So you just got an ASD diagnosis, part 2

I'm hoping to  make this a series of tips and information for parents of children with autism - however I'm sure a lot of the information would apply to children with other disabilities! Please feel free to post comments or share your tips, or ideas for further parts to the series. If your child has another disability and you're interested in writing a similar post or series please contact me!

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Part 2

School
You'll most likely want to let your school know and they will start looking at what your child's needs might be and you'll go through several processes to determine what support they might get. Unfortunately there isn't much consistency across schools as to exactly how these processes take place, but here are the basics:

http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/disability_education

You'll do a Student Centred Appraisal of Need (unofficially known as a SCAN) with the school.  These can feel quite negative as you spend the time highlighting your child's needs and deficits, but they're necessary to identify needs so that appropriate support can be put in place.  SCANs are also done at key times - I think years 3, 6, 7, 10, 11

http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/20127/Student_Centred_Appraisal_of_Need_-_Appraisal_booklet_for_Parents_Carers_and_Staff.pdf

Each year you'll work on an ILP (Individual Learning Plan) with the school, and a review later in the year. Ideally the ILP should happen early in term 1 and you should receive a draft before the meeting time (if you don't get one you may have to ask for this). You will be able to have input into the ILP and it can be adjusted at any time as your child's needs change. The ILP should contain goals with specific strategies as to how these goals will be reached.  Areas of need identified in the SCAN will inform the areas in the ILP and can include things such as communication, learning, personal care needs, social etc

Sue Larkey
Sue Larkey is an educator turned autism education expert - she is down to earth and realistic about what issues there might be at school and how they can be dealt with.  If you or your child's teacher have the chance to attend any of her workshops i definitely recommend you do so!
http://www.suelarkey.com/
link to her workshops http://suelarkey.com.au/index.php?pr=Workshops
link to her free resources http://suelarkey.com.au/Tip_Sheets.php

Positive Partnerships
positive partnerships has been developed to provide parents and schools with skills to work with children on the spectrum, and have a great relationship with each other. It's free training (this is where the govt's funding for children over 7 has gone to) and very worthwhile.
the training doesn't happen that often though - hopefully once a year in Canberra, but it's possible to do all the units online (honestly the best thing about the workshops is the people you meet - the other parents and educators!)
http://www.autismtraining.com.au/public/index.cfm

AAACT also has several support groups for parents of school age children (these may not be running at the moment, but check with them)
http://www.autismaspergeract.com.au/