PSP Exclusion Report

The Parent Support Project’s third report ‘Disobedience or Disability? The exclusion of children with autism from education’ has now been published.

The report explores the exclusion of children with autism from education and is based on the findings from a survey of parents and carers from the ten local authority areas participating in the project. This report looks specifically at parents’ experiences of exclusion, especially ‘informal’ or ‘unofficial’ exclusion and how this impacts on children and families. A key theme of the report is parental concern that the exclusion of children with autism is because of behaviour related to their disability.

Education providers need to develop greater understanding and additional skills across the school workforce to help them provide a more appropriate education for children and young people with autism. Parents and carers have proposed some solutions and recommendations which, if adopted, could ensure that disability is not misinterpreted as disobedience.

Download the PSP Exclusion Report