The National Autistic Society campaigns to ensure that every child and young person with autism has access to the right support to enable them to learn and realise their ambitions, in the same way as their peers, through our Great Expectations campaign, through the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Autism, and as a member of the Special Educational Consortium.

Too many children with autism are being let down by special educational needs (SEN) provision in England and are struggling to access the support they need.

The Government has committed to reforming the current system for children and young people with the aim of providing a more coherent, joined up approach to meeting children’s needs and ending the battle parents so often face.

The draft legislation, published at the beginning of September, marks the biggest change to the SEN system in over thirty years, so the NAS wants to ensure that these proposals work for all children and young people with autism in education.

Positive aspects of the reforms include: 

• Assurances that the new Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will offer the same protections as statements of special educational needs 
• Extend SEN law to cover academies and free schools  
• Extend the system to cover young people in further education up to the age of 25

However, we believe these reforms must lead to significant improvements on the current situation for all children with autism, so that they get the support they need and parents no longer have to fight to get it.

The Education Select Committee is now examining the draft legislation in detail.  At this point in time, the legislation is only in draft and it will take over a year for the changes to become law. You can read what it says here: www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm84/8438/8438.pdf

You can write to the Education Select Committee to tell them your views on the draft legislation.  They have various questions they want views on, including:

• Does the draft Bill meet the Government’s policy objective to improve provision for children with SEN and/or disabilities?   
•  Will the Bill succeed in cutting red tape and delays in giving early specialist support for children and young people with SEN and/or disabilities?   
•  Do the provisions achieve the aim of integrated planning and assessment across agencies? 
• Do the provisions set out for 19 to 25 year olds provide a suitable balance between rights, protection, and flexibility? 
•  Is there anything missing from the draft Bill?

The Education Committee has asked for evidence to be submitted by noon on 11 October 2012 at the latest and earlier if possible.

The NAS believes that the legislation can be strengthened in a number of ways to ensure that the new system will work better.  Some things you might like to mention in your response include:

• Changes to the SEN system must ensure that all children with autism have access to the specialist support that they need at school, even without an EHCP. In a survey carried out for this year’s Great Expectations campaign, the NAS found that only 65% of parents surveyed said their child with autism had a statement
•  There need to continue to be clear rights for parents set out in the legislation so they can get the support their child needs  
• Before the final SEN Code of Practice is published, the Government must consult on it and Parliament must have the opportunity to examine it. 
•  The draft legislation creates a “local offer” where Local Authorities will set out what support they expect to be available for children with SEN. This must be clear enough that parents know they can get the support and services their child needs.  This should include being able to use it in tribunals 
• The draft provisions suggest that EHCPs could cease where educational outcomes are achieved. This could create the incentive to set low targets, which could limit children and young people’s ability to realise their aspirations 
• Parents of children with EHCPs can express a preference for any state-funded school, however it needs to be made clear that this extends to independent special schools, which often provide the most specialist support
•  The Bill should also ensure that a young person with autism who leaves education to enter employment, or some other reason, can once again access support if they decide to return to education.

Submissions should be sent by email to educom@parliament.uk with the subject “Pre-legislative scrutiny: SEN.”

You can find more guidance about how to respond to the Committee on their website:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news/new-inquiry-sen/

Many thanks for your help!

Initial SEN pathfinder findings published

Initial findings from the team evaluating the SEND pathfinders have been published. The report examined 10 pathfinder case studies in March. It found:

• Strategic engagement so far has been good
• There is a lack of capacity
• Most families involved are coming via an education route
• The single assessment process is largely being taken forward following assessments by summarising assessments in a single document, which may assist with planning, and co-ordinated through key workers
• Changes are likely to be costly to implement

 You can read more in the Powerpoint presentation or in the full 60 page report.

“The Right Start”: The All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism launches recommendations for reform of Special Educational Needs

On the 11th July, members of the policy and campaigns team at the NAS met with MPs, Peers and experts in autism at The House of Commons to celebrate the publication of "The Right Start", the APPGA report into autism in schools. The report recommends better special educational needs training for teachers, designating a lead teacher for autism in every school and involving young people with autism and their parents more in the development of their educational support. It also states that children with or without statements should be assured of access to the new Education, Health and Care Plan, and that SEN provision should extend up to the age of 25 in order to facilitate the transition from school into training, further education and employment. The APPGA’s full findings and recommendations are available here.

