The problems autistic children face in mainstream schools

The problems ill youngsterren face in mainstream instructsAutism is a ail with the brain which affects the learning developmental process of a person. It is a nuerodevelopmental de orbitment condition that affects the functioning of the brain as stated by the Ameri green goddess Psychiatric Association (in Mulligan, Steel, Macculloch Nicholas, 2010 p.114). This can affect a persons kindly interaction and communicating cogency to a point where they be deemed unsuited to plough in a mainstream environment. Symptoms of Autism can be discovered from a in truth late age. Autism can be diagnosed consort to an sick spectrum which determines the severeness of the persons condition. This includes a list of dis collections ranging from mild to major. The Autistic Society categorises Autism into three opposite types of dispower (Batten, Corbett, Rosenblatt, perishs Yuille, 2006). One type is a very limited range of model and demeanor with very limited scope for imaginati on where the individualistic may carry discover repetitive or ritual-like actions which become a sort of life. This may include localiseing on minor expatiate kind of than foc usinging on the main object. For congresswoman the individual big businessman focus on a piece of clothing rather than focus on the person wearing it or focusing on a peculiar(prenominal) kick downstairs of an object rather than the affectionate unit object. A nonher quality is limited verbal and non-verbal communication with very impaired two-way informal skills. An autistic person may in like manner fail to understand roughly other persons emotions, gestures, or way of regarding and result treat these differences as estrange comp argond to their save character. This may besides runway to over-literalness when interpreting something. The utmost fellowship is a difficulty with social relationships, with an expression of solitude and detachment from reality. I aim to try and escort o ut if and why it is difficult for children, twinge from autism, to study within in a mainstream environment.I lay down wondered whether children with autism argon able to enter mainstream t for each wizarding with their handicaps. One has to cut into circular the easiness zone of the child, how the child is able to cope soci all in ally with his surroundings and their ability to cope with peer pressure or push around. The symptoms of autism argon such(prenominal) that it has ample opinions on how children with autism learn. Each individual testament fork up their own reaction to the learning they are exposed to. therefore it is necessary that coachs take time to accommodate those with disadvantages such as autism and manage each childs necessities. plane if trails and classes for children with autism live managed to devise a particular method of teaching specifically implemented to complement the childrens autism, it may not be as lax to achieve in classes where t here is only one child with autism or in classes that besides include children with a range of different disabilities (not skilful mental). Without mainstream instruction, does this mean that children with autism are doomed to never be able to lay down a high-position job in the future? I shall start by analysing from the point of view from teachers about possible mainstream instruction from a explore carried out by Helps, Newsom-Davis Callias (1999).They educate a point in bring out the change magnitude significance of the teachers role in helping children to learn. They mention that teachers cut back very closely with children and also work under ever-changing conditions different children each year and the problems they individually or collectively pose. They highlight the vastness of the teachers ability to enrich their social and communication skills. An early intervention into the cultivateing of a child who suffers from autism is best in arrangement for their gain ground. Most importantly, they highlight an structured education in autism (Helps, Newsom-Davis Callias, 1999 p.288). Riddel and Brown (in Helps, Newsom-Davis Callias, 1999 p.288) states that there are increasing cases of children with autism undertaking education in a mainstream environment. It is not sufficient plenty to rely on the skills of a reasoned teacher alone, tho some prior and extensive endureledge and preparation should be underinterpreted in ready to deal with autism. Po hygienic and Jordan (in Helps, Newsom-Davis Callias, 1999 p.288) also state that the ordinary intuitions of good teachers are probable to mislead when applied to autism. This implies that normal methods of teaching cannot be applied in the same way and have the same effect it would over normal children. They supplement the argument that specific knowledge of the range of disabilities is crucial in achieving the best out of education for those with autism (p.289). The search it egotism was conducted in order to find out what the teachers perceptions of autism were and what training they had developd and how it was organism applied in the withdraw circumstance. It glum out that 70% of mainstream teachers that had been queryed had experiences of handling children with autism. Amazingly 5% of the 70% had any sort of specific training to deal with children with autism (p.290-291). The research came to the goal that the majority of the teaching staff did not have a satisfying grounds or knowledge of the basic theoretical understanding of autism. more(prenominal) than another(prenominal) remained unaware of the bigger implications of the condition and many countd in outdated beliefs that were all inaccurate or very superficial. I believe that this inadequate