Parents Demand Help For Autistic Children

A group of parents whose children have autism are demanding better facilities from their local authority in a campaign which will strike a chord with families across Scotland.

The parents have started an online petition, which has so far attracted 1300 signatures, to force South Lanarkshire Council to build a specialist autism unit for six children at one of the 17 primary schools in their area.

South Lanarkshire currently has four such bases at schools in East Kilbride, Blantyre, Hamilton and Lanark, but none in Rutherglen and Cambuslang, which have a combined population of 57,000. The parents, who have set up a campaign and online petition called Make Room for Autism, argue the existing centres are too distant – the furthest is more than 20 miles away – and there is no guarantee their children will get a place.

They are particularly concerned that no local provision has been made, even though South Lanarkshire has embarked on an £850m programme to rebuild or refurbish all its primary schools.

However, South Lanarkshire Council argues the existing centres are sufficient to cater for all children with autism and insists parents will be given access to the one closest to them. However, it also said the situation would be kept under review.

The parents’ fight comes at a time when there is widespread concern that the policy of mainstreaming, where children with learning difficulties go to a comprehensive school, can end up harming them.

A report in October 2006 by HM Inspectorate of Education found educational programmes for autistic children were “frequently deficient in … the attention given to addressing the underlying needs”.

It added: “In some cases, provision was developed in response to pressing and immediate need rather than proactively as part of a wider strategy.”

Jackie Brown, from Rutherglen, started the campaign with her husband, Alastair. Her five-year-old son, Euan, who has autism, was deferred entry to primary school for a year.

She said: “It is astonishing that in such a heavily populated area as this there has been no allocation of even one small classroom for children with autism.

“We know it is too late for our children, but we want to try to make it possible for families and children who will be in our situation next year and the year after that to have somewhere to go.”

The campaign has already achieved cross-party support, with backing from Rutherglen Labour MSP James Kelly and Glasgow List Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown.

Mr Kelly said yesterday: “South Lanarkshire has a good record on education, but what we want to see here is the provision of specialist places and resources for autistic kids in Rutherglen and Cambuslang to give parents the same level of provision as there is elsewhere in the council area.”

A council spokesman said: “The autism-specific provision in the different areas of South Lanarkshire is available for all children and, wherever possible, the children are placed in the base closest to their home.”

He needs a huge amount of support’

THE first time five-year-old Euan Brown spoke a complete sentence was just last week, when he told his father he loved him.

While nonetheless a pivotal moment for his parents, the fact it had taken him five years to articulate such a basic emotion cuts to the heart of why Jackie and Alastair want their son to go to a specialist autism unit.

Euan has limited language, cannot follow instructions and needs to be guided through his day by visual cue cards – he has to be shown a picture of a sand pit before playtime at his nursery so he knows what to expect next.

Mrs Brown said: “It would simply be impossible for him to function in a normal classroom and he needs a huge amount of additional support and expertise that is simply not available in a mainstream school.

“He also has no awareness of danger and can get quite distressed in new circumstances.

“With the issues he is dealing with it would be impossible for him to go into P1.

“He needs the sort of intensive support offered in these excellent autism bases that South Lanarkshire operate in other parts of the council area.”