Children and Families Minister Sarah Teather spoke about plans to train teachers in SEN through online materials and scholarship programmes. She highlighted the role of the Pathfinder pilot scheme in testing personalised support for students, and the Achievement for All programme in helping teachers to better engage with parents when planning a child’s educational needs. Ms Teather said that involving young people and their parents was “the whole spirit” of the reforms to SEN, and emphasised that the replacement of statements with the ECHP was “intended to involve families much better right from the beginning to ensure that support is in place right from the earliest point”. Speaking of the educational reforms as a whole, she said “we are very serious about getting the detail right.”

The Minister’s address was followed by speeches from Ambitious about Autism’s youth patron Josie Ryan, and The National Autistic Society’s young campaigner Jacob Denness. Speaking from her own experiences, Josie strongly endorsed more input by parents and young people into their educational support: “I know what it feels like to be the invisible one in a mainstream school surrounded by teachers who have no idea. I also know what it’s like to have a teacher who points out everything I can do and am good at, not what I can’t do.” Jacob called on MPs “to be pushy for people with autism in your constituency. We have taken the first steps to helping every autistic child or autistic person and it is up to you to push for those steps to continue.” Robert Buckland MP, Chair of the APPGA, made closing remarks in which he thanked the Minister and the speakers for their contributions, and expressed a hope that the reforms would “empower and enable young people with autism and related conditions to thrive in the school and college environment.”

We hope that the Government will continue to commit to getting the detail of SEN reform right, and will adopt the report’s recommendations in the forthcoming Children and Families Bill to help create a more efficient, more effective and more supportive educational experience for children and young people with autism.

Sarah Teather gives evidence to SEN select committee

On 20th June, the Education Committee held a one-off special evidence session about the government’s upcoming legislation on Special Educational Needs. The government’s current proposals could lead to the biggest reforms in education and health support for children with SEN and disabilities for over 30 years. The government had initially intended to publish the draft clauses forfor its reforms in July, but they will now aim to publish them in September.

Regarding the government’s proposal of personal budgets for families with children with SEN, Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead asked if personal budgets are suitable for all families, as many may find managing the budget stressful. However, Sarah Teather MP, the Minister of State for Children and Families, affirmed that the government had no intention of making personal budgets compulsory, commenting that this is “partly because families will want to do different things at different stages.”

The minister also recognised the different provisions for children with SEN in mainstream and specialist schools, and stated that there is a range of practices that are extremely useful and that government intended to encourage the two sectors to share their different types of expertise between them.

On the topic of exclusions, the minister accepted that while exclusion is a signal for a reassessment of a child’s needs, it may still be necessary for schools to exclude even after they have gone through a local multi-agency assessment that included social care.

One of the main topics of conversation was the consultation surrounding the Green Paper that the government published in March 2011. Craig Whittaker, MP for Calder Valley, pointed out that out of the 2,378 replies to the government’s consultation, only six came from children, and that the voice of children and young people in future reforms needs to be sharpened up significantly. Sarah Teather replied that it is not necessarily realistic for children to respond to a Green Paper but that her department have been doing some great work with young ambassadors from the Council for Disabled Children.

The minister also noted that from this autumn supported internships are being trialed at 14 colleges around England for young people aged between 16 and 25 who have complex learning difficulties or disabilities. The trials will test a study programme for supported internships that could be adopted by all further education colleges from September 2013. The trial is intended to enable young people to get some experience of work, to begin with independent living, and to support them during that process.

On the subject of the “patchwork quilt” of different services available in different areas of the country, Sarah Teather claimed that it is inevitable, and in some ways desirable, that different Local Authorities offer different services. However, the minister stated that the government will not impose minimum standards in order to allow local authorities to be better in different areas, claiming that “minimum standards just drive everything to the bottom rather than driving things upward.”