understanding and wishing of attention to children with autism makes it highly challenging for these children to have any casualty of an equal footing with normal children in the mainstream environme nt. Although it should be noted that the sentiment research sample was only a handful of schools and teaching institutions in England, this cannot possibly labelled as a research to represent the integral of England. The research itself was published in 1999 and with modernisation of technology and evolution in society a change in these statistics is possible. But based on these results, those with autism face a challenge integrating themselves mainly due to lack of awareness on the teachers be fractional and this problem must be rectified.These days there is a growing demand for picky assistance for those with limited involve in education. A BBC article about this give up highlighted the fact that a couple of decades ago, those in mainstream schools would consider a child with special inescapably as an alien subject as placing special needs children into mainstream education was not common in the past (BBC Website, 2006). However these days, integration of children with ani mal(prenominal) and learning difficulties into mainstream schools has started increasing with more awareness towards their difficulties. The BBC also goes onto mention that many special needs schools were gradually closed down in the 1980s, in order to promote incorporated education amongst children with special needs or those without any. til now the identify also goes on to question whether integration is such a good idea for autistic children. concord to opinions of parents with autistic children undisturbed by the National Autistic Society, one third of the parents would favour their children being educated in mainstream education, one third would cull their children to attend a special needs school where they could receive sole attention and the stay third preferred a mix betwixt the two situations. According to the National Autistic Society, within a research compiled by Barten, Corbett, Roseblatt, expire Yullie, parents now want a range of provision including mainstr eam schools with more furiousness in resources and more schools which cater especially for special needs (Barten, Corbett, Roseblatt, Wither Yullie, 2006, p.3). The invoice discusses whether parents had a choice whether they sent their children to mainstream or special schools. oer half of the parents who were surveyed by the National Autistic Society stated that they were not given a choice. 33% of parents felt that they were given an opportunity to film for their children to be in mainstream schools. 59% felt that that once they their children had reached vicarious school, their options of choosing school became a lot narrower. They suggest that help for children diagnosed with levels of autism at a petty(a) school level is lacking. Race and ethnicity apparently plays a role in having a choice or not. Races bar white British families were little in all probability to have a choice in choosing schools which suggests unfair discrimination. half(a) of the parents in the surv ey felt that they were not satisfied with the schools their children were enrolled in. The majority of parents stated that they felt autism-specific special schools were the around beneficial for their children. 43% of parents whose children were in mainstream schools thought that an autism-specific special school would better support their child. The writing highlights examples with quotes from various parents including Mainstream school dismissed any intention of educating my son when they discovered he had autism (Batten, Corbett, Rosenblatt, wither Yuille, 2006, p.9). The article also defines the word comprehension body not merely just now the act of placing an autistic child within a mainstream environment but also it is about making appropriate provision to meet each childs needs and reasonable adjustments to enable each child to access the altogether life of the school (Batten, Corbett, Rosenblatt, Withers Yuille, 2006, p.4). A child with autism is not inevitably a child without some kind of talent. A child with autism can suddenly excel in a discipline or have talent to make up for its disadvantages. A school must come out the individual needs that should lay a marker for identifying what type of school they should attend and the support they will need to receive in order to complete their education. The theory of inclusion according to Harmon Jones (2005 p187), . when special education pupils are included in the regular classrooms, they have greater achievement, better self ideas, and more appropriate social skills than those special education students who are determined together in one classroom. Another example of the encouragement for mainstream education is highlighted with Rogers report (2004) where she highlights a school in Japan, the Boston Massach utilizationtts Higashi School, which takes in only children with learning difficulties. They have come up with a platform with a teacher delivery that is based upon the common age r ather than by developmental level (2004, p.49). This shows that mainstream methods have spread across the world.In a journal report by Philip Whitaker (2007), he conducts a research experiment using surveys for parents asking for their opinions on their satisfaction of their childrens education. The majority of the children and young people in the research were educated in mainstream schools and had not been to special needs schools to receive supplementary help. Less than half the parents who were given the questionnaire returned with responses. This was very similar to the response rate of parents whose children were catered for in special schools. The outcome showed that more than half of the participants were either satisfied or very satisfied with the educational support their children receive (Whitaker, 2007, p.173-174). However the report also notes the possible problems that could fudge the research findings. For example, the parents may not have the experience to judge whe ther the education and autistic resources are being beneficial towards their children. The parents who described themselves as dissatisfied appear to have concerns regarding many aspects of the provision do for their children as puff up as concerns relating to their childrens experiences and progress (p.174). The most common response was that of disagreement by parents. All but one of the rating items recorded only a very modest measure of agreement with the item referring to their relationship with the school in the results. Parents dictated particular impressiveness in gradual confidence in social skills, a clear understanding between teacher and child, and a broad capacity to enable to handle all types of children behaviour, a decent structure for children to be able to follow and to ensure that the child is happy within the study environment. Later in the report, it states that parents were worried boilersuit about their childrens social experiences at school. Across all re spondents, only half of all children and young people were said to have friends and only one in five of the parents felt that their children were accepted by their fellow peers (p.175). Issues during recession or break times devourmed to be a particular issue for parents with 70% of them indicating this was a cause for concern. One in ten parents impromptu mentioned bullying in their response to the open-ended questions and this was an issue that aroused distinctly brawny retrieveings. In this context it is perhaps not surprising that their childrens joy was such a prominent issue for so many of the parents. equivalence these statistics with the idea of inclusion, it appears that a potential barrier that could prevent children from integrating themselves is an incompatible environment. A developed understanding with the teachers was also considered important in order to maintain the best results from education. However Whitakers report placed more importance on the social a spect and surroundings unlike previous examples which placed importance on the increasing role of the teacher.Another report by Humphrey (2008) states that research indicates that students with an autistic handicap are more susceptible to bullying at school. Furthermore, students with autism are more than 20 times more promising to be excluded from school than those without special educational needs (Humphrey, 2008 p.24). Children with autism constantly have to fight stereotypes and unfair treatment scarce because they are not normal. Humphreys report seems to ally itself with Whitakers point of view in that the social aspect is the most crucial in determining whether an autistic child settles or not. vocaliser (in Humphrey, 2008 p.32) argues the autistic spectrum is often associated in the public mind with images of rocking, emotionally cut-off, intellectually impaired children and RainMan-like savants. The relationships students with autism have with their peers could be some (prenominal)(prenominal) a barrier and an enabler to their prospered inclusion in school. In a recent study according to the report, nearly all students reported being bullied at different levels of severity and frequency. Humphreys research includes a dialogue during an interview with a student in which the student was reported to say People in my class know about my autism at school thats why they likely pick on me. If incidents of name-calling and physical violence were one-off events, then they might not be considered unusual. Chan and metalworker (in Humphrey, 2008) suggest that many students will experience either petty name-calling or physical violence or in worse case scenarios both at some point during their schooling. Subsequently bullying and aggression towards these students turned out with more frequency than anticipated. This can lead to the unfortunate scenario of social exclusion. This can lead to a serious problem when an autistic childs behaviour impacts upon anot her child, such as irritation from the childs constant talking and thence disrupts the learning environment which creates more unnecessary pressure for teachers and therefore the inclusion technique fails. It appears to be necessary to create a friendly gentle wind and somehow integrate these children together in a exacting appearance and avoid conflicts or ostracizing.I shall now try to expand on the idea of inclusion of autistic children together into mainstream schools. An inclusive education brings all children together without highlighting differences. Those with disabilities will be grouped with normal children and be educated together. A research undertaken (in Reed, Osborne Waddington, 2009) discover the performance rate of children with autism in mainstream settings and to determine their performances within the education system. The abstract reveals that there was actually no significance whether students were enrolled in mainstream or special needs schools (Reed et al. 2009 p.1), although special schools did underline the importance of social and emotional behaviours. Although they note the upcoming progress of the inclusion process of children of all abilities, they question whether the actual inclusion policy will end up being beneficial to the students on a whole (p.4-5). Harris and Handleman (in Reed et al. 2009 p.5) suggested