Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity - Supporting Children in Education

Up until now, there has been no formal research carried out into the difficulties that children with autistic spectrum disorders face when moving schools. As such there are no established ways or methods of supporting children through this experience. Many schools which are proactive in providing support have to use their own initiative and work on a ‘trial and error’ basis to put transition packages in place. Others wait to see how the child responds to secondary school, waiting until a crunch point before putting forward a case for additional support.

Many parents fear that children who do not receive adequate support at secondary school are more likely to have negative experiences during their education. They are worried that their child is more likely to experience bullying and will struggle to achieve their academic goals.

The Behavioural and Brain Sciences Unit have received a grant from the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, to enable us to run a three year research project. For the first time we will be able to formally look at the difficulties and stresses that occur when a child moves to secondary school.

If you have a child who is due to move to secondary school in September 2009 or September 2010, live within a few hours travel of London, and would like to participate in this study, please contact Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity via email at: interaction@ich.ucl.ac.uk or by phone on: 020 7829 8679, ext 8099.

Further details are available in this document.