In concluding, the minister stated that “Money is not being well spent in the current system.” She added that for some children, their needs are so extraordinarily complex that inevitably they are going to be at a high level of need, and that too much money is being spent on fighting families and on bureaucracy rather than actually providing services right from the beginning.

Young Campaigners meet Education Minister, Sarah Teather

On 27 March the National Autistic Society’s Young Campaigners group met Sarah Teather, Minister for Children and Families.  They discussed how schools can be improved for young people with autism, as part of our Great Expectations campaign.

The meeting gave our Young Campaigners the opportunity to share their own experiences of school life and to campaign for changes in the provision of Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Following the Government’s proposal for reforming the SEN system, the group has been devising a campaign to ensure that children and young people with autism have more support and choice in school. The groups’ campaign has three simple aims:

• For children and young people with autism to be involved in decisions affecting them.
• For teachers to better understand pupils with autism and how to support them.
• To ensure that all students have the same opportunities, whoever they are and wherever they live.

The Young Campaigners each put a question to the Minister about these aims and have asked the Government to:

·        Ensure that all students with autism have a personalised plan to monitor progress.

·       Ensure the Local Offer, proposed in the SEN and Disability Green Paper, includes meaningful information which enables young people with autism and their families to access support which meets their needs.

·        Publicise the best practice guide for School Council’s, which the group has created.

One campaigner, Tiernan, 13, explained: “I wanted to do this because I want to raise awareness of autism and related conditions so that I can improve the lives of people with autism and other Special Educational Needs. Sarah Teather seemed to listen and care about our experiences.  For people with autism, like myself, school can be a living nightmare.”

Take Action:

To pledge your support the campaign, please sign their e-petition at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31657

Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather MP gives evidence to APPGA

On the 6^th and 13^th of March, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) held oral evidence sessions as part of its Commission into Special Educational Needs reform.

The panel, chaired by Robert Buckland MP, heard evidence from the Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather MP, the Shadow Children’s Minister Sharon Hodgson MP, as well as young people with autism (including one of our young campaigners), parents (including one of our ambassadors), teachers, academics and other professionals.

Sarah Teather MP told the cross-party panel of MPs and Peers that the Government would publish a Next Steps document ‘imminently’, in response to the Green Paper consultation last year. She also said the relationship between parents and local authorities was “not working” at present, promising that her planned reforms would ensure greater transparency and closer joint-working between education, health and social care services. 

The sessions were extremely well attended by MPs, Peers and the public, and provided an excellent opportunity for discussion on a range of issues including autism awareness training for teachers in mainstream schools, transition arrangements, and the need to ensure that children with autism access further education, training and employment after finishing at school. 

The APPGA will use the evidence gathered in these oral evidence sessions to inform a forthcoming report on SEN Reform, which will be published and presented directly to the Government later this year.  Its recommendations will also include findings from a public survey of around 1000 people with autism, parents and teachers. 

Take a look at the Department for Education’s new transition scheme

A new website has just been launched for Preparing for Adulthood, a Department for Education scheme launched as part of their SEND Green Paper. Over the next two years, Preparing for Adulthood will advise on transition for young people with SEN and disabilities – helping them move easily into independent living, employment and integration with the community.

Preparing for Adulthood will mainly work with the pathfinder areas trialling the Green Paper’s proposals, focusing in particular on the combined ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ providing support from birth to 25. They plan to develop a programme of work with each participating pathfinder area, and will be posting updates of their progress with each one over the coming months.

Outside of the pathfinder areas, they’re also looking to share information around transition and promote good practice across the country. They are keen to share resources, and already have some case studies of well-managed transitions uploaded onto the site.

The site has just launched, but we’re looking forward to seeing more extensive content in the coming weeks. In the meantime you can have a look at www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk, or sign up for their e-bulletin here.

Take part in SEN research to inform Government reforms

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Autism (APPGA), a cross-party group of MPs and Peers focusing on autism issues, has launched a commission to advise the Government on access to the right education for children with autism. The group wants to hear the views of students, parents, teachers and other professionals which they will use to form recommendations for Government Ministers and civil servants.

