Teach Secondary - Issue 13.2

A safe space in THEMAELSTROM PeteWharmby explains why more steps must be taken to improve autistic students’ experience of secondary education T eaching is a very stressful job. I taught English for 15 years, four of them as head of department, so I feel I know a little about how corrosive that endless stress can be. Deadlines, marking loads, classroommanagement – there’s a lot to focus on, and barely any time to get anything done. This is, of course, a well-established aspect of adult life within the education system. But what about the students? Reduce the stressors It’s interesting to me that whenever autistic students are discussed by teachers, SENCOs and even parents, the issue of stress doesn’t come up much. If it does, it’s often in the context of the ‘stress’ these young people cause to ‘us adults’ in the situation. Yet the reality of being autistic means that autistic students are likely to be extraordinarily stressed, all the time – perhaps in ways that even the most stressed teacher couldn’t comprehend. I was diagnosed as autistic back in 2017, and have spent my time since then trying to communicate to the world what it’s like to be autistic, and how the world could perhaps meet us halfway and improve our lives. Right now, the statistics aren’t good. Autistic people are four times more likely to develop depression (bit.ly/ ts132-A1), and autistic young people are 28 times more likely to think about or attempt suicide (bit.ly/ ts132-A2). Part of that is the result of high levels of unsustainable stress taking its toll across the lifespan. Unfortunately, this all starts at a young age, and the impact of the school environment can’t be overstated. It’s so important that secondary schools do all they can to reduce the stress their autistic students experience every day. Luckily, this can be startlingly straightforward – so long as staff have a good understanding of what autism actually is, and are willing to make small changes to the way they run their classrooms. An exhausting masquerade Let’s start with where all that stress is coming from. The stress that autistic students typically feel will stem from a variety of sources, three of which we’ll examine here. Firstly, autistic sensory sensitivity means that we’re constantly bombarded by unnecessary sensory information that fills our mental bandwidth. The ticking of clocks, the smell of perfume, busy displays on walls – these all contribute to our stress levels rocketing up. To get an insight into how this might feel, imagine trying to work diligently in a nightclub or a busy building site. We’re also stressed by communication. The way we autistic people communicate is different to the non- autistic. We are direct, clear, unadorned speakers who avoid ambiguity and find eye contact difficult. We don’t tend to notice ‘unwritten rules’ or hierarchies. Unfortunately, this natural style of ours is almost universally frowned upon by the non-autistic majority, so we learn early on that we must pretend and communicate in the ‘neurotypical’ way. We call this process ‘masking’ – an intensely exhausting masquerade that we’re forced to endure. Since these communications aren’t natural to us, we struggle, get things wrong and are criticised. All the time. Finally, we find it difficult to switch tasks in the ways you might be used to. It takes us longer and requires advance warning – rather like how a motorway will signpost junctions far ahead of time. This is, in part, due to our “We’re great at establishinga deep focus andgetting absorbedby tasks; the payoff is needingmore timewhen switching tasks” 72 teachwire.net/secondary