Supporting Autism
The role of graduates (in my experience)
About 8 years ago I started to meet with mainstream primary headteachers and SENCOs to discuss the changing contexts of their schools. Expectations increasing with wider knowledge of Autism and its impact on learning and child development. Schools graduated into hybrids on mainstream with more and more specialist provisions to support children with complex and diverse needs.
Communication, learning cognition and behaviour were the familiar areas of support to enable better curriculum access and ensure that children on the spectrum can learn in line with the revised expectations (in line with ILPs, IBPs etc).
Already tasked with diverse ability ranges, teachers were desperately in need of more specialist support, a departure from the traditional TA or Classroom Assistant or 1:1 support. We started to think about who could ensure that those that need the most support have access to talented educators. Budget cuts already on the horizon, an effective solution was sought.
Enter the graduate
… with a good standard of education and a relevant degree discipline, combined with a passion for SEND and sometimes recent and relevant volunteer experience. Many future Educational Psychologists with an understanding of child development and volunteer experience (gained through charity and volunteer work) started to take their limited experience into the unfamiliar world of the classroom.
And, guess what? It worked.
Review meetings praising the energy and dedication became commonplace, as did the reporting of happy parents and happy teachers! SENDCOs reporting these bright young things has a natural ability to measure progress and track progression and input during meetings with CAMHS, SaLT and EP meetings had been critical.
Many schools have benefitted from the flexibility of a long term ‘supply type’ arrangement as they have not known how long a child would remain at their school, or when or how long funding would be available.
Graduates have benefitted from paid experience in a school and there are numbers of specialist SEND) teachers, Speech and Language Therapists and Support Workers. It has been the first step into the world of work and have been truly inspired by the difference can schools make.
Most importantly Children have benefitted. In a long career in this industry I received a phone call on the very last day of term from a Primary Head in Manchester thanking me, the words that resonate the most are;
“Your graduates have ensured that these vulnerable children have been able to stay at our school with their siblings and enjoy all we have to offer here. On behalf of the school, the children and their families, thank you…”
I put down the phone with eyes welling up and made a commitment to do more…
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