School readiness and autistic children

Stephanie Smith, Head of School, The Cavendish School

Last year, the UK government made school readiness one of its core priorities, setting the goal for 75 per cent of children to reach a good level of development by the time they join Reception – an increase on the current level of 68 per cent. However, a new survey indicates a gap between parents' and schools’ understanding of school readiness, and how best to prepare a child to start school.

While we want to look forward and not backwards, in my opinion, the Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on children that we have not yet overcome. Parents didn’t have access to baby clubs where they could speak with professionals and benefit from their advice. A lack of health visitors and developmental checks being delayed also meant that parents were unable to access early support, where it may have been particularly beneficial. With no access to playschool, children didn’t have opportunities to scaffold their transition into Nursery and Reception. Community groups are so important. The saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ came about for a reason - we all need the opportunity to draw on the advice of experienced parents and professionals, especially those parents who suspect their child may be autistic or otherwise neurodivergent. 

Supporting a child to learn to recognise the signs of being thirsty, too warm or needing the toilet not only ensures they are ready for school but it helps to identify those children with sensory integration needs early on. If a child does need additional support, the earlier that we, as a society, can identify those needs, the more likely that they will experience positive outcomes in the future.

If a child is sensitive to their environment then we need to be able to establish whether this is a need and not delayed development from lack of school readiness - no school wants to be inadvertently causing school trauma and distress by not meeting a child’s needs.

While the government’s goal is a worthy ambition, it will not succeed without systemic reform that ensures parents and caregivers have access to the professional advice, resources and support they need – especially when raising a child with additional needs such as autism.