Special Educational Needs: Autism

(asked on 30th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of autistic children (a) with an Education Health and Care Plan and (b) in receipt of SEN support returned to full-time education during the covid-19 outbreak at the start of autumn term 2020.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 4th November 2020

The government recognises the significant challenges that the COVID-19 outbreak has presented for autistic children and young people and their families. Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with autism, continues to be a priority for this government, and their wellbeing has been central to our response throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.

The department has been closely monitoring the return to school for children with SEND during the COVID-19 outbreak, through monitoring attendance data and engaging with local authorities where there appear to be issues.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the department is collecting daily attendance data. This is broken down by whether a child or young person has an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, rather than by individual type of need (including Autism Spectrum Disorder), so that we do not lace additional burdens on schools by asking them to provide information on multiple breakdowns of attendance data. Daily attendance of pupils with an EHC plan attending state-funded schools, in the first 2 weeks of the autumn term, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8d8096c1-c771-47fa-a19e-e25f18fc2e76.

As my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, made clear in his statement of 31 October 2020, our priority remains keeping all early years settings, schools and colleges open to all children and young people during the lockdown period commencing from 5 November. Schools and colleges should continue to ensure that autistic children and young people receive the education, therapeutic or specialist support and reasonable adjustments required to enable them to successfully engage with school or college. Published guidance on the full opening of schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Also, published guidance for full opening of special schools and other specialist settings provides a framework, approved by Public Health England, that sets out the high-level actions to be taken by schools and colleges. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings.

The department funds the Autism Education Trust (AET) to deliver training to education professionals and embed good autism practice in schools and colleges across England. The AET has developed a hub of guidance and resources for families, teachers and other professionals that is aimed at supporting children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes guidance for schools on making appropriate reasonable adjustments and practical strategies for managing increased anxiety, changes in routine and environment and transitions to new settings. This guidance is available at: https://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/?s=covid.

In addition, the whole school SEND consortium, funded by the department, have run training sessions and developed resources for teachers supporting pupils with SEND. Further information about this is available here: https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/whole-school-send/.

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