Page 71 - Issue 112 May-June 2021

Autism Non-attendance of autistic pupils and trauma Kat Williams provides a stark insight into the reasons for non- attendance and what is needed to combat this issue. 71 Numerous issues appear to impact autistic people and their families at a higher rate than their non-autistic peers, including trauma, school ‘refusal’, and not meeting academic potential. When discussing these matters with our stakeholders, a recurring theme was that while these matters are looked at separately, the intersectionality of the issues is often not considered, and that it’s possible that school ‘refusal’ is a direct result of school trauma. We conducted a survey to ascertain if there was any link, and to provide an opportunity for autistic people and their parent/carers to talk about why they/their child was unable to attend school. Throughout the remainder of this article, I will refer to school ‘non-attendance’ rather than ‘refusal’. Most respondents indicate that the term ‘refusal’ suggests that they are wilfully not attending rather than there being an accessibility issue. Language is important, particularly in childhood. The language used around – and directed at – children stays with them and can contribute to either building or breaking down their self- esteem. Language which apportions blame to the autistic child and their parent/ carer not only damages their wellbeing, but also removes responsibility from schools/professionals in making schools accessible. “School ‘refusal’ is a direct result of school trauma” No questions were compulsory, but on average each received 245 responses: 25 autistic people, and 224 parent/carers. All respondents either had periods of non-attendance themselves (autistic respondents) or have an autistic child who had periods of non-attendance. Most were in mainstream education prior to non-attendance. Their responses highlight a number of key issues which, if correctly addressed, could prevent the development of trauma and other mental health concerns, and could also prevent further episodes of school non-attendance. senmagazine.co.uk SEN112