The Government is proposing major changes to the special educational needs (SEN) system in England, making this a timely opportunity for parents, teachers and young people with autism to tell ministers about the challenges involved in getting the right support at school and what they think most needs to improve. 

The NAS's recent Great Expectations campaign found that 48% of children with autism have had to wait over a year to get appropriate educational support, and more than half of teachers have previously said that they do not feel they have had enough training in the disability.

Sarah Teather MP, Minister for Children and Families, said: “We want to improve services for all children with special educational needs (SEN), including those with autism. We have proposed a number of reforms in our SEN Green Paper and we’re listening to children, parents and professionals. I look forward to hearing further views in the commission's report which will help us as we develop the reforms and create a system which works for children and their families.”

Let’s make sure the Government gets SEN reform right.

Respond to the survey now.

This consultation closes on Friday 10 February.

NAS education roadshow rocks into Liverpool!

The National Autistic Society, in association with Axcis Education Recruitment, has developed a series of five regional roadshows on education to help teachers and other autism professionals to learn the tools and strategies they need to support children with autism effectively.

Featuring a range of expert speakers, the first NAS roadshow is in Liverpool on 11 October.

Dr Steve Huggett, Director, Autism Education Trust will be presenting on “Outcomes, standards and good practice with children and young people with autism in the context of the SEN Green Paper”.

  

Kay Ribbons, an adult with autism from Chester, will also be speaking at the event, providing a personal perspective of her experience of school whilst undiagnosed. 

Kay said: “For me, growing up as a child with autism without a diagnosis was extremely challenging and emotional.  Since receiving my diagnosis as an adult it has helped to provide clarity on my younger years and I am now able to come to terms with some of difficulties I faced.  I now want raise awareness of growing up with a hidden disability and help other children with autism have a better experience at school and at home.”

With expert speakers, workshops, a stimulating panel debate and plenty of networking opportunities, this event is a great opportunity to gain crucial knowledge about how teachers can best support children with autism.

Find out more:  http://www.autism.org.uk/news-and-events/nas-conferences/our-forthcoming-conferences/education-roadshow/programmes/liverpool.aspx

If you can't make it, don't worry!  Axcis Education Recruitment are giving you the chance to watch the event live online completely free of charge - all you need is a computer and internet access. Go to http://www.axcis.co.uk/axcistv and register some basic contact details to get access.

The dates for the other 4 roadshows are:

8 November 2011 - Life Centre, Newcastle
30 November 2011 - Novotel Hotel, Birmingham
1 February 2012 - Rougemount Hotel, Exeter
28 March 2012 - Wellcome Collection Conference Centre, London

Parliament debates post-16 transition for disabled young people

Stephen Lloyd MP recently tabled a debate in Parliament on support for disabled young people.

The debate aimed to focus particularly on transition post-16 for young people with a disability.

Mr Lloyd drew on the National Autistic Society’s Make School Make Sense campaign to talk about this.

He pointed to statistics in the campaign report that found that although it’s a legal obligation for young people with disabilities to have a transition plan, only 53% of young people with statements actually receive them. According to the report, this figure is only 34% in mainstream schools, and 45% of those who participated in transition planning were dissatisfied with the process.

Mr Lloyd also questioned the recent closure of support programmes, and called for provision of key workers to co-ordinate services post-16.

Kate Green MP raised the issue of the loss of Education Maintencance Allowance and the Connexions service, and asked whether the Government is assessing the impact of this on disabled young people.

Much of the rest of the debate focused on concerns around benefit changes and most notably, the changes to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which currently focus on adult DLA. The NAS is working hard on the proposed changes to adult DLA. To find out more go to www.autism.org.uk/whobenefits

Responding to the debate, Disabilities Minister Maria Miller agreed that post-16 provision needed to be more joined-up. She said that the proposed changes to the SEN system would mean that young people with a disability, would be able to access an Education, Health and Care Plan, which will replace statements, up to the age of 25.

The National Autistic Society has welcomed the proposal to extend these plans to the age of 25. However, we are also working to ensure that those with SEN who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan or statement can also access the support they need.

NAS schools highlighted in Parliamentary debate

On Tuesday 6^th September, Annette Brooke MP secured a debate in Parliament on the importance of non-maintained and independent special schools (NMISS). She called for greater recognition of their role as reforms to special educational needs are taken forward.

She commended the “excellent specialist provision” provided by the sector, and pointed out that the National Autistic Society runs six independent special schools - all of which are recognised as excellent.

The NAS, along with the National Association of Independent and Non-Maintained Schools (NASS), believes that the Government’s Green Paper on SEN provision overlooks the role of NMISS; Annette Brooke raises several of these concerns.

She noted that the Green Paper offers parents the right to express a preference for any state-funded school, but does not extend this right to NMISS. She proposed that this may be based on a misconception that NMISS placements are always the most expensive option, and called for more research into the cost-effectiveness of the sector.

Sarah Teather (Minister of State for Children and Families) stressed that the Government was still gathering views on the Green Paper proposal, and encouraged members of the NMISS sector to submit any evidence they have relating to cost-effectiveness.

She said “Independent and non-maintained special schools play a valuable role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children and young people, many of whom have very complex needs, and they also have considerable expertise to offer other schools”.

The NAS believes that the wide spectrum of needs among children with autism requires a wide spectrum of educational provision, including mainstream schools, special schools, specialist units attached to mainstream schools and residential provision. The key thing in any of these settings in access to autism expertise. 

Read our position statement on inclusion on our website.

Have your say on post-16 education!

The National Audit Office (NAO), an influential independent Government body, has launched a study into educational provision for people between the ages of 16-25 with a special educational need (SEN).

As part of their research, they have launched a survey for people with knowledge or experience of 16-25 education for those with SEN.

The study will look at how central and local government make decisions on provision for this age group.

It will also look closely at whether value for money is being achieved in the current system.

The NAO is an extremely influential organisation, responsible for auditing government bodies. Their recommendations are often taken forward into government policy. This research is particularly timely given that the SEN Green Paper sets out that educational, health and care plans, which will replace statements, will be available up to the age of 25.

We want to ensure that the views of those affected by autism are represented in the report. Therefore if you have knowledge or experience of special educational needs provision for 16-25 year olds, please do respond to the survey

The NAO are keen to hear from a range of stakeholders in the issue, whether a young person with SEN, a parent or a professional with relevant experience. More information can be found on the NAO’s website. To go directly to the survey, click here

Great Expectations launches in Parliament

Yesterday saw the successful launch of our new campaign Great Expectations in Parliament.

NAS President Jane Asher (pictured) reflected on the struggles parents had to get the help their children needed at school. She stressed how important it was to get help in early and how much money this could save in the long run.

Disabilities Minister Maria Miller responded to the campaign on behalf of the Government. She said that the special educational needs (SEN) "system was broken" and that the Government were determined to fix it through proposals set out in the SEN Green Paper.

She also said that getting support in place for children with autism was in her experience a particular battle. Some schools were able to be fully inclusive of children on the spectrum, so others should be able to do it too. At the moment, being able to access the right support seemed to be based on luck, she added.

Shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham stressed the importance of cross party working on SEN reforms to make sure that Government got the reforms right. He noted the success of cross party working on the Autism Act.

Two parents of children with autism also spoke at the event about their experiences of having to fight the system. Sadly, the research we carried out for the campaign showed that their experiences were all too common.  The research, based on survey responses from over 1,000 children with autism and parents and focus groups accross the country, showed:
 
- 48% of parents say they have waited over a year to get the right support for their child, and 27% have waited more than two years.
- 18% of parents have had to take legal action to get the right support for their children, and have been to tribunal an average of 3.5 times each
- Just half of parents (52%) feel their child is making good educational progress.
- 43% of young people feel teachers don’t know enough about autism.
The campaign calls for a system in which parents are treated as equal partners and genuinely involved in decisions about their child’s education and the planning of local services, and for all children with autism to be able to get the support they need quickly and easily, from teachers who understand how to support them.

The event was hosted by the vice chair of the all party parliamentary group on autism Steve Brine MP. It was well attended - the room was full of MPs, peers, parents of children with autism, children with autism and professionals. 

