Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools

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Executive Summary School-aged students with ASD As stated earlier, the education available in schools for students with ASD – particularly in primary – has improved remarkably in recent years. The NCSE recognises that many schools, primary, post-primary and special, have embraced open and inclusive policies for educating this cohort of students. It is disappointing therefore that some mainstream schools have restrictive practices which effectively exclude students with ASD – even from special classes – unless they are able to follow academic programmes and be included in mainstream classes for at least a part of the week. Despite the growth and corresponding improvement in supports and educational provision for students with ASD, the availability of appropriate mainstream and special placements continues to be problematic in certain areas of the country, particularly for those with more complex learning and/or behavioural difficulties. As a result, we still consider it essential for the NCSE to be given the necessary legislative authority to put a national continuum of school provision in place. The NCSE should be equipped with the necessary authority to instruct a school to open a special class when deemed necessary by the NCSE. We found confusion in the system about the purpose and role of special classes for students with ASD, with some schools appearing to believe that the classes are resourced only to cater for the more able students with ASD. We are concerned that some students may be inappropriately placed or retained in mainstream or special classes when they might be more appropriately placed in a different setting. External professionals can greatly assist decision-making for students with ASD and their parents by stating clearly their view on the most appropriate placement for the child or young person. NEPS staffing allocation should allow for a psychologist to allocate an appropriate number of days each year to provide a quality service to special classes and to provide advice on educational placements. Through our consultation process, visits to schools and review of research, it became clear that, while there is good practice in many post-primary schools, the model of provision for postprimary students with ASD needs some refinement. The greater organisational complexity of the latter can be very problematic for a student with ASD at a time when they may have increased levels of anxiety due to puberty, difficulties in social communication and be striving for increased independence. Many post-primary teachers consider they are not adequately equipped to work with these students either in mainstream or special classes. 6 Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools – NCSE Policy Advice 2015
Executive Summary Some post-primary schools allocate resource teacher hours or special class hours to fill teachers’ timetables, regardless of a teacher’s levels of skills, competence or knowledge in special education and without taking the student’s learning needs into account. Such practice could not be regarded as child-centred or an effective use of State resources. We consider such practices should be discontinued. The current special class model may not be the most suitable for post-primary schools. There is a wide age and ability range represented in post-primary special classes and in some post-primary schools, special classes can be a segregated entity where teachers can feel isolated and de-skilled in terms of teaching their own subject area. In our view, students in post-primary special classes should be given access to a broad-based postprimary curriculum either through being included in mainstream classes wherever possible or by having a small number of specialist teachers allocated to teach their subjects at the appropriate levels to the special class. The number of teachers involved with the post-primary special class should be kept to the minimum necessary to provide students with access to a broad-based postprimary curriculum. We consider that post-primary schools, given their increased complexity, should be allocated additional hours for a teacher to work as a special educational needs co-ordinator, with overall responsibility for the academic progress of the class, the organisation of individualised timetables for students, the co-ordination of educational programmes and providing assistance during transitions. Models of support in post-primary schools should be age appropriate and reflect organisational structures. More able students with ASD should be supported through resourced mainstream provision while only those with complex needs should be placed in a special class. The DES should consider allocating hours to post-primary schools, in line with educational need, to enable a teacher to have overall responsibility for the organisation and co-ordination of educational programmes for students with special educational needs, including ASD. The DES should reframe its policy on the use of over quota hours for resource teaching to ensure that only teachers with appropriate skills, knowledge and competencies are allocated resource teaching hours. The practice of spreading resource teaching hours over an excessive number of post-primary teachers’ timetables should be discontinued. Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools – NCSE Policy Advice 2015 7
Page 1: Supporting Students with Autism Spe
Page 4 and 5: © NCSE 2015 National Council for S
Page 6 and 7: 2.3 Developing Knowledge, Skills, U
Page 8 and 9: Index of Tables Table 1: Increase i
Page 10 and 11: Abbreviations ABA ACCS ADHD APP ASD
Page 12 and 13: SEN SENO SENCO SERC SESS Severe EBD
Page 14 and 15: Executive Summary Executive Summary
Page 16 and 17: Executive Summary The NCSE is pleas
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Page 24 and 25: Executive Summary HSE Multidiscipli
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Page 28 and 29: Introduction 1. Introduction Under
Page 30 and 31: Introduction • A continuum of edu
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Pre-School Children and School-Aged
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Appendix 1: Summary of Previous Rel
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Appendix 2: Historical Context and
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Appendix 3: List of Special Schools
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Appendix 4: The Consultation Proces
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Appendix 4: The Consultation Proces
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Appendix 5: List of Interventions A
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Appendix 5: List of Interventions P
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Appendix 6: List of Recommendations
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Bibliography Bibliography Agency fo
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Bibliography Carr, J.E. and Firth,
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Bibliography Eikeseth, S., Smith, T
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Bibliography Mannion, A., Leader, G
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Bibliography New York State Departm
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Bibliography Reed, P., Osborne, L.A
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Bibliography Special Residential Se
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Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools

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