Report from Rainbow Resource

This report was written by Mrs Dunham for Meath School visit on Tuesday, 21st October 2008.

Mrs Dunham was kind enough to accompany us to the school and was as impressed as we were. She believe that Alex will thrive at Meath and will do her utmost best to help get Alex into the school.

Meath School is a non-maintained special school run by the I CAN charity. A charity that helps children to communicate. It has consistently received outstanding result from OFSTED on all categories and is ..... quite expensive.

Here's the link to the school for those interested: http://www.ican.org.uk (click school on the left hand menu and then Meath School)

Now back to Mrs Dunham's report

Alex started Rainbow in May 2008. He is currently in his second term at Rainbow. He is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in May 2007.

Alex is a very loving and friendly little boy who smiles a lot and tries hard to please. He likes to be close to adults and needs persuasion to play with other children. He is a little nervous of crowds of children and new events and will try to hold adults' hands and stay close to them.

At Rainbow Alex is quite passive and compliant. He will respond to prompts therefore demonstrating understanding of simple instructions. His speech is very unclear but he tries hard to reproduce the sound patterns of language - he will also sing along to the tune of a song but not the words. Alex's attempts at speech are sounds. He often needs reminding to open his mouth to make a sound clearer but understanding is usually by guesswork rather than a clear word. Through practice he has a few clear words such as "Herow" (hello), "ba ba" (bye bye), and "More choos" (more juice). However, production of these words often requires a prompt as he is just as likely to "say" the word with his mouth closed.

Alex uses a visual timetable that gives his time at Rainbow some structure. Without it he can be a bit aimless and follow adults around. He really likes chasing games and rough and tumble play. With planned activities Alex will wait to be helped but responds to lots of encouragement. At Rainbow we don't use PECS with Alex but we do use Picture symbols to support his communication. This is because his speech sounds are unclear and he will use different sounds to say the same word. Alex uