Autistic homeschooling is a challenge. Autistic homeschooling is taxing. Autistic homeschooling is not a decision you want to take lightly. These are all things I am far from being an expert on. However, after discussing the topic of autism homeschooling with someone who is, I do know that I am not alone in this lack of awareness and understanding.
Nevertheless, many parents of autistic children will consider homeschooling at one stage or another and, with much less information than I have, they will make the life-changing leap. That’s why, today, I have brought in the big guns from the National Autistic Society to provide support to these people so that, whether your homeschool decision was due to a jump or a push, you and your child can be best prepared for what’s to come.
Homeschooling: Always a Choice?
Education is compulsory but going to school is not. That’s what the law says in England. Parents have the right to home educate their child if they choose to, and a growing number are taking this option – including parents of autistic children.
But what is motivating this choice? And can it really be described as a freely made choice, if what lies behind it is children who are struggling in school without the help and support they need?
There’s a world of difference between making a positive choice to homeschool your child because you think it’s the best option for your child and family, and ending up homeschooling as a last resort because your child is having such a miserable time at school and you’re in despair with the education system. We hear from parents that unmet special educational needs are one of the reasons for the rise in homeschooling.
Autistic Homeschooling – The Numbers
Almost no data is collected about home educated children, so it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what is happening. But a BBC investigation in 2018 found that the number of children being homeschooled in the UK rose by around 40% over three years, from approximately 34,000 children in 2014 to 48,000 in 2017.
These figures are across the board and do not relate only to children on the autism spectrum or with other special educational needs. But we know that the number of autistic children who are being homeschooled is on the increase, and it appears that for many of their families, it isn’t the choice they wanted to make.
According to the BBC report, two of the main reasons parents gave for removing their child from school were concerns for the child’s mental health or a fear that the child was about to be excluded from school. Both of these factors are highly relevant to autistic children.
More than 70% of children on the autism spectrum also experience mental health problems. And the Government’s own figures show that children on the autism spectrum are three times more likely to be excluded from school in England than children with no special educational needs. If you think your child has been unfairly excluded from school, you can contact the National Autistic Society’s School Exclusions Service for information and advice.
What can Schools do to Help?
The National Autistic Society carried out a survey of nearly 2,500 parents in 2017 and found that 40% of parents say their autistic child does not have a school place that meets their needs. This survey was part of a detailed inquiry we carried out with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism into how the education system works for children on the autism spectrum.
The All Party Group heard that the school places children need are not always available, that children often have to fail before support is provided, and schools too often do not make the adjustments that autistic children need in order to succeed.
The legal support charity IPSEA says that they know through their casework and training courses that many parents of children with SEND end up home educating them because they conclude it is their only option.
IPSEA says that parents are not always told of their rights to request additional support for their child at school, and may even be pressured into removing the child from school against their will.
SEND Tribunals
One way we can see that children on the autism spectrum aren’t getting the educational provision they need is the sharp rise in the last few years in the number of legal appeals to the SEND Tribunal in England on behalf of autistic children. SEND Tribunal statistics are an important indication of how the SEND system is working – or not working.
Autism is the single most common type of special educational need in appeals to the SEND Tribunal – 43% of all appeals last year (that’s 2,458 families) were on behalf of a child on the autism spectrum. And 91% of these were won, or partially won, by parents.
The overall picture is that a growing number of families have to resort to legal action to get the support their children need. Local councils are routinely told by Tribunal judges that they have made the wrong decisions about individual children. These wrong decisions can have far-reaching consequences.
But not all families have the resources – the finances, the knowledge, the emotional energy – to take their local council to the SEND Tribunal. As a result, their children may end up in a school where their needs aren’t understood or met; they may be excluded from school (or from a succession of schools); or they may be taken out of school to be educated at home.
Why Families choose to Homeschool
We hear from many autistic young people that being at school can be a miserable experience for them, if school staff don’t understand autism and aren’t prepared to make the adjustments that children on the autism spectrum need. Their sensory needs can make the school environment unbearably noisy, distracting or even painful.
Children are often singled out by their classmates for being different: they may not be able to cope with the social aspects of school life and are at higher risk of being bullied. All of this means that autistic children may struggle to learn in school and to achieve their potential.
If school isn’t working, home education may be of great benefit to an autistic child. They can learn in the way that suits them best, away from the sensory overload and bullying that too many children experience at school. Families can get support and assistance from a range of home education organisations that have been set up for this purpose, such as the Home Education Advisory Service and Education Otherwise.
The Future for Autistic Homeschooling
But it is wrong for families to be forced to home educate their child simply because the school provision they need isn’t available. Children are legally entitled to an education, and to the additional support they need. The Government is producing a new national autism strategy this year that will include children and young people for the first time. It’s an important opportunity to set out clearly the support both inside and outside school that autistic children and their families are entitled to.
We hope that the strategy will cover training for school staff, reasonable adjustments in schools for children who are on the autism spectrum, and measures to reduce bullying and promote inclusion.
Like all children, children on the autism spectrum only have one childhood. We need to get it right first time for them – because the impact of getting it wrong can be far-reaching.
Carry on the Conversation
If you would like information and advice about your child’s right to an education, you can contact the National Autistic Society’s Education Rights Service for a discussion with one of our specialist advisers.
Now, if you’ll allow me to conclude, I would like to also thank Catriona and the N.A.S. for putting together this informative and interesting post today. I couldn’t be more grateful for their support in explaining the intricacies of this education minefield.
As always, I can also be found on Twitter @AutismRevised and via my email: AutisticandUnapologetic@gmail.com.
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Thank you for reading and I will see you next Saturday for more thoughts from across the spectrum.
