- Prevalence of Autism Not only the prevalence of Autism is increasing, the complexity of the person with Autism is also increasing eg ASD and Mental Health. Schools and support services to schools require much more assistance than is currently provided. Support services to schools experience challenges in their knowledge in this area and how to effectively support schools.
Females and ASD prevalence is also increasing and presents another set of challenges for schools as presentation is very different to males.
Autism and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) or Autism and Extreme Demand Avoidance (EDA) prevalence (and movement) is increasing, even though it is in not in the DSM V. PDA/EDA strategies tend to be almost opposite to ASD strategies or not effective when using conventional behaviour and emotion management strategies. This is another huge challenge for schools.
https://attwoodandgarnettevents.com/product/webcast-event-pda-and-autism-4-august-2023/
https://attwoodandgarnettevents.com/product/webcast-event-pda-for-professionals-4-august-2023/
- Current support available for autistic students in WA schools, including consideration of how:
a. evidence-based practices are implemented across the school system These practices are not well implemented as a whole, including in the Autism Specialised Learning Programs, school staff as a whole system need ALOT more support with these first, ie. what is evidence base, what are the evidence based practices for Autism, which ones to choose or would be relevant for their context, how to implement these (need ALOT of coaching and explicit modelling and support) and how these are implemented with FIDELITY.
This needs to be promoted and utilised more (only minimal currently) in our system (University of North Carolina), The National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice.
There are some staff that are currently working in government schools (PS, HS, DHS and Ed. Support Schools and Centres) that have extensive knowledge, experience and expertise to effectively implement evidence based practice but current workload, resourcing and competing priorities make it unachievable.
These highly experienced, knowledgeable and/or qualified (Masters in Applied Behaviour Analysis, PHD in Autism) staff (teaching or school administrators) would be able to lead reform and innovation in supporting Autistic students across the schooling system. They not only possess the content knowledge, but the contextual knowledge
of schools and how they currently operate,
contextual knowledge of networks
contextual knowledge of support services to schools.
These are the people that would be more effective in driving change to achieve positive outcomes of students with Autism.
The huge staff shortage crisis (Health and Education) is also having a major impact on current support for autistic students and effective implementation of evidence based practices. ; and
b. school supports are co-ordinated with other service areas to respond to the needs of autistic students and their families. What are the challenges and successes for implementing evidence-based practices across the school system? What is the interaction between school supports and other service areas that autistic students are accessing? What is the interaction between State and Commonwealth funded services?
Current support is severely lacking, alot more funding and/or facilities needs to be provided in order for mainstream schools and those with an Endorsed Program eg Ed. Support Program, including those existing programs. If more funding was provided, targeted resources could be provided, improving outcomes for autistic students. Resourcing includes intensive training of more teachers and EAs (high level skills) as the current training eg LEAP and Internships is limited, very dependent on the quality of the trainer (knowledge, experience and skills) and not designed utilising adult learner principles, contemporary language, or has a strong Autistic voice. Other states have done and do this much better, eg SA is employing and providing training for an Autism Inclusion teacher in every PS in the state (training provided by Positive Partnerships – Federal Government funded PL). They have appointed these teachers and kept the same level of support as in support teachers to support schools in their district and state offices.
Rural and remote communities (and schools) have no or extremely limited access to support including quality and ongoing in school support, access to therapy services, diagnostic services and initial and ongoing psychology support.
Existing support from Statewide Services needs an in-depth review, further to their reviews that have occurred in the past 3 years.
For a government school to access support, it is currently a laborious process where the school has to ‘tell their story’ multiple times and the staff who are liaising with the school often do not have the expertise and understanding. The very nature of the current support model to schools is reactive and reflects a medical model of triaging. Other states (and past models of support to schools in WA) was and is more effective and proactive.
The effectiveness of support that is provided to schools is very inconsistent due to the nature of the current service model, including the expertise and experience of those staff who come out to support the school. A sentiment that is shared by many school administrators, the in-depth knowledge, and at times historical knowledge, of different school settings, networks and expertise within these, has diminished. The support is very time limited and restrictive. There are better, more proactive models (a true coaching model) of support that the Education Department could and should adopt.
https://www.vic.gov.au/search?q=autism
https://www.vic.gov.au/autism-education-strategy
Accessing funding for schools that have students with Autism is again a laborious process that is very much dependent on how skilled (using the ‘buzz’ language) the school staff member is at detailing the information in the checklist though the Disability Resourcing System (DRS). Again, other states such as SA, have a more efficient process. The DRS has not had a thorough review in many years.
More effective utilisation of funds is required for support of schools with students with disabilities rather than centralised funding where the risk is inequitable fund distribution.
The Department of Education’s current offerings of Professional Learning on Autism, namely ASD modules are poorly designed and presented with very surface level information. They are not designed on adult learner principles, have contemporary language, utilise a strength-based approach nor strongly reflect the autistic voice. The ASD PL modules that the Department of Education heavily promotes is not reflective of effective PL, rather a ‘tick a box’ and research shows that doing these one off PLs with no follow up tasks built in is the least effective way to develop people’s knowledge. There is far better PL for schools to access that already include the above such as Positive Partnerships which is funded by the Federal Government and is Australia’s leading PL on Autism. They provide face to face workshops, webinars and online modules. Positive Partnerships not only provide PL to schools but also to parents and carers and at times, both simultaneously. Positive Partnerships assist school and parents/carers to effectively work together, a gap in the WA education system. They also delivered the training for Autism Inclusion Teachers in SA this year (see link above). Positive Partnerships PL utilises a facilitation rather than a presentation model and an Autistic person facilitates with others as a Delivery Team Member in every workshop. Each Delivery Team Member receives targeted facilitation training (including strategic questioning).
https://www.positivepartnerships.com.au/
The Education Department need to utilise and promote these resources more as it is also provides a consistent approach across the State and the rest of Australia. It is a waste of precious $$$ to design and develop PL that already exists, particularly when the existing PL is far superior (endorsed & rigorously evaluated), and more effective. Additional PL on Autism (University of North Carolina)
https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/afirm-modules
There is no Autism (only) school in WA whereas other states have these settings to offer parents further choice. Some students in our current system would benefit much more in these settings as some of the environments they are in are not conducive to their learning, mental health and other needs. The very ‘set up’ of some schools makes it an unbearable place for some students. The
number of students with Autism accessing Home Schooling is increasing, with the physical environment of our traditional school settings (including Ed Support Schools, Centres, Endorsed Programs and Specialised Learning Programs) not suitable to their specific needs. ASPECT (NSW) are also now offering Autism Home Schooling.
https://www.jacanaschoolforautism.vic.edu.au/
https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/how-can-we-help/going-to-school
There is no follow up data (particularly longitudinal) on the effectiveness of programmes utilised in schools that support Autistic students post school in employment or independent living. Individual schools are trying to do this themselves, I am not aware of support from the department around this.
Individual schools or networks are also coordinating with other service areas to assist with the transition from schooling.
Again, coordination of service areas such as therapists providing support to students during school hours is a huge task to coordinate from the school’s perspective, with some schools liaising with 50 100 different therapists.
Not only the prevalence of Autism is increasing, the complexity of the person with Autism is also increasing, particularly when the person has co-existing diagnoses eg ASD and Mental Health. Schools and support services to schools require much more assistance than is currently provided. Support services to schools experience challenges in their knowledge in this area and how to effectively support schools. Schools can get ‘passed on’ from one support to another as ‘this not our area’ (ie within Statewide Services and Health Dept.). There needs to be a more holisitic approach, attempts have been made but could improve.
Autism and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and autism and Extreme Demand Avoidance (EDA) prevalence is increasing, even though it is in not in the DSM V. PDA strategies tend to be almost opposite to autism practices and strategies. Some parents and service areas are recognising PDA and EDA and placing additional pressure on schools, and schools are finding this stressful and confusing.
The supports provided to schools are mainly aimed at students with Autism (those that do not have challenging behaviours and no co-existing diagnoses,) support is very limited when a student has ASD & ID, ASD and FASD & ASD & Mental Health. The SLPs are a fantastic option for students with ASD (no ID or challenging behaviours), however, they have not been as successful as they could have been due to factors such as skillset and experience of staff, culture and skillset and experience of host school and consistency and cohesiveness between SLPs. Focus 2023 has identified a review on the SLPs.
The Disability Royal Commission has highlighted many gaps, one being Communication for individuals, particularly those with Complex Communication Needs. Again, as a system, more staff (Teachers, Consulting Teachers and EAs) that are qualified and trained in complex communication needs is required. The Department of Education could fund staff training to gain qualifications from universities that offer this. This also applies for post graduate qualifications for supporting students with autism such as the Masters in Autism that the likes of Wollongong and Griffith offer.
The Department of Education’s and Statewide various websites are hard for parents to navigate, (feeback from parents), and staff alike. Again, look to other states, eg Victoria that have extensive information on Autism, supports and are easy to navigate.
Schools are currently under enormous pressure and accessing support needs to be more streamlined, easier, quicker to access, high quality from highly experienced staff who can provide in depth coaching and mentoring for extended periods of time.
I am a 25 year veteran in teaching and supporting Autistic students and have worked in every region in the state (inc. rural and remote), and have provided PL through Federal Government initiatives in other states on supporting students with Autism.
From:
Sent: Friday, 14 July 2023 4:30 PM
To: Committee, Education & Health Standing laehsc@parliament.wa.gov.au
Subject: Re: Amended Submission for Inquiry
Thank you.
| would also like to add to my submission if possible, that the calibre of staff at all levels within the School
of Special Education Needs seems to have decreased greatly in recent times which has also affected support to schools.
The Autism community is very strong on ’neuro affirming’ now, however, some of the practices that claim this are not evidence based which is adding further challenges for schools and supports.