Lockdown and the pandemic has been difficult for all of us, but it affected autistic children and their families disproportionately.

Uncertainty and change are particularly challenging for those with autism. Join us in supporting post-lockdown recovery. Spread the word and our information about some of the ways to support autistic children and young people as they return to nursery and school.

Did you know:

Autism is a lifelong developmental difference affecting how people communicate and interact with the world and there are around 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK.

Over 1 in 100 people are on the autism spectrum, and the number of children receiving an autism diagnosis is rising.

Whether a child is home-schooled or they attend a SEN or mainstream setting, lockdown has caused unexpected changes for us all. Usual ‘reasonable adjustments’ have not been possible. And these are necessary for autistic students for good reason.

At Autism Education Trust, we aim to equip education settings and home-schooling parents all over the UK, so that they can support children and young people from 0 – 25 in education.

During lockdown: 

• Seven in ten parents of autistic children said their child had difficulty understanding or completing school work, and around half said their child’s academic progress suffered.
• Compared to the general public, autistic people in June and July were:
• Seven times more likely to be chronically lonely.
• Six times more likely to have low life satisfaction.

Supporting Nursery Management Today – AET Resources

AET supports the early years education phase through a range of online resources, as well as training offered in Local Authority areas across the UK. You can find out if there is an early years training hub near you using the search engine on our website.

Support Autism Awareness Week 2021 – Our Resources

Our most popular resources for education professionals:

• New for Autism Awareness Week! The brand-new Autism Resource Suite contains the latest guidelines, resources and practical strategies for education professionals supporting autistic learners in 2021
• A complementary collection of 6 Tools from our most popular resource – Tools for Teachers.
• Progression Framework – A comprehensive interactive assessment tool for children and young people on the autism spectrumin mainstream and specialist early years, school and post 16 settings.
• Good Autism Practice Guidance – The eight principles of good autism practice.
• Competency Framework – A self-evaluation tool that practitioners can use to rate their current practice and understanding against a set of descriptors (knowledge, skills, personal qualities).
• Autism Standards – A set of standards from the AET, to enable educational settings to evaluate your practice in addressing the needs of pupils on the autism spectrum.

Support Autism Awareness Week 2021 – Our Resources

The Lockdown Survey 

In February 2021, we got in touch with the AET community to ask about their experiences during Lockdown. Amongst others, we heard from:

• Working parents of SEND children
• Stay at home parents of SEND children
• Educational professionals
• Parent and education professionals

The Lockdown Survey

Please spread help spread the word and improve education for autistic children and young people.

Autism Education Trust is a not-for-profit  supported by the National Autistic Society and Ambitious about Autism, and funded by The Department of Education. The AET promotes and supports partnerships throughout the education system to improve educational access, experiences and outcomes for autistic children and young people.

By Louise Bull, Customer Service and Marketing Coordinator at AET