I have a 7year old autistic son who has a Pathological Demand Avoidant profile
which is only about 10% of autistic people. It means, even when a school thinks
they know how to cater for autistic children, that often what they want to put
in place is the opposite of what suits a PDA child. We moved 3hours away from
our home just to find a school with lower numbers in the classroom (11-17 in
each class) which is MUCH more suitable to a child who needs more room, more
attention from his teacher, and not to be overstimulated.
We want to move back to Perth to be closer to family who are unwell, but there
are so few schools that will cater for my child. Firstly the class numbers are
so large that it is overwhelming for most autistic students. (I’m a teacher. I
see it with my own eyes in 99% of schools. Autistic students are shut-down and
miserable trying to survive the day).
Secondly when I talk to schools about my son, many schools say they can’t cater
for him. He’s not even a child with high support needs. Just one with needs
that vary from his neurotypical peers.
We are willing to live anywhere in Perth. Anywhere. But we want an environment
where he can thrive. Not just one he might just maybe survive. Possibly.
PDA kids largely end up with school trauma and then home-schooling. Surely I
should be able to have a large option of schools where my child can thrive
instead of driving to Perth on my day off each week to tour another school and
seeing how best practice for autistic kids with and without PDA profiles, is
not part of everyday school life.
Autistic kids in schools are miserable. They are poorly treated by good people.
Teachers who do not have the most up to date education and then examples of how
to implement the information within the classroom. Class numbers are too large
for teachers to implement best practice for their autistic students and they
need admin staff to be educated and support a system that put the autistics
students needs as a priority rather than reverting back to teaching practices
that suit neurotypical kids.