Abstract
Autism Initiatives (formerly the Liverpool and Lancashire Autistic
Society) successfully applied to the National Lottery Charities Board (NLCB)
for £140,000 to appoint and develop an Outreach Support Service for
Mainstream Education (OSSME). This Merseyside project was aimed at enabling
pupils and students with autistic spectrum disorders to access mainstream
educational facilities and once there, to take full advantage of the
opportunities available to them.
OSSME funding began in January 1998 and
was to last for 15 months. It was then hoped that the service would be valued
sufficiently by the LEA's to attract ongoing funding as the NLCB grant was
exhausted.
On Merseyside, appropriate support in mainstream schools was,
and continues to be poorly addressed. There are few, if any resources allocated
to outreach work, and a paucity of available, experienced or skilled staff.
Despite this, all of the LEA's promote integration and inclusion, in line with
current central government philosophy.
The service works across 5 separate
LEA's, individually complementing and augmenting the provision of each.
The
OSSME service has developed its own service agreements to accommodate the
involvement of all parties. The purpose of this paper is to outline a part of
the service which has become known as an Individual Intervention.
The OSSME
service members work alongside mainstream colleagues for short periods to coach
and train "on the job". Personalised resources are produced for each of the
pupils and demonstrated in the classroom. An individualised in-service package
is offered to all participating schools.
The service must work in
partnership with all concerned parties - young people, parents, carers,
educationalists, support staff, health professionals, administrators. Where
conflict exists between parents and an LEA, OSSME is sometimes viewed as being
a mediation service.
The outreach service
Why was the outreach service set up?
How was the outreach service
set up?
Staffing the outreach service.
The role of the outreach
service.
Operational model of service.
'Five Steps to Service Agreement
(Individual Intervention)'.
Why was this model developed?
Who pays for
the outreach service?
Challenges, assumptions and irregularities of the
service.
The outreach service
The outreach service is part of a local autistic society, which works
across a number of regions and local authorities in the United Kingdom.
The
society was set up over a quarter of a century ago by a parent who had found
that the needs of her autistic son were not being met by existing services.
With the help of a small group of friends, she founded the society with the
establishment of an autism specific school.
The range of services which the
society now provides has grown considerably, particularly over the last decade.
Apart from the school, domiciliary services and playgroups available to
children and young people, extensive adult services have developed which
provide residential, day, social and employment opportunities. The outreach
service benefits from and contributes to a comprehensive training schedule
which is available to families and multi-disciplined professionals, and a
constantly updated resource base and library which is accessible terrestrially,
as well as through phone, fax and e-mail. The outreach base is located at the
society headquarters, on the same site as the training suite and the resource
library. It is a meeting place and an administration centre with its own
developing resource bank, which is supplemented by the library and training
suite.
Why was the outreach service set up?
The outreach service was set up in response to stated needs which had been monitored by the society's asd specific school. Parents had contacted the staff at the school to request information about asd and to seek support for their children in mainstream placements, or to help with transferring pupils from special schools and units into mainstream schools. Some pupils had no placement and required support to get from home onto a school register. One parent was going into a mainstream school on a daily basis in an effort to avoid the exclusion of his five year old son. Education professionals had also contacted the asd specific school to learn about practical strategies to manage pupils within mainstream settings. The fact that the parents and professionals were contacting the school gave rise to a number of hypotheses:
How was the outreach service set up?
The outreach service was set up in 1998 with a grant of £140,000
from the NLCB. The grant was to "pump prime" the outreach service project for
one year, with the expectation that future funding would be attracted from the
LEA's.
As part of the NLCB bid, a representative from the local autistic
society had approached each of the five LEA's to gauge interest in trying the
outreach service project, at no cost, for one year. Senior managers in the
society anticipated that the project would enhance educational choices
available to parents, and that knowledge and experience of asd would be quickly
addressed in individual schools through the involvement of the outreach team.
It was envisaged that improvements would be evident very early on in the
project, and then build up during the (free) pilot period of one year. Subject
to the "successful" operation of the pilot project, and the ability to secure
ongoing funding from the LEA's, the society managers considered that the
project was capable of significant expansion, as it worked with greater numbers
of individual pupils.
Staffing the outreach service
As part of the NLCB bid, the staffing complement of six people was
identified beforehand, and advertisements to fill posts did not take place
until after the bid had been fully processed.
The original staffing
structure had been set as one teacher co-ordinator (who was to develop the
project under the line management of a Director), one teacher, and four
Learning Support Assistants (LSA's). The LSA's were later renamed "Advisory
Support Keyworkers" (ASK's).
Senior teachers who had extensive experience
and training in the field of asd and integration projects, as well as
supervisory skills and experience of adult education settings filled both the
teacher-co-ordinator and the teacher post.
The four LSA's had some
practical experiences of working with at least one pupil with asd and/or other
special needs, although none had received any specific asd training. An added
dimension was that some staff members were also parents of a child with asd and
all had learnt through practical experience and a limited amount of personal
study.
