Post #46 Questions to ask a special school if your son or daughter is learning at home.

Many autistic children and young people are attending their special school during lockdown but many are not, whilst some are alternating between school and home. This post includes reminders of key points to consider when home learning and suggestions of questions to ask your child's special school.

Whilst the overall aim is to ensure that children who attend special schools can continue to do so, there are many reasons why this may not be the case. Special schools consider the balance of risks in their setting with opportunities to attend school. Detailed risk assessments help to ensure steps are taken to prevent the spread of the virus and to keep everyone safe. If your child's special school is open and indicates that your child should attend, don't be afraid to ask about the school's actions to minimise risks and prevent the spread of infection. Many schools have published this information on the school's website, but if not then do ask questions so you can feel reassured. 

Children with an EHCP are classed as 'vulnerable' within the definition of 'vulnerable children' and according to IPSEA  '“vulnerable children and young people” (which includes those with EHC plans) and the children of critical workers should still be able to attend full-time.' However, there may be reasons which a school has for remaining closed to some children and/or why children have to stay at home. If this is the case for your son or daughter, do ask the school how they will work with you to ensure home learning is supported.

Parent/carer school partnership for provision of learning at home

The principles underpinning school and family partnership apply wherever your child is learning, be that at school, at home or a mixture of both. Many special schools are taking proactive steps to ensure families are fully informed and children are supported to learn at home. However, you may still have concerns and/or questions about ways you can adapt and support your child's learning at home. 

A word of warning! The following suggested questions are offered as a guide to help you to identify the questions you might need to ask. They are not intended to be a list of 'must ask' questions - many special schools are already providing information that addresses many of these questions, so do be selective and pick out those which you feel are most important for you and your child at this time.

Approaches regarding structure, communication and interaction are essential for autistic children to learn and are therefore important to consider how to adapt for home learning. Of course there is no 'one size fits all', so the following suggestions provide examples of questions to ask which you can adapt according to yours and your child's needs. 

1. Structure & routines are key to establishing a learning environment that makes sense to your child. This is not easy given that during lockdown the home environment is also a (school) learning environment. Many of you will be familiar with how school uses structure and routines with your child, but may have questions about how this can be adapted to use at home (bearing in mind your aim is NOT to re-create a school environment). School may be able to share examples of ways to personalise your child's structure which you might then adapt for use at home. 

You may be advised to simplify the approach at home. For example a child may use a part-day schedule at school, but it may be helpful to introduce a first/then schedule to introduce the routine of using a schedule at home. 

For more information on how to develop a home schedule, see the following posts: #2 First/then, Now/next; #7 transition objects; #3 visual schedules; #4 scheduling breaks; #5 scheduling choice

2. Communication & Interaction

Whilst you will be familiar with how your child usually communicates and interacts with you at home, it may be helpful to know about communication and interaction strategies used at school.

Communication is essential for learning to be successful. Communication is an interactive process and requires i) strategies to help your child's communication and ii) strategies you can use to make your communication meaningful.  Your child's school may be using a variety of visually-based alternative and augmentative communication strategies. For example the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is used in many special schools. You may already be using visual communication with your child at home, but may need to add new vocabulary for home learning. 

Your child's school will also have useful information about interaction strategies which are enjoyed by your child and which make learning enjoyable and fun. 

For more information on communication and interaction see post #16 'wellbeing - being social'.

As many of your children will experience sensory processing differently, the following questions may help you to find out what school are doing to address those sensory differences and how you might adapt for home learning:

For further information about sensory approaches, see posts #8, #9 and #10.

Finally, the following questions may be useful in identifying your child's preferred activities at school which you could adapt at home to make learning enjoyable.

In conclusion, the preceding questions included in this post are by no means exhaustive, some will be relevant to you and your child and some will not. However, all of the above aspects of learning are essential for wellbeing, which in turn is essential for successful learning. Post #13 focuses on ways to promote wellbeing, happiness and good feelings.

Yours and your child's wellbeing are of paramount importance, especially during these extremely difficult circumstances. Changes to usual routines of daily life are set to continue for some time. It is important therefore to take care of your own and your child's wellbeing. If you have concerns about your child's wellbeing, talk to the school about ways you could support their wellbeing at home. Posts #13 - 17 focus on aspects of wellbeing which you may find useful. 

Post #20 focuses on taking care of yourself, do what you can and know it is good enough. Learning takes many forms and whilst it is of course important that our children are supported to continue their school education, this time can also be used to enjoy wider aspects of learning. You will not be able to replicate a full school timetable, so talk to your child's school to ask what is appropriate and realistic. Use any other time to enjoy learning together, e.g., learning how to complete chores or cooking, and to enjoy being together. Your child's school is there to support you and your child so do not be afraid to talk to someone, to ask questions or to ask for help.