Pupils: Autism

(asked on 3rd May 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what pathways his Department has established at schools for the identification of children with autism in schools.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 14th May 2018

Due to the wide range of abilities of individual children and young people, we do not set a separate pathway for identification specific conditions such as autism. Instead, we require schools to assess a pupil’s needs as soon as they become aware that they are not achieving their potential.

The pupil’s teacher and the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) should involve other teachers and should include the views and experience of the pupil, their parents or carers and any relevant external supporting information. If they identify a need for special educational support, they must formally notify the parents or carers and agree what adjustments, interventions or support will be put in place in a support plan. The subject teacher then is responsible for implementing the plan on a daily basis. The school should review the impact and progress made by the planned date and provide further support as needed. This “Assess, Plan, Do, and Review” cycle is set out for schools in detail in paragraphs 6.36-6.56, in the statutory ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.

In terms of training for teachers to identify autism in primary schools, we have contracted with the Autism Education Trust to deliver training to staff in, early years schools (primary and secondary) and colleges. The 2018-2020 contract builds on previous contracts providing “whole school” autism training since 2012 for a wide range of staff and not just teachers. More than 150,000 staff have been trained to date.

From July 2016 Initial Teacher Training includes specific special educational needs and disabilities content, including on autism.

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