Of significance in all appointments was the ability of each
candidate to convey excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and to
inspire credibility with knowledge and practical experience of the implications
of asd.
The role of the outreach service
With pupils
The service members have developed what has now become
known as an Individual Intervention which underpins much of the work which
takes place with pupils with asd in their respective schools. As a follow on
from that work, arrangements to do with transitions have resulted in particular
processes being suggested and implemented at any time when a pupil experiences
changes in their educational life. Notably, these transition arrangements have
been requested when pupils move schools, from nursery to primary, from infants
to junior, from primary to secondary, and from special schools or units into
mainstream schools.
They also take place when pupils move from class to
class.
With staff
All schools which undergo contact with the outreach
service are offered in-service training as an integral part of the service
agreement, and it is up to the school how they use that opportunity, e.g. for
twilight sessions, as a whole school in-service training event, or to coach
individual or small groups of staff. Training may also be requested at an
institutional level from special schools which may cater for generic needs of
pupils, or be specialized in field(s) other than asd e.g. a whole school inset
was requested by a school which specialises in visual impairment because one of
their pupils also has a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome.
Other voluntary and
statutory organizations, such as Scope, have received informal training for
volunteers, and social services received training for nursery staff as part of
their own accredited in-service packages.
LEA's have consulted with the
outreach service with regard to resources and staffing needs for prospective
resource units in mainstream schools, and have requested input at conferences
and workshops.
From an early stage in the development of the outreach team,
LEA's and other establishments, such as colleges and the private sector
providers (for children and adults) have requested accredited training. Indeed,
in working with some LEA's, it has been almost a prerequisite to be able to
train others before being able to be involved in work with individual pupils.
The service therefore co-ordinates accredited courses, which are assessed up to
Master degree level and form part of a pathway to continued professional
development for teachers and other professionals. Accredited training modules
are delivered on site in the training suite and at various venues in the
region.
With families
Parents have access to the service on an informal
basis as well as part of the Individual Intervention or transition process work
which takes place with the school and other professional staff. Home visits are
not usually part of the contact; we prefer to use the schools and other neutral
ground to meet with parents and to pass on any "domiciliary" involvement to the
department of the society which deals with family work and respite
arrangements. However, the service staff members do meet parents individually
and as part of workshops and in support groups. The newest development is in
response to parent requests to meet others who have a child with asd. Some
parents live quite close to each other, but never meet because each family is
unaware of the identity of others. One family had been told that their son was
one of three boys who would all be starting the new school year at the same
comprehensive, and it was to facilitate that contact that the outreach staff
produced a newsletter to send to all of the families on the outreach list, as
well as copies to special needs co-ordinators in all schools. The operation
seemed quite straight forward, but has in fact taken up considerable resources,
particularly the time to design an attractive and clear format to convey the
information and invitation to as many people as possible.
The team has developed a process which is known as the 'Five-Steps to Service Agreement (Individual Intervention)', which outlines the pathway which will be followed with each pupil involvement.
Operational Model of Service
Why was this model developed?
The 'Five Steps to Service Agreement (Individual Intervention)' model was developed for the following reasons.
Contact
Families/carers, educators, medics, social care staff and other
professionals contact the outreach team. Requests are made for help with
individual pupils, training and information. Many of the calls are for general
information. However, of those that are concerned with pupils with asd in local
schools, there has been confusion about who is to be involved in allowing the
outreach service staff to actually enter the school and begin doing the work
that service staff have been trained to do.
Many contacts do not proceed to
the point of becoming a referral. Gradually it has transpired that the move
from contact to referral status has been an understanding that the involvement
of the service will be funded by individual arrangements with various LEA's.
Each LEA has a named senior officer who liaises with the co-ordinator of
the outreach team. The amount of contact and the status of the LEA
representative varies according to each particular LEA. There is a statementing
officer, a senior educational psychologist, a head teacher and a senior advisor
for special educational needs. The role of the named officer has evolved as the
project has developed and is currently as follows:
To decide which pupils the LEA will nominate for support
To release
funding for each individual pupil
To anticipate the number of pupils who
will be nominated for support for the year
To negotiate individual and/or
block contracts with the society on behalf of the LEA
To monitor the
quality of service provided by the outreach team
To request further
services e.g. attendance at training events, facilitating parent workshops,
training the trainers.
Step 1 - Process Referral
When a pupil is referred to the outreach service by the LEA then the
service co-ordinator allocates the case to an advisory support key worker (ASK)
who begins to formulate an individual pupil file, sends information about the
outreach service and the local autistic society to the home and the school, and
sets up an "Initial Meeting" date for home, school and members of the outreach
service to meet together.
This stage marks a distinct start to the process
of the Individual Intervention and identifies a named ASK from the outreach
service who will perform the face-to-face work in the school.
