Reply To: JCQ and autism

[Lou]

Hi all, Secondary SENDco, and mum to Autistic teen here too.
My response is slightly different. I agree with all the above comments re: resource and Normal Way of Working. I picked up on your son’s diagnosis of hyperacusis. If this is specified in his diagnosis, this should be noted as a specific challenge and difficulty that can disadvantage the student. If his normal way of working is that he always has to have a separate space to be able to mitigate and accommodate for his unique challenge and diagnosed difficulty, then resource cannot be a barrier. As we know, the spectrum of Autism and even of Hyperacusis is linear and so challenges and even disabling impact of sound is different for each child. The assessment for AA must look at this – not availability of rooms or human resource. The question really is wether your son always has a separate room to do high stakes tests and if so, that is is his requirement for his disability and also his normal way of working to be able to acheive in line with his peers.
AAs planning now, should prevent resource issues – this is a foreseen problem.
For example, my daughter’s school have known since last summer that she will sit her GCSEs with a specifc TA in a separate room- that is planned and already resourced, because she also has very specific needs and it is her normal way of working. My other daughter had hers invigilated in the home, again, planned and resourced early as it had always been her NWOW.

I wish you well with your AA plans for your son. You know him better that anyone.