Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Schools
Lee Wilkinson
Jessica Kingsley £17.99
(978-1-84905-811-7)
Church Times Bookshop £16.20
Count Me In!
Richard Rose and Michael Shevlin
Jessica Kingsley £19.99
(978-1-84310-955-6)
Church Times Bookshop £14.40
Addressing the Unproductive Classroom Behaviours of Students with Special Needs
Steve Chinn
Jessica Kingsley £19.99
(978-1-84905-050-0)
Church Times Bookshop £17.99
THE annual treadmill of information evenings and open days for prospective parents for September 2011 will begin next week. It is now a formalised ritual, which begins earlier and earlier. The September 2010 intake has been at school for precisely a week.
It is a fiercely competitive process. The prospectus is so glossy it would make a five-star hotel blush. The school is newly decorated and immaculately clean. The students on show look as if they are models for an M&S school-uniform catalogue.
Parents are now wise to all this, and deeply sceptical about sharp-suited head teachers who wax lyrical about Oxbridge entrants, music scholarships, and the latest technological wizardry. You can now hear an audible groan in the audience when the head expresses the familiar refrain that league tables tell you very little about the quality of the school — and then proceeds to go through the league-table data in stultifying detail.
Just a tip: listen carefully as to what the head says about the Learning Support Department, also known as Special Educational Needs (SEN). Is there, perhaps, just a hint, delivered with phoney regret, that much as they would like to welcome such children, the school does not regard it as an area of expertise, and parents of such children might be wiser to look elsewhere? It is a litmus test for the values that imbue a school. And that is most true of autism spectrum disorders.
The foreword in Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Schools describes the volume as a “landmark contribution destined to become a classic in the field of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)”. It is one of the most important educational publications I can recall, and deeply timely. It should be on the reading list of every postgraduate teaching course in the country.
In Britain, ASDs occur in one per cent of the population. The disorders are much more common in males than females. Autism is a disorder with no known cause or cure. The facts come thick and fast. Every school will have one, if not more, and I say that with deep affection and respect for parents caught up in this developing story.
Every question you have ever asked about Asperger’s, pervasive developmental disorder and the rest are answered here. Wilkinson outlines some interventions and, indeed, treatments, which are proven, but also points to the risks of unsubstantiated, pseudo-scientific theories and related clinical practices that can be positively harmful. The MMR controversy comes to mind.
Wilkinson is uncompromising. There is, for example, “at the present time, little scientific evidence to support a link between diet and autism”. Teachers will be grateful for the honesty of the author: “Procedures used in research do not easily translate into real-world classroom application.” Wilkinson is, none the less, very clear that it is the responsibility of the public education system to provide an effective educational programme for such children. Read this book, and you will know what to look for in those head teachers’ speeches.
THE heart of the matter is, of course, inclusion. Two further volumes from the same publishing house are also set to make a useful contribution. In the first, Count Me In!, the authors are passionately committed to the involvement of students in their own learning, especially those with special educational needs.
The strongest sections of the volume deal with the effect on the teachers when student participation is actively encouraged. Some teachers may well feel that their authority is being undermined. Others dread the introduction of yet another time-consuming initiative.
There is a deep level of understanding of the complex business of taking SEN children on educational visits. Leave them out, and you will find yourself guilty of disability discrimination. Take them with you, and you will likely breach health-and-safety guidelines.
More practical advice can be found in Addressing the Unproductive Classroom behaviours of Students with Special Needs. Throughout the book, Chinn uses 34 common examples of pupil behaviour that creates problems for both the teacher and other pupils. They range from being slow to start work to displaying sudden emotional outbursts.
Some are common to most, if not all, SEN children. Some are more likely to be associated with particular conditions. All of them can lead to teacher angst, and worse. The fact that Jimmy never comes properly equipped to a lesson or constantly makes inappropriate comments will drive some teachers to the brink. This volume, with its practical advice, may just be a lifesaver.