The views and experiences of parents of children with autistic spectrum disorder about educational provision: comparisons with parents of children with other disabilities from an online survey

Abstract

A recent review of educational provision for children with special educational needs by the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee in 2006 singled out children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) as being in need of special attention and highlighted the frustration felt by parents. One implication is that parents of children with ASD find it disproportionately difficult to obtain appropriate educational provision for their children compared with families with children with other disabilities. This paper compares the views of parents of children with (n = 66) and without (n = 59) ASD about educational provision across mainstream and special schools from an online survey in the United Kingdom. Results show that whilst there are some differences in experiences between groups of parents (ASD versus non‐ASD), their views are more similar than different both in relation to positive aspects of provision as well as areas for improvement. A majority of parents in both groups were mostly satisfied with their child’s current educational provision, although concerns about transitions between and beyond schools were common to both groups. There was no evidence to suggest that disability legislation in the United Kingdom (Disability Discrimination Act 1995 – Part IV) had made a significant impact on parents, either in informational or practical terms. Improvements in educational provision need to support all children with special educational needs or disabilities rather than singling out a group of children with particular needs.

Keywords:

• autism/autistic spectrum disorder
• parent views
• educational provision
• satisfaction
• disabilities
• online survey

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the respondents for sharing their views, and to the groups and organisations that assisted us in disseminating the links to the surveys. The authors are grateful to Ian Davison and Graeme Douglas for statistical advice and to Paul Edwards for information technology administration and support. The original research was funded by the Disability Rights Commission. The views expressed in this paper are entirely the authors’ own.

Notes

1. A Select Committee in England is a committee, usually appointed from the House of Commons, made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in Parliament’s work. They are not decision‐making bodies but do have the power to review and develop national policies. They exert influence by producing recommendations and reports on specific topics (e.g. provision for pupils with special educational needs) that the government can consider.

2. Compared with national norms of 36.1% in professional and managerial posts and 37.2% in craft, manual and service occupations, based on Census 2001 figures summarised in Rose, Pevalin, and O’Reilly (2005).