apparently, because no children were being diagnosed with the condition any more..........[/QUOTE]

Hmmm. Gwent seems an interesting place, educationally. A bit of an outlier. My wife's primary school regularly assesses kids as having Asperger's and dyslexia.

Here's a new one........ODD. Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Suspended 5 times in one term for hitting people (adults and children). The school keeps on giving him "one last chance", desperate that a 5 year old isn't tarnished by expulsion. Assigned individual adult supervision for the entire time he is on school premises at the school's expense (there is no LA money to cover it). Routinely refuses all commands and requests. For the first time in 30 years of teaching my wife has requested restraint training, for the safety of other kids in her class. The local authority has refused.

 

[Drago]

Behavioural problem, not a medical one. In my school, nearly 50 years back, there was the odd kid like that. The behaviour didn't last long into the school year.

Sorry to hear about Mrs @MikeG's predicament. Make sure she records dates, times, and names involved in each refusal, so when the kid does eventually hurt someone she doesn't get hung out to dry herself.

Mrs D is a special needs T/A, currently training to be a special needs teacher. She does one on one with a child, and she says its futile. The problems are perpetuated by the parents that entrench the behaviour for the 18 hours a day they're not at school.

 

[Drago]

ODD is a behavioural problem, not a medical one - in that regard, unlike those with ASD, they are just naughty kids.

 

[User10119]

Though no expert, I have worked in education for 15 years. What I have learnt is Asperger's presents differently in girls in comparison to boys. I am also led to believe that the testing is also different between sexes. Though this was not always the case and many girls were not diagnosed.

Typically presents differently, I'd say. The EldestCub's ASC presentation would probably have been more what one would expect, classically, from a girl. The lack of some of the 'classic' markers for boys probably delayed identification. My pet theory is that we socialise girls and boys massively differently and train them to meet very different expectations about behaviour, communication and social skills so it makes sense that a condition that affects social skills and communication will present very differently.

One pupil I worked with was delighted with their diagnoses as it explained to them why they were different to their peers.

This, this, a thousand times times this!

Hmmm. Gwent seems an interesting place, educationally. A bit of an outlier. My wife's primary school regularly assesses kids as having Asperger's and dyslexia.

As do the schools my kids attend, and all the schools I work in. I thought it was interesting that the expert cited to support the theory that ASC is an excuse for poor parenting, and over-diagnosed, worked in a region where that seems to be less the case in my anecdotal experience.

For the first time in 30 years of teaching my wife has requested restraint training, for the safety of other kids in her class. The local authority has refused.

Surely staff CPD is agreed and paid for by the school, not the authority? Having said that round here the schools pay for it and the LA sometimes deliver it, and there can be a wait for there to be sufficient demand to make a course cost-effective/viable. Mind, she's lucky if she's not needed it before. I remember walking in to my son's reception class and realising that three separate teachers/TAs were actively in the process of using team teach techniques to restrain a child at that one moment, all on different children. It's no wonder my sweet, compliant (unless you made him paint/sit in a circle/sing/various other things), well-behaved, bright, funny little aspie flew under the radar for so long while being quietly rather sad and massively underachieving.

 

[MikeG]

ODD is a behavioural problem, not a medical one - in that regard, unlike those with ASD, they are just naughty kids.

No, it's a medical problem with behavioural symptoms. He isn't just some wild child with weak parents. His 3 siblings are immaculately behaved and well balanced kids, apparently.

 

[MikeG]

[QUOTE 5194736, member: 10119"].......Surely staff CPD is agreed and paid for by the school, not the authority? ........[/QUOTE]

The school is broke. It can't even afford supply teachers. They apparently asked the LA for help with restraint training, but were refused.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

The school is broke. It can't even afford supply teachers. They apparently asked the LA for help with restraint training, but were refused.

The schools funding crisis is dreadful. At my youngest’s school, they need to fundraise for just about anything including library books. Staff? Hah! Soon kids will have an app with a virtual teacher.

Compare that to my oldest’s school (7 years difference) where they had the disposable to pay ME £3k to do various landscaping projects around the grounds.

 

[MontyVeda]

And old friend was recently diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of forty-ish... best thing that ever happened to him. It helped him understand his confidence issues and various other personal quirks, and ultimately stopped him trying to control his mind and mood with booze, which at the worst he was knocking back around 25 units a day.

 

[lane]

I am sure a lot go undiagnosed rather than being over diagnosed. This link on the BBC News website today provides some interesting stories from women who were only diagnosed late in life and what a difference the diagnosis has made to them. Given the chronic underfunding of children's mental health services I would imagine it is quite hard to get a diagnosis at all. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/women_late_diagnosis_autism

 

[GuyBoden]

Soon kids will have an app with a virtual teacher.

Seriously, that sounds ideal for Kids on the Autistic spectrum.

 

[MontyVeda]

Seriously, that sounds ideal for Kids on the Autistic spectrum.

Homeschooling in rural America is very common, and they pretty much do have virtual teachers.

 

[User10119]

The school is broke. It can't even afford supply teachers. They apparently asked the LA for help with restraint training, but were refused.

That's the nightmare of devolved funding. The SEN funds were allegedly devolved to the the schools along with the responsibility for SEN provision, without ring fencing, as part of the inclusion agenda although what we were told on the pgce 15 years ago was that the numbers didn't really stack up. The authority doesn't have the money either, and the centralised resources, facilities and expertise has been eviscerated.

I've seen so many amazing examples of mainstream inclusion working brilliantly, both for the individual with additional needs and for the school community that are a part of, but it is so often achieved at the expense of the well-being and work-life balance of committed classroom teachers - the Mrs G's of this world - with inadequate funding and insufficient resources and training, busting a gut to make it successful.