Too many teachers try to make life ‘too easy’ for autistic pupils with ear defenders and school uniform exemptions, special school head says
The headteacher of the only autistic girls’ school in the UK has said many teachers are trying to make life ‘too easy’ for autistic pupils, including the introduction of ear defenders and exemptions on school uniforms.
Sarah Wild, principal of Limpsfield Grange School, called for greater focus on preparing girls for adulthood when their needs will be less well met.
Ms Wild, who runs a state-funded private school for girls aged 11 to 16 in Oxted, Surrey, said teachers were often too lenient about allowing autistic children not to attend classes or comply with school uniforms.
He added that it is appropriate for students to feel “uncomfortable” at times.
The school principal also opposed the use of ear defenders, which are often used to help protect children who may be affected by background noise in classrooms.
Ms Wild said this trend had increased since the pandemic as children coming from primary school were “able to do less and less in life”.
Ms Wild said: ‘We can’t always adapt the whole world to meet the needs of autistic people, so at Limpsfield Grange we say to girls: ‘When you become an adult you will face challenges and it will be difficult sometimes.
‘What we want for you is to not give up or feel like you can’t cope every time, because then you’ll never try anything.’
Sarah Wild, principal of Limpsfield Grange School, called for more focus on preparing girls for adulthood when their needs will be less well met.
It comes after ministers announced in February that special needs spending would continue to rise over the next decade despite reforms to control it.
Labor’s long-awaited schools report said costs will continue to rise over the next few years and will only return to today’s levels in 2035.
The reforms to the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system come after councils nearly went bankrupt due to a rise in cases such as ADHD and autism.
Since 2014, the number of children benefiting from Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), which give them the legal right to specialist care, has doubled.
‘Increased awareness’ of less serious cases is thought to have led to this increase; but some experts say there is ‘overdiagnosis’.
Under the new plans, only the most severely affected pupils (for example those who are blind) will be eligible for an EHCP, while everyone else will receive support at school level.
But Ms Wild opposed some provisions for autistic children in mainstream schools that she considered unhelpful, such as a lax approach to school uniform.
HE told Sunday Times It was crucial that autistic children were taught how to deal with unpredictable or uncomfortable situations; so they can make a plan on how to manage these situations.
Ms Wild, who runs a state-funded private school for girls aged 11 to 16 in Oxted, Surrey, said teachers were often too lenient about allowing autistic children not to attend classes or comply with school uniforms (stock photo)
This includes the use of ear defenders, which he said can act as a ‘barrier’ to communication with others, making people ‘really vulnerable’.
Particularly in Limspfield, the use of ear defenders is individualized for each child and there is no general policy regarding their use.
The prevalence of autism has increased over the past three decades, with four times as many boys diagnosed as girls.
But the study of more than 2.5 million children tracked for decades found that boys were more likely to be diagnosed during childhood, while the rate at which girls were diagnosed during adolescence leveled off by age 20.
Experts said the findings were ‘timely’ and ‘important’ and supported what autism researchers have long known: that it is distinctly undiagnosed in women.
Ms Wild called for a change in how achievement is measured, rather than focusing solely on academic ability, so that more autistic girls are placed in mainstream schools.
He added that some ‘reasonable adjustments’, such as allowing a child early access to the dining hall, are important to ‘reduce the sensory overload’ that may occur as a result of children eating lunch.
Ms Wild differentiated these ‘accommodations’ from shielding the child from a particular subject such as maths because it ‘really stresses them out’.
A specific curriculum called WACI (health, achievement, communication and independence) is taught at Limpsfield.
Rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, the school is in extreme demand, offering both day and boarding places.
Miss Wild has been teaching for 30 years, 14 of which she spent running Limpsfield.