Step 2 - Initial Meeting
The initial meeting is perhaps the first time that parent/carers, school staff and outreach service members meet. The main purpose is to seek perspectives of all parties who are involved with the individual pupil and to confirm that home and school give their permission for the outreach service to begin work. Importantly, it gives the outreach service a forum to outline what the ASK, with the backup of the outreach team, will be attempting to do, and to correct any misconceptions which participants may have about the proposed Individual Intervention.
Step 3 Observations and Strategy Meetings
The ASK observes in the educational establishment, and, where
appropriate, coaches up mainstream staff and designs and demonstrates
customized strategies. This part of the process is extremely sensitive because
the ASK is usually in the position of attempting to modify or even change
practices which may have been tried and tested by school staff, who may not
immediately, if ever, be persuaded that different ways of working may yield
more fruitful results. The ASK feeds back information from observations to
whole staff meetings where the participants form a supportive critical
community to explore solutions and share best practice.
Simultaneously, a
comprehensive report is being formulated by the ASK which outlines the
difficulties the pupil and the school staff are experiencing, and, just as
importantly, notes the strengths and interests of the pupil and the positive
strategies which school staff are already successfully implementing.
Step 4 Final Conference
The participants meet together again to discuss the report from the outreach service and to view personalized strategies and resources which have been provided by the service for the school staff to use with the pupil. Increasingly, parents are requesting copies of the customized resources and the information packs in order to use the same strategies at home as well as in school.
Step 5 Evaluation
All parties are asked to fill in a questionnaire, which seeks general feedback on the experiences of each individual participant. The ASK has a more involved version of the same questionnaire which helps to monitor such quantifiable data as time spent on the particular case and resource implications.
Monitor and review
The service supports the pupil until the LEA responsible for funding decides whether to continue involvement with the outreach team, to rely on in-house support, or to seek other options.
Who pays for the outreach team?
The outreach service was originally funded by a grant from the NLCB but
has been expected to be self-financing since the expiry of the original grant.
The grant was expected to last for one year, but actually continued for about
fifteen months. This was because of a delay with recruitment and because of the
resignation of some staff members.
The society expects the outreach service
to attract funding by entering into contracts with LEA's and other bodies and
by seeking additional income, particularly for development work, from various
trusts and charitable bodies.
Outreach service members were originally
subject to short-term contracts, which were dependent upon income generation on
an annual basis.
Challenges, assumptions and irregularities of the service
Firstly, because of the absence of administrative and technical support, much time has been used in devising and piloting customized paperwork. Secondly, although the two teachers were the most flexible and skilled members of the team, they were necessarily employed in raising awareness, marketing, fundraising, external training and other complex roles, in order to demonstrate competency and promote the survival of the team. In turn, the four LSA's took on more of an advisory, rather than a "hands on" role in the schools, as had been envisaged. Hence one of reasons for the change in title from LSA to Advisory Support Keyworker - ASK.
By employing staff members with the title "LSA" there was sometimes the
assumption by mainstream staff that duties would include "looking after" the
pupil whist the outreach staff service member was on the premises. In some
cases the label of LSA meant that school staff regarded the service member as a
low status person who was to be directed to "mind" the pupil with asd on a
temporary basis. In one instance, an outreach service member was directed to
organize a wall display, and in another, a different service member was
personally criticized because of her (relative) youth. The mainstream LSA was
considerably more mature in years and perceived herself as being more
experienced than the incoming outreach staff.
In order to correct
misconceptions, and to more clearly define the role of the non-teaching
outreach staff, the term "Advisory Support Key worker" (ASK) was coined, with a
more accurate and updated job description than the original.
By expecting the outreach service to be self-financing, there was pressure on the co-ordinator to "make the books balance", by generating enough income to pay salaries and overheads. This sometimes had the effect of causing the service to respond to income generating requests for support, which may not strictly have been within the aims of the original project. Plus, there is a reluctance in the society to turn away people with asd who require assistance, and this can sometimes challenge managers to implement a "best fit" solution, e.g. the outreach service supports some pupils in special schools, even though there is no expectation from home or school that most of those pupils will be mainstreamed in the near, or distant future.
The roles of the original staffing complement of the outreach service were never implemented as the senior managers in the society had originally envisaged them. This was because, contrary to expectations, LEA's were, at best cautious in using the team, and, at worst, totally ignored all approaches, even though the service was free for the first year.
Some LEA's had priorities to do with asd, which were not to do with maintaining pupils in mainstream schools. In two LEA's operational difficulties were primarily to do with meeting the needs of children with asd who also had severe learning difficulties and challenging behaviour. These cases were sometimes categorized as being 'high cost, low incidence disability', particularly when 'out of borough' placements were used for individual pupils. In one LEA this meant that the outreach service enabled the LEA to set up a structured teaching classroom for six pupils with asd in a general special school. Consequently, for some pupils, there was no longer the requirement for expensive autism specific placements. Some LEA's were sceptical of the credentials of the newly formed outreach service and were more concerned with offering "training" to groups of teaching and non-teaching staff, rather than interventions which were focused on the needs of particular pupils in particular settings.
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