All autistic children should have a personalised transition plan to help with their return to school in August, a charity has said.
The lockdown has been “extremely challenging” for many families with autistic children and they have often had “very limited support”, according to the National Autistic Society Scotland.
The charity is calling on schools to make sure that every autistic child has a personalised plan for their return to school. This could include visits before school starts, more autism awareness among staff, preparation of safe spaces and videos showing any changes to layouts or school rules.
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Nick Ward, director of the National Autistic Society Scotland, said: “Many autistic children will have been out of school for over four months by the time the new term begins.
“Some have coped very well. Others, however, have struggled under the strict restrictions and huge change to routine and we’ve heard from families under severe pressure with profound impacts on mental health and wellbeing.
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“We know that change can be incredibly challenging for autistic people. It is important that transition back into school is handled sensitively and in a personalised way.”
Mr Ward said: “We’re calling on schools to make sure that each and every autistic child has a personalised plan with input from parents to make the transition as smooth as possible.”
According to the Scottish government, there are 6,500 autistic children across Scotland. A third of autistic children also have a learning disability and, in many cases, also mental health difficulties.
The National Autistic Society Scotland has heard from families that some home-education packages from schools have been either of poor quality or generic, and from parents who are worried that their children have fallen behind.
Many autistic children have now settled into a different routine, with limited social interaction outside of their family, and some may have experienced the trauma of bereavement.
The charity said: “All of these things combined mean that many autistic children will find returning to school in August difficult and, in some cases, even distressing, particularly as there are likely to be fundamental changes to daily school life.”
One mother of two autistic children in Dunfermline said: “The lockdown has been hugely challenging for us as a family. I’ve had to stop my Open University course together with my volunteering in order to care for and educate by two autistic children.”
Her son “has quite significant needs and doesn’t understand the restrictions, so it has been difficult to follow social distancing and I’m worried it will be very hard when he goes back to school as he has a compulsion to run up and touch or hug people”.
Her daughter is “very different” and “quite quiet”, and has “enjoyed lockdown to some extent, particularly with us being together as a family”.
But the mother added: “She is, however, very anxious about returning to school and has really struggled with sleep because she is so worried.
“Both my children have very different needs and so their transition back into school will need to be done with lots of understanding and support.
“The school have been quite helpful in my case and have offered to talk things through, but I worry not everyone out there will get the same level of help.”
