Sir
The author comments...
"The interval between ages 11 and 12 years is the time when most
children make the transition from elementary school to middle school.
Although it might be expected that moving from the structured academic and
social environment of elementary school to the more self-directed
environment of middle school would "unmask" milder cases of autism, the
USDE data show just the opposite".
Would the US situation during the period covered by the authors'
comments bear a similar relationship to UK children at that time of
transition affecting autistic children at the age 11-12?
By this I mean that many autistic children were not being diagnosed
until around 7 or 8 years of age - and it is only then they begin the
often lengthy process of seeking further appropriate care and/or education
placements. They may have already been annually statemented, numerous
times, before that diagnosis perhaps (as my son was) as severely mentally
retarded long before autism was finally the given diagnosis.
In the UK during the 80s and well into the 90s there appeared to be a
great reluctance on behalf of the educational establishment to have autism
diagnosed - such a diagnosis would require vastly increased funding and
deliberations of special educational needs outside government schooling
into much rarer private (and very expensive) placements essential for the
more severely afflicted.
Conversely many less severely afflicted children continued to middle
and secondary schools with or without a solid diagnosis of an ASD - many
being Aspergers children who might later emerge as schooling became more
stressful and would then be statemented.
The transition between 'diagnosis followed by statement of
educational needs applied to that diagnosis' (which for my son took 2 to 3
years) and 'allocation of appropriate educational pacement' took many
children of 7 or 8 years of age to the 11-12 transition years and could
therefore confuse transition data analysis that failed to account for
those chidren who moved to special placements and not onward to middle or
secondary schools.
In other words, is it the lack of appreciation (and therefore
interpretation of data) of those realities of transition in autistic
childrens' lives that the author fails to recognise, or the USDE data that
is inapplicable?
Kind regards
John H.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
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