The Lack of Suitable Secondary Schools for High-Functioning Autistic or Asperger's Children in Hertf

How do people find the time and energy to write a daily blog? Beats me. I did it once and this was my sole post, specifically addressed to parents of high-functioning autistic or Asperger’s children in Hertfordshire. To update the situation, there is still no secondary school available for children like my son in Hertfordshire and that is why he is obliged to attend a school in another county.

31st January, 2008.

Director of Children, Schools and Families

Hertfordshire County Council

County Hall

Hertford

SG13 8DF

Dear Mr –––––

I am writing to you about the lack of provision for autistic children in Hertfordshire. My son Theo is nine years old and diagnosed with high-functioning autism (awarded a Statement with 23 hours). At the age of five, when Theo was at his first mainstream school, Wood End in Harpenden, we were told by the new head teacher within two weeks of starting her job that he was unteachable, that staff and children were afraid of him, that numerous parents had complained about his inclusion, and that he really belonged in a school for severely disabled children. (The previous head teacher, in contrast, supported Theo’s inclusion and was very understanding.) After this experience, scared off by the education system, we home‑educated Theo for six months before sending him again to another mainstream school. Here, despite weekly visits from the Advisory Service, he was described by the head as suicidal, ran away on several occasions, and was generally kept isolated from other children. At both schools Theo was in attendance full-time for only half a term and, for the rest of the time, was either sent home at 11 or 12 o’clock or, on frequent occasions, earlier still. A year‑and‑a‑half ago my son’s educational psychologist commented that in his view no secondary school in Hertfordshire would be suitable for his needs. (This was after we’d learnt that he had obtained above‑average results in his Year 2 SATs.) Of more concern at the time, however, was what type of primary school was suitable for his needs. Mainstream schools were ruled out, as were MLD (moderate learning difficulties), SLD (severe learning difficulties), EBD (emotional and behavioural difficulties) schools…

And then another parent of an autistic child – not an education professional – recommended Larwood EBD school in Stevenage as being brilliant with autistic children. It is unfortunate that so many parents of autistic children – my son’s class consists of five ASD children out of a total of six – have to resort to sending their children, already let down by the education system, to a school which is supposed to be inappropriate for their needs. But, on the other hand, it’s very, very fortunate that Larwood, which is perhaps unique as an EBD school, has the skills, the experience, the environment, to meet those needs. This is the first time Theo has really experienced a full‑time education, the first time he’s been motivated to do work at school, the first time he’s made friends in any real sense. His life, and consequently our lives, have been transformed – and Larwood can be justly proud, as you can be, of its fantastic achievement.

The dilemma remains, however – at least in Hertfordshire – as to what secondary school is suitable for high-functioning autistic children like my son. The choices are the same as at primary level, except there is no EBD secondary school like Larwood, and there are no other appropriate special schools. Owing to Larwood’s success with high‑functioning autistic children, it is often suggested that they return to a mainstream education. But then, since these children have encountered nothing remotely comparable to a mainstream secondary environment, this suggestion can only come, I would argue, through lack of a decent alternative or financial reasons. Last year I wrote to the head teachers of every mainstream and EBD secondary school in the county and asked them about their level of provision for autistic children. Copies of fifteen of their answers – available on request for the other recipients of this letter – follow on from this letter.

To summarise the responses:

a) None of the schools, many of whom were very sympathetic, were enthusiastic about their chances of success in educating my son. The headmaster at The Bishop’s Stortford High School has written: ‘I think it unlikely that he [Theo] would cope at TBSHS.’ John F Kennedy School have written that three out of their four Asperger’s students ‘are finding school life quite difficult’.Dame Alice Owen’s School have written: ‘We currently have six students with high‑functioning autism, three of whom have minor behaviour difficulties. All these students have found the environment here to be challenging in many ways and a number have, regrettably, failed at the school. I regret that we feel that we would be unable to meet your son’s needs.’ Nicholas Breakspear RC School have written about my son’s current progress: ‘In all honesty, this is something that may be difficult for us to replicate and build upon.’ The Heathcote School have written about their children with Asperger’s Syndrome: ‘One left in Year 7 to be educated at home, one left in Year 8 and went to specialist provision, one is hoping to stay on into the 6th form (we feel he will be unable to cope with the demands of Years 12 and 13) and the other student is in Year 7. In our experience it has been extremely difficult to support these children in a consistently effective way… We are unable to offer any reassurance that your son would be able to cope with any mainstream school.’ Verulam School have written: ‘I am sorry to have to tell you that we do not consider Verulam to be a suitable environment for your son.’ Francis Combe School and Community College have written that ‘we would struggle to offer a quality and supportive experience for a student with such needs.’ The headmaster at The Leventhorpe School has written: ‘Very few of our staff (neither teachers nor support staff) have any experience of dealing with autistic children and I do not know what specific help and support could be made available from the County or elsewhere.’ Rickmansworth School, in their reply, actually recommended another school: ‘Watford Grammar School for Boys has experience of working with autistic pupils.’ [N.B. Watford Grammar School for Boys, when I contacted them, did not endorse this recommendation.] The head teacher at St Michael’s Catholic High School and Specialist College has written: ‘I am dismayed that children with autism are not offered the “personalised learning” commitment from national and local government. My only advice is that you lobby hard to ensure that your boy gets the specialist support he needs.’ Sir Frederic Osborn School have written that none of their Asperger’s students has a Statement and that they feel that they ‘would need to make considerable adjustment in order to ensure he [Theo] felt safe and motivated’. Marriotts School have written to say that they do not currently have a great deal of capacity to deal with children with ‘high levels of need’ and that they think Theo ‘would be better placed in his current special school’.

b) For high‑functioning autistic children the only alternative in this county to a mainstream education is an EBD school. There are four EBD secondary schools in Hertfordshire. Batchwood School have written: ‘At present we have only one pupil on the autistic/Asperger’s spectrum.’ They go on to say that they believe other EBD schools have more pupils in this category and greater experience in this field. Falconer School have written that they ‘have very few pupils who can clearly be identified as either having autism or Asperger’s’. Hailey Hall School wrote back to say they were undergoing a change in head teacher. Brandles School did not reply. (The number of autistic/Asperger’s pupils at both these last‑mentioned schools is, in any case, tiny and so, therefore, is their experience in teaching such children. Of course, EBD Schools are not designed for autistic children. Sara Truman, who runs a large support group for children with autism spectrum disorders stated at a Select Committee on Education and Skills in September 2005 that if a pupil has autism, ‘it is totally inappropriate for the pupil to be placed in an EBD school. The autistic child is very likely to be victimised by the other pupils, and techniques for managing pupils with EBD are unlikely to help – and may even be counter-productive – for pupils with ASD.’ Her recommendations were: a) More special schools for autism; and b) No pupils with ASD should be placed in EBD schools.)

The conclusion, to be blunt, is that if your child is diagnosed as high-functioning autistic, is living in Hertfordshire, and inclusion in a mainstream school hasn’t worked (not an uncommon scenario), then, with the exception of Larwood up to the age of eleven, there are no schools available for your child’s education. Isn’t this a disgrace? At least in Essex (e.g. Doucecroft School) or Buckinghamshire (e.g. Penn School), secondary special schools are available for high‑functioning autistic children. In Hertfordshire, if I cannot persuade the LEA that my son should be educated out of county – which, judging by the effort required to get him into Larwood, will be a tremendous battle – then we either as a family have to move to another county or opt, again, for home education. I really don’t see why we and other families should have to go through this upheaval and I’d like, on behalf of those families – many of whom my wife and I know through organisations such as Hope and HARC – to suggest Hertfordshire take steps to provide a solution, i.e. by opening a secondary special school for high‑functioning autistic/Asperger’s children. This will have to be done at some point, because of the growing numbers of autistic children, and by doing something now Hertfordshire could really stake a claim for being at the forefront of helping these children. Moreover, it wouldn’t cost the earth to achieve. Each class at the new school would require just a teacher and a teaching assistant, rather than having one adult per child. The Advisory Service could concentrate on a fewer number of children within the mainstream environment; the number of learning support assistants would be lower; the number of teacher/parent meetings, the amount of paperwork, etc, would be radically cut down, freeing teachers to carry on their regular duties. Everyone, in short, would be happier.

I sincerely hope that plans are afoot to correct this terrible anomaly and provide a secondary school for high‑functioning autistic/Asperger’s children in Hertfordshire and I look forward very much to hearing your response.

Yours truly

Christopher Marr