Our education conference takes place online on 11 November, where we’ll be hearing from a range of experts, including autistic professionals, writers, advocates, and teachers working in SEN schools. It’ll also be available online afterwards. 

Andy Cutting, our Education Rights Lead and one of our speakers, tells us more about this year’s conference, the importance of empathy in a classroom context and how schools can make simple adjustments to support their autistic pupils. 

My work involves trying to encourage schools and parents to work together in the interests of autistic children and young people, to avoid school exclusion. Sometimes an autistic pupil's behaviour can cause school staff concern, and the immediate response is often to remove that child from the school. But seemingly disruptive behaviour can be an indication of unmet needs. 

Rather than viewing an autistic child as a problem, I urge teachers and headteachers to be reflective of their own practice and to view the world of school through the lens of the autistic child. What is it like for that child walking through the school gates in the morning? What's it like for them navigating the social and sensory world of the playground, where other children are darting around playing bewildering games, where the rules change at a whim? What's it like sitting down at a table with five other pupils to discuss poetry? 

The autistic author and lecturer Dr Damian Milton has written about the theory of double empathy. Some autistic people can have difficulty reading other people - recognising or understanding other people's feelings and intentions within social interactions. But this difficulty can run in both directions. He says, "when people with very different experiences of the world interact with one another, they will struggle to empathise with each other.”  

In schools, some teachers are baffled by an autistic child’s behaviour and try to enforce their own way of being on the child. But by listening to the child and to the parents and carers - who are, after all, the experts on their child – teachers can begin to view the school environment in a different way: one that can be made less hostile by making simple, reasonable adjustments, such as: putting felt pads on chair legs to prevent screeching, or letting children choose where they sit in class, to help them feel secure. 

I will be discussing this in much more detail at our education conference on 11 November. 

This year’s conference: what to expect 

The conference will facilitate discussions on supporting autistic children at school – from sensory considerations and academic support to preventing exclusion.  

I’m really excited to be joining an incredible line-up of speakers, including: 

• Chris Bonello, autistic advocate and Special Needs tutor 
• Jo Galloway, Head of Education Standards at our charity 
• Helen Clarke, CPD and Autism trainer 

We’re also pleased to announce our latest speaker, Carly Jones MBE, an autistic advocate and consultant, who will be joining us to discuss social opportunities and peer-support in schools. .  

I'm looking forward to talking at the National Autistic Society’s education conference on 11 November, and I hope to see you there. I also look forward to hearing other people's perspectives on autism and learning something new. 

For more information about the conference, to see the programme or book tickets, visit our event page here.

Further information 

• For advice and guidance on education, visit our website: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/education 
• For professionals, visit our website: https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/education-professionals 
• Or contact our Education Rights, Tribunal or School Exclusions case work services: https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support