A podcast about how the school system is failing autistic children
Everyone goes to school – but what happens when your child struggles to go? Often as a parent there is a sense that something more is going on causing the distress. A hard-won diagnosis of autism promises to bring the understanding and support families need. Instead, many feel like they are dropped off a cliff edge, and trauma grows in it wake.
In this powerful four-part podcast, Eliza Fricker shares her experience, and that of others, to reveal the difficult process of getting an autism diagnosis, what this means in our current education system, and asks, can we find a better way?
With the help of leading autism experts Eliza explores the pressure to “fix” children to fit in and how many children are masking their true self to survive at school. She looks at alternative ways to educate children who don’t thrive in the mainstream model. And in light of the growing mental health crisis among young people, asks how far the UK school system is out of date and in need of reform. Are schools failing not just autistic children, but everyone?
“My child wasn't broken, they didn't need to be fixed. Why was the onus on my child to fit the system – and not the system, to fit my child?”
Currently almost two million children are regularly absent from school. Many of these will have special needs – making going to school a stressful and distressing experience. But in a system that prizes attendance over wellbeing, autistic children are forced into an environment that makes them unwell. Parents who want to safeguard their children are fined for non-attendance, and face an expensive uphill struggle to find alternative ways to educate their children. Yet there are other ways, including schools that focus on strength-based and autonomous learning. It’s in a setting like this that Eliza has seen her child heal and thrive.
How many children are being disabled by the system, not their disability?
Contributor quotes:
“The implication is that there's a gold standard human being that everybody's measured up against and if you’re perceived to have flaws then you're broken in some way and you need to be fixed. But we can reframe those “weaknesses” and see them as strengths. Which is rarely done with autistic children.” Kieran Rose, autistic consultant and trainer.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A podcast about how the school system is failing autistic children
Everyone goes to school – but what happens when your child struggles to go? Often as a parent there is a sense that something more is going on causing the distress. A hard-won diagnosis of autism promises to bring the understanding and support families need. Instead, many feel like they are dropped off a cliff edge, and trauma grows in it wake.
In this powerful four-part podcast, Eliza Fricker shares her experience, and that of others, to reveal the difficult process of getting an autism diagnosis, what this means in our current education system, and asks, can we find a better way?
With the help of leading autism experts Eliza explores the pressure to “fix” children to fit in and how many children are masking their true self to survive at school. She looks at alternative ways to educate children who don’t thrive in the mainstream model. And in light of the growing mental health crisis among young people, asks how far the UK school system is out of date and in need of reform. Are schools failing not just autistic children, but everyone?
“My child wasn't broken, they didn't need to be fixed. Why was the onus on my child to fit the system – and not the system, to fit my child?”
Currently almost two million children are regularly absent from school. Many of these will have special needs – making going to school a stressful and distressing experience. But in a system that prizes attendance over wellbeing, autistic children are forced into an environment that makes them unwell. Parents who want to safeguard their children are fined for non-attendance, and face an expensive uphill struggle to find alternative ways to educate their children. Yet there are other ways, including schools that focus on strength-based and autonomous learning. It’s in a setting like this that Eliza has seen her child heal and thrive.
How many children are being disabled by the system, not their disability?
Contributor quotes:
“The implication is that there's a gold standard human being that everybody's measured up against and if you’re perceived to have flaws then you're broken in some way and you need to be fixed. But we can reframe those “weaknesses” and see them as strengths. Which is rarely done with autistic children.” Kieran Rose, autistic consultant and trainer.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Finding Other Ways
In episode 3 Eliza finds out what happens when you leave the school system, what recovery looks like, and what alternatives there are to mainstream education when you know you need something different.
For some children the consequences of trying to go to mainstream school is devastating, and the first step when they leave is healing. Eliza talks to mum of two autistic children, Lindsey, about slowly rebuilding their children’s wellbeing and capacity to grow. She discusses homeschooling, and “special schools”, and how interest-based learning is key. Eliza visits the Self Managed Learning Centre to find out about putting autonomy first as the basis for learning, and shares her journey to finding the perfect place to learn for her child.
“What if we reconceptualised “dropping out” of education as “dropping in” to a different kind of education because that’s what you need, and for that to be empowering.”
Featuring:
Eliza Fricker (@_MissingTheMark)
Harry Thompson (@FidgetyF_cker), author of The PDA Paradox
Kieran Rose (@KieranRose7), The Autistic Advocate
Dr Naomi Fisher (@naomicfisher), author of Changing Our Minds
Dr Chris Bagley (@hiddendepths), Director of Research at States of Mind
Dr Ian Cunningham, founder of the Self Managed Learning College
Resources:
eliza@missingthemark.blog
Facebook MissingTheMark1
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.