that the social behaviour aspect may have more bearing in the investigation than the academic performances to achieve the most standard inclusive settings. After concluding their research, the report discusses the potential difference between mainstream and special schools. It revealed that special schools made a stronger impression in aiming to mitigate social and behavioural aspects of the children. Although they hint that the results are not very strong indicators to advocate for a strong conclusion, they suggest that children are probably dismissal to benefit more emotionally and socially by firing to a spec ial school (p.12). Judging by this mini conclusion, I believe that the social integration is the biggest issue into helping a child settle. This report appears to suggest that children are going to benefit less by going to a mainstream school as they appear to have less focus on trying to improve a child emotionally and socially. Yet the report also explores other possibilities such as the provisions children receive at school and the parents influence.Humphrey Lewis (2008) compiled a report on the actual experiences of students, who have autism, who attended mainstream secondary schools. They reveal that there is a significant heading to have more students who require special needs attention integrated into mainstream schools. They give two reasons as to why this sudden growing in integration is the case. First, Farrell and Ainscow reveal (in Humphrey Lewis, 2008) that there is growing momentum for mainstream inclusion for children and adolescents with special needs (p.23-24). The second is give upd by Connor (in Humphrey Lewis, 2008) who states that with the current increasing realisation that by grouping children who have autism together into one class may not be the most beneficial for the children. They analysed 20 students across 4 secondary schools in the North-West of England through interviews. Teachers, Assistants, Parents and classroom/break time observations were also used in the investigation. The listed objectives included exploring the perspectives of some autistic students within a mainstream environment, to log quotidian experiences of the students, to identify their immersion into a school cultivation to see if it is being beneficial or hindering to a student. A total of 20 students with Autism (age ranging from 11-17 years old) participated in the study. The student sample was taken from the four chosen mainstream secondary schools from the North-Western region of England. As standard procedures, hold needed to be granted by each s chools management consultants including indite consents from each students parents accepting the purpose of the research. Then to question the students, the team of researchers would be accompanied by a member of staff (a person whom the student will have most likely studied under or whom would recognise). During the research they introduced diaries for students to keep record of their experiences this was seen as a useful way of getting information which would have otherwise might have been extremely difficult to get hold of, a way to avoid potentially embarrassing or pressuring the students into forcing out their emotions. The journal method can score access to personal and intimate thoughts that may not emerge in an interview context. However, if this method of using diaries were to become an actual part of the curriculum, I would suspect that some of the children would have no interest in using it independently and will rather rely on instruction to use it. Nevertheless, the d iaries provide a less intrusive alternative to performing a series of interviews that would still produce rich and meaningful data as the individual is under no pressure and can fill out the diary in their own way and time (Humphrey Lewis, 2008 p.27). Ethical considerations were observed for the study.The results were separated into different analytical themes. The first topic to appear was the concept of what autism meant to the individual. The responses were negative and the individuals responded with responses such as Oh my God Im a freak, one particular response from a student after being told that he had Aspergers Syndrome (p.31). It is believed that the students develop their own view of themselves and how they deal with Autism through the feedback they receive from others. One student recounts of his frustrations that staff at his school had been notified of his Aspergers syndrome which prompted an uncomfortable and embarrassed response Id prefer they didnt know because eve ryone treats me other than and I dont like being treated differently (p.31). An interesting contrast to the previous response was seen in a subset of students for whom their Autism was simply a part of their own identity. They had grown to accept and even be proud of their differences. As one student commented, Sometimes I think I am normal, Im treating this autism very well. Im top of the class and doing very well and Ive got a good future ahead of me and Ive got a vocabulary, Ive got very good friends (p.32). The mention of friends shows how far this particular student has come to overcome differences and integrate himself into the mainstream environment and make a social connection.Another set of results strong on the particular traits of Autism and how it was reacted to within the classroom at school. One example shows a student gaining confidence due to his particular strong and hairsplitting interest in certain elements of sporting talents, with his classmates asking him que stions on how he is able to maintain strong interest on such a topic. Unfortunately aside from curiosity, it also inevitably leads to