Autism charity takes governors back to school » Education » 24dash.com

Lambeth school governors found themselves back in the classroom for autism awareness training, courtesy of TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education. TreeHouse’s Constructive Campaigning Parent Support Project teamed up with Lambeth parent Linda Downie, who has three sons with autism, to present a training programme. It was entitled ‘Everything you wanted to know about autism but were afraid to ask’ and took place on 28 April 2008.

The training was given at International House in Brixton where ten governors attended from a range of schools in Lambeth. The session included measures to reduce school exclusions, the distinction between disability and disobedience and outlined responsibilities of governing bodies as stated in the special educational needs code of practice.

Liz Osman, Constructive Campaigning Parent Support Project Manager, said: “This latest initiative of training school governors is just one of the ways in which TreeHouse’s Parent Support Project empowers parents of children and young people with autism. We provide them with a platform to voice their concerns and experiences. These voices are then heard and will help shape educational provision in their area in the future. The governors were really keen to find out how to ensure their schools meet the needs of children and young people with autism.

The training was based on the highly successful TreeHouse autism calendar for 2008 which was distributed to every school in Lambeth at the beginning of the year. These calendars were produced to help teachers and pupils in mainstream and special schools improve their communication with children with autism. The calendar includes twelve key messages, for example ‘Keep your language simple and positive’ and ‘Tell me what to do instead of what not to do’ and was sent out free to every school in the project’s ten areas.

TreeHouse’s Parent Support Project is funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and aims to improve autism education in ten local authority areas across England, including Lambeth.