Our Teachers Need Autism Training

A Stockton dad is calling for more teachers to receive autism training and provide more help during the summer holidays.

Ben McBean has two autistic sons and says this time of year can be particularly difficult for parents.

The six weeks holidays can prove challenging for children with autism as they usually benefit from the strict routine of school life.

But Ben says even in a school environment, children with autism are not being given the support they need.

He had to remove his sons from their previous school after teachers failed to inform one another about the boys' condition, meaning they were often punished for bad behaviour.

He said:

"My son was told to choose a specific book and because he took too long he was punished.

Then he started crying and he was told that he should stop crying because he's embarrassing himself."

Now Ben's started a petition asking for at least 25 percent of teachers to have some autism training, to properly understand it's symptoms and how best to handle children with the condition.

He told TFM:

"It's more about teachers being flexible and not worrying about the small things.

And if schools are too rigid in their way, then all of these children aren't going to succeed."