The NAS is calling on all MPs and peers to support the campaign and help ensure that we use the Government's proposed reforms of the SEN system as an opportunity to get things right for children with autism. Please support the campaign, by emailing your MP.

Great Expectations: The NAS' new campaign on autism and education

Today The National Autistic Society launches a new campaign, Great Expectations , to end the battle many parents face trying to get the right education for their child, and we need your help.

The Government is planning the biggest overhaul of the SEN system for 30 years. The Great Expectations campaign aims to make sure we take this opportunity to make the changes to the system that children with autism and their parents want. We have great expectations for an education system which works for every child with autism. 

The campaign report, published today, is based on research with over 1,000 children with autism and parents. Our research found that:

·         48% of parents say they have waited over a year to get the right support for their child, and 27% have waited more than two years.

·         18% of parents have had to take legal action to get the right support for their children, and have been to tribunal an average of 3.5 times each.

·         Just half of parents (52%) feel their child is making good educational progress.

·         43% of young people feel teachers don’t know enough about autism. 

The campaign will be launched in Parliament this evening at a reception expecting to attract around 80 MPs, including the Disability Minister, Maria Miller and Shadow Education Secretary, Andy Burnham.

The NAS is calling for a system in which parents are treated as equal partners and genuinely involved in decisions about their child’s education and the planning of local services, and for all children with autism to be able to get the support they need quickly and easily, from teachers who understand how to support them.

We need your help.

You can support the campaign, by emailing your MP to ask them to raise these issues in parliament. To find out more about the campaign, and other ways you can get involved, visit the campaign homepage .

The Government’s reforms will shape the future of a generation of children with autism.

·         Children with autism expect an education that sets them up for life

·         Parents expect a system that works with, not against, them

·         We expect the Government to listen, and to act.

Let’s work together. Let’s get it right.

SEN Green Paper Published

The National Autistic Society has welcomed the ambitions set out in Government’s Green Paper Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability. 

The Green Paper sets out the Government’s proposals for reforming the education system for children with special educational needs (SEN). The Government wants to hear your views on the plans. See below on how you can have your say.

The National Autistic Society will be looking carefully at the proposals and consulting with its members and others to respond. We will also be launching a mini report on how the SEN system should work for children with autism in the summer. Watch this space for more details.

Below is a summary of some of the key points from the Green Paper.

Early identification and assessment

The Government proposes replacing statements of SEN with ‘Education, Health and Care Plans’, which would be determined through a single assessment.

The Government has said that these plans will provide the same statutory protection to parents as statements and that these plans will be for children with SEN or a disability from birth until the age of 25.

How the assessment for these plans and how the plans themselves are to work will be piloted from September. The National Autistic Society is keen to see how the proposal will work in practice and how the Government will ensure that the same legal protections are in place. The Government have said that replacing statements with the new plans will not happen until 2014.

The paper also talks about ensuring that children with SEN are picked up earlier. We have been calling for an early identification check to ensure that children with autism can be identified at an early stage and so we are keen to work further with Government on this.

Giving Parents Control

The Green Paper stresses the importance of consulting and involved in decisions concerning their child’s needs. It makes the following proposals:

• Local authorities and other services to set out a local offer of all services available
• The option of a ‘Personal Budget’ by 2014 for all families with children with a statement of SEN or a new ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ to give parents greater choice over the services their child receives. This is to be piloted first
• Parents to be given a clear choice of school, including mainstream, special, academies and free schools.
• Parents to continue to have access to a short break from caring while their child enjoys activities with their peers.
• If local authorities and parents disagree, mediation is tried first, before going to a tribunal.

Learning and achieving

This section has a welcome focus on the importance of improving the support teachers have to ensure that they can identify and appropriately help children with SEN.

The National Autistic Society has been calling for initial teacher training to include autism as well as for schools to be able to access support from specialist autism teachers across clusters of schools.

In line with this, the Green Paper sets out:

• Funding will be available for scholarships and continuing professional development for teachers developing skills in supporting children with SEN
• The Government will help local networks of schools develop teachers with specialist skills and knowledge who can be deployed across local clusters of schools
• The Training and Development Agency will make sure that online materials for teachers on autism are widely available
• Special Schools will be expected to share their expertise and services to support the education and progress and development of pupils in other special and mainstream schools.
• Outstanding special schools will be able to apply to become Teaching Schools, and more teachers will do initial training in special schools

The paper also says that parents and communities are encouraged to establish new special free schools.

