If we are dedicated to making ‘reasonable adjustments’ in our provision for autistic children, then adjustments must be made in what we are assessing and how we assess. In my previous role, school visits would almost without question involve me asking why children were being assessed with academic targets when, for example, they were not yet able to engage with the academic teaching and tasks. This is something I will still be asking as an independent advisor, consultant and trainer! As a registered trainer for the Autism Education Trust, I can recommend the perfect solution.
There is help with this – and it’s a free resource – and it’s user friendly – and it’s government approved – and autistic people have been consulted on it. What more could it need?!
The Autism Education Trust Progression Framework was updated to version 2 in November 2019. It still focuses on 7 areas that autistic people have said they need support with. Those areas are:
Communication and Interaction
Social understanding and relationships
Sensory process
Interests, routines and processing
Emotional understanding and self-awareness
Learning and engagement
Healthy living
Independence and community participation
The assessment document itself is an excel spreadsheet, and I am not going to lie, it is a huge document and this often overwhelms people. However, it is really important to remember that it is not a checklist to work through by the time a child leaves Primary School. It can be used as a life long guide, a resource to help you identify a small number of priorities over an identified period of time. It provides small step targets, broken down to the finest of starting points. For example, (Social Understanding and relationships – Being with Others) 1:1 Accepts the presence of others in familiar environment. It seems so basic, that as staff we don’t think about this as we assume all children come into school being able to do this. This is not the case for some of our autistic children and we need to focus on this to be able help them make progress while coping with possibly an overwhelming environment.
Each excel spreadsheet can be saved for the individual child, focus on the skills they need support with and show progression AND then give you the next stage to support with. Baselines of skills can be set, such as NYD (not yet developed) or D (developing) and progress charted by the click of a button. The new version 2 also shows links with other documents such as the EYFS areas of learning and early learning goals and Preparing for Adulthood. There is also an extra online resource (which does come at a cost).
If you are interested in finding out more about the AET Progression Framework, the website itself has some very comprehensive guides to help you get started. The website requires you to open a free account, and then checkout the items you want. Again this is free.
This is a document to support those supporting our autistic children and young people; autism act is committed to supporting you which is why I promote this assessment tool. It actually tells you what you need to be doing to improve provision and outcomes. It gives you evidence of the work you have been putting in, the targets you have set and the progress being made. It is OFSTED recognised too!
A wealth of knowledge and experience made so personable, practical and relatable. Your support both professionally and personally has made an incredibly positive difference and I always look forward to reading your blogs. Thank you.
Thank you Crystal! I am trying to make the blogs full of useful information to support the readers.