Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools

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Pre-School Children and School-Aged Students with ASD Groups were concerned that children on home tuition had no interaction with their peers. Concern was expressed that parents often seemed to consider that specialist settings or home tuition provided the best start for their child – even where a child did not necessarily need to be in such a setting and could be supported in mainstream pre-schools. Some groups felt children were required to start formal schooling before they were developmentally ready and that parents should be given the option of home tuition up until age five or six. Private providers felt that when a place in an early intervention class became available, they often had insufficient time to prepare the child to transition. They considered that changes in school placement should happen at the start of the school year rather than mid-year. Private providers wanted their pre-schools to be included in the special transport scheme. Parents wanted more information, advice and support from multidisciplinary teams as they felt left on their own once their child had received a diagnosis. There was concern that there was natural progression from a specialist pre-school to a special class – setting up a child for a specialist setting for all of his or her school life, even where mainstream options might be in the child’s better long-term interests. Groups wanted all placement options to be more widely available. 2.1.3 What Does the Research Tell Us? Research has clearly identified high quality early childhood education and care as benefiting all children in terms of well-being and lifelong learning. This includes children with special educational needs. For example, a major longitudinal study on UK pre-school education, found high quality pre-school education: • Was linked to better self-regulation, pro-social behaviour and lower levels of hyperactivity • Had somewhat stronger effects for students whose parents had lower qualifications compared to those with better educated parents • Can act as a protective factor and reduce the risk of special educational needs, especially for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of young children. These effects last up to the end of primary education. Studies show that it is the quality of preschool provision that makes the difference in bringing about positive effects for children’s development 22 . Factors identified by the OECD as encouraging quality in early childhood education and care include: qualifications, training and working conditions of staff; curriculum design and standards; regulation and quality goals. 22 In this regard, it is noted that the European Commission Country Report on Ireland, February 2015 found access to full-time childcare was limited and the quality of services remained a problem. Currently there is no comprehensive monitoring system for assessing the quality of childcare services. There is variable quality in terms of compliance with pre-school regulations, qualification levels of staff, in particular in centre-based services and shortcomings in pre-school curricula. 28 Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools – NCSE Policy Advice 2015
Pre-School Children and School-Aged Students with ASD For children with disabilities, research findings indicate that: • Specialised instruction, interventions and supports are key components of high-quality inclusion and, where necessary, are essential in reaching desired outcomes for children and their families • Inclusion can benefit children both with, and without, disabilities • Professional development is necessary to ensure that practitioners acquire the knowledge, skills and ongoing supports needed to implement inclusion effectively. Characteristics of good quality early intervention and pre-school development for children with ASD include: • Multidisciplinary collaborative approach to assessment leading to individualised planning, intervention and developmentally appropriate practice. • Intervention in natural environments and with access to typically developing children. • Supportive, structured and planned teaching which takes into account the need for predictability and routine. • An appropriate curriculum with a focus on developing attention, positive behaviours, imitation, language and social skills and use of visual supports. • Review, evaluation and adjustment of the programme. • Structured environments and a functional approach to challenging behaviours. • Sustainable family involvement. There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of some specific interventions for some younger children across home, community and school settings. A list of those shown to have positive effects for some children and young people with ASD is provided in Appendix 5. Two early intervention sites (two classes in one primary school and one in a special school) were evaluated as part of the NCSE commissioned study on ASD provision. Very good, child-centred practice was observed in relation to: teacher assessment; individualised planning; transition; selection and use of generic and ASD specific teaching methodologies; data collection and monitoring of progress; and supporting self-regulation. Areas with scope for improvement included: consideration of the child’s co-occurring special educational needs in the context of assessment; identifying achievable child-specific targets; greater use of Aistear, the early childhood curriculum framework; more information for parents on children’s progress and outcomes; adopting a supported approach to including children in classes with their peers who do not have ASD. Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools – NCSE Policy Advice 2015 29
Page 1: Supporting Students with Autism Spe
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Page 30 and 31: Introduction • A continuum of edu
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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 Mannion, A., Leader, G
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Bibliography Reed, P., Osborne, L.A
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Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools

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