Preparing for adulthood

A significant proposal in the Green Paper is the extension of the Education, Health and Care Plans, which are to replace statements for young people up to the age of 25.

The Green Paper also highlights the importance of ensuring that young people with a disability are supported into work and that work experience is made available for them.

Further detail about the Governments plans for improving transition will be published later this year. The Government says that it wants to ensure that by 2015 disabled young people and young people with SEN will have:

• early and well integrated support for and advice on the birth to 25 single assessment process.
• access to better quality vocational and work related learning opportunities to enable young people to progress in their learning post 16.
• good opportunities and support in order to get and keep a job
• a well co-ordained transition from children’s to adult health services

Services Working Together for Families

Joint working across health, social care and education is a strong focus in the Green Paper.

The Government proposes that local authorities play a pivotal role in ensuring the co-ordination in support for children with SEN, both on an individual level and on a strategic planning level.

There are also proposals to fund training for key workers and to review the training for speech and language therapists and educational psychologists.

The Chapter also states that the Government will look at how best to co-ordinate services once the GP consortia are in place and new Health and Wellbeing Boards are given responsibility for planning local services.

Have your say

The Government wants to hear what you think of the proposals. You can respond online at www.education.gov.uk/consultations or emailed to send.greenpaper@education.gsi.gov.uk, or by downloading a response form which should be completed and sent to:

Consultation Unit

Department for Education

Area 1C, Castle View House

East Lane

Runcorn WA7 2GJ

Please also let us know what you think by commenting in the box below or by emailing policy@nas.org.uk

My Ideal School

The Guardian is asking children for their views on what would make an ideal school.

They will be compiling the responses to write a Children's Manifesto.

Ahead of the SEN Green Paper, now due this month, the NAS is keen for children with autism to get involved.

Please email school.i'd.like@guardian.co.uk with your ideas on what would make an ideal school by 4th March giving your name, age, year, school and phone number.

Please also email policy@nas.org.uk with your ideas or comment in the space below, as this will help us with our work on the SEN Green Paper.

Education Select Committee publishes report on Behaviour

The National Autistic Society has welcomed the report from the Education Select Committee on behaviour and discipline in schools.

Director of Education at the NAS Jane Vaughan gave evidence to the Committee to feed into the report. We also submitted written evidence to the Committee.

The NAS is particularly pleased that a number of key points that Jane made in her oral evidence were reflected in the report and its recommendations, including:

Ø       The importance of ensuring that all school staff have training in autism. The report recommends that all schools should ensure that their staff can identify special educational needs (SEN) and that teachers should receive SEN training as part of their initial teacher training.

The NAS believes that this is fundamental to improving provision for children with autism. We also believe that all schools should be able to receive support from autism specialist teachers who should be employed to work across clusters of schools.

Ø       The importance of ensuring that behaviour related to autism is not mistaken for bad behaviour. The report recommends that exclusion is used as a trigger for assessing the needs of a child.

This is something we have been calling for, for some years and we would urge the Government to adopt this policy.

Ø       The importance of focusing on engaging with a child’s learning and the support they need to learn rather than the behaviour itself. The report recommends that schools ensure that they are providing appropriate support to a child so that they can get the most out of their education.

We also welcome the following conclusions and recommendations from the report:

• Guidance on restraint needs to include advice on SEN and the current requirement to inform parents when their child has been restrained at school is important. 

• Independent Appeals Panels for exclusions should be retained

• The Government’s plans to introduce a phonics reading test at age 6 to identify learning problems should be expanded to look also at language comprehension

• The Inclusion Development Programme (IDP), which was a Government funded project which included the development of resources on autism for teachers, should be refreshed and disseminated

• Local authorities should retain responsibility for some local specialist services that provide support to schools around special educational needs. This may include educational psychology or autism outreach teams.

The National Autistic Society will be putting pressure on the Government to accept this findings and recommendations in the lead up to the publication of the Green Paper on SEN, expected later this month.

Click here to read the report

Latest update on SEN Green Paper

The SEN Green Paper is now expected to be published in the New Year and most likely in February, we have been told.

The Government recently published a summary of the responses it received to it 'Call for Views' consultation, which will inform the Green Paper. Click here to read that summary. 

Almost 2,000 people responded to the 'Call for Views' and a large number of them were parents of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Key themes identified in the responses include:

• The importance of early identification of needs
• Ensuring teachers are better trained in SEN as well as increasing access to specialists
• The importance of more joined up working between agencies
• The involvement of parents and children in choosing educational provision and plannning for transition

These issues chime well with the things that parents tell us about the challenges of the education system and the key things we highlighted in our response to the Call for Views.

We are currently carrying out some research on the SEN system and how it works for children with autism to help inform our response to the Green Paper when it is published. Keep checking back here for more information.

Also to help with this, please state in the comments section below what one thing you think would make the biggest difference for children with autism in the education system.

The Importance of Teaching – Education White Paper

As reported earlier on this site, the Government has published its plans for reform of the education system in a “White Paper” called The Importance of Teaching.

More details on reform to the system for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) will be available in the SEN Green Paper expected later this year or early next year.

However, the following proposals in the White Paper also have implications for children with autism:

·        Reforms to teacher training

·        Proposals on discipline, behaviour and bullying

·        Changes to exclusion policies and Independent Appeal Panels

·        Admissions and the role of local authorities

·        Special school academies

Teacher training

As the name of the White Paper suggests, the Government places high importance on getting teacher training right. The White Paper highlights the importance of ensuring teachers know how to support children with SEN and says that more details will be in the forthcoming Green Paper.

The National Autistic Society is campaigning for every teacher to have training in autism. We also believe that teachers should be able to access expertise and advice from autism specialists when they need it.

Discipline, behaviour and bullying

The Government is intending to produce shorter and clearer guidance on the ability of teachers to use force and discipline children outside of school. Teachers will be given greater discretion in these areas.

The National Autistic Society will be working to make sure that the needs of children with autism are looked at carefully in that guidance.

Addressing bullying, and particularly prejudiced based bullying, is to become a Government priority. To address this, Government guidance will be simplified and Ofsted will be asked to report on successful approaches to tackling bullying.

We are pleased that the Government wants to focus on prejudiced based bullying, as we know that children with autism are often targeted by bullies. We will be working with Government on bullying guidance.

Exclusions

We have previously expressed concerns about the Conservative Party’s proposals to get rid of Independent Appeal Panels for exclusions. We welcome the White Paper’s recognition that it is important that these Panels remain independent.

However, we note that the Government intends to take away the power from these panels to reinstate an excluded pupil from a school. We would welcome wider views on this. Please comment below.

We welcome the Government’s plans to pilot a new approach to exclusions where a school is responsible for arranging and funding alternative provision for an excluded child.

27% of children with autism are excluded from school at least once, compared with 4% of other children. It is essential that alternative and appropriate provision is found for children with autism, following exclusion.

Admissions and the role of local authorities

Local authorities and the School Adjudicator will continue to have a role in ensuring the coordination of admissions arrangements and fairness, including for academies. The Government will also simplify the Admissions Code, but will continue to apply the principle of fair admissions for Looked After Children and pupils with a statement of SEN.

The National Autistic Society will be watching reforms to the Admissions Code with interest. We have particular concerns about admissions for those without a Statement.

Local Authorities  will continue to have responsibility for disabled children and those with SEN. However, as funding is increasingly delegated to academies, they will increasingly move to a strategic commissioning and oversight role. They will of course continue to fund provision for pupils with a statement of SEN.

Where a local authority has significant concerns about an Academy or Free School in relation to these issues, it will be able to ask Ofsted to inspect the school.

Special school academies

The academies programme will be expanded to include special schools, with the application process open in January 2011 and the potential for special school academies to open from September 2011. The Green Paper on SEN and Disability will consider the issues raised specifically around special schools academies in more detail.

If you have any comments about these proposals, do comment below.