incidents of bullying due to the social naivety of the autistic students, making them very vulnerable targets (p.33). An example shows how a student took a gambol literally and frustrated the individual who started the joke who resorted to verbal bullying which in turn upset the student who had been the authoritative victim of the bullying. A students relationship with his/her classmates proved to be a make-or-break agentive role in his/her test to integrate into the school community. Nearly all of the autistic children were victims of bullying and teasing which can have a drastic effect on the childrens moral and overall satisfaction of being at school. Samples of diary entries revealed that bullying occurred often. Inevitably those with special needs are most likely to be targeted by bullies simply because they are different. Depending on the in dividual, he or she may not possess the character or resilience to gesture off or confront the bullying. However there were instances where it would be counteracted by support from (and often enduring friendships with) fellow peers. There are examples of students who have expressed their feelings through crude drawings (p.36). Undoubtedly this type of situation will lower any students self-esteem and confidence, let alone students with special needs. The report goes onto talk about the levels of anxiety and stress in school. The school environment itself was a considerable source of anxiety. Students thrived off order and predictability which composed their everyday school life, implying any kind of change to a routine would apply off the students and potentially bring about a negative reaction. This also possibly shows that these children crave structure or something to follow, especially during the younger years. There were some who were able to deal with distractions but for ot hers, it was not as well-to-do to ignore and they felt upset and could not concentrate and therefore could not progress.Finally the theme of working in conjunction with the teachers also came up in the report. Students reacted differently once again to teachers assistance. Most welcomed that there was soul looking out for them, reassured to know that they could turn to someone for help. However, students also felt pressure due to the lack of discretion from teachers. It was obvious for everyone to see that they were receiving extra support which only served to highlight further the differences between themselves and their peers. This made them more uncomfortable and resentful to the fact that this difference in ability was exposed. The presence of a teacher only helped to impede their attempts to integrate and make friends in the classroom. It seems apparent that a teachers understanding is important, as highlighted earlier in the essay. The teacher must also have confidence in d ealing with children. A lack of understanding of individual students needs resulted in the teachers, in this report, depending on assistant staff members to prepare work for a student. The final key theme to emerge from the study was how the way in which students with autism attempt to understand and assimilate themselves successfully into the mainstream school environment, set against contexts in which they feel both very different from others but also the same, and experience both acceptance and rejection.In conclusion the argument that autism poses within an educational setting will be inevitably different for every child. Some children are capable of handling general education classes with assistance, while others would possibly benefit better from a self-contained classroom where they are not manifold with mainstream. Students were experiencing adaptations to common ways of working and interacting that seemed to lead to a more positive experience of schooling. It is important to acknowledge though that whilst useful, the childrens views and experiences themselves are a part (albeit a significant one) of a larger picture, and any full account of the inclusion process must also be explored deeper. It is a mistaking to assume that because a student with an autistic disability is still academically able, he or she should be able to cope in mainstream school. On the contrary, as demonstrated in the current research, difficulties in social communication and interaction experienced by such students are likely to increase their exposure and vulnerability to bullying and social isolation which can lead to depression and feelings of not belonging. These are one of the most obvious reasons why autistic children have to overcome so much. Having teachers that are aware and are able to integrate the children with autism has a huge bearing on whether the children are able to settle themselves amongst their peers. The parents must also be vigilant in order to choose th e correct schools and to also detect when their child is upset and is not benefiting from the learning environment. Family influence counts a lot when it comes down to children. no matter of the type of school they attend, those with Aspergers syndrome must be taught in an environment that understands and caters for autistic children. It requires schools to be responsive to the needs of individual children by teachers and also provide support to staff that should have ideally some sufficient accent and training in identifying the different aspects of autism and how to respond to given situations. Although many of these research articles claimed that their survey samples were too small to be considered a nationwide survey, the occur themes help to certainly give an idea of the possible reasons of difficulty autistic children face when placed in a mainstream education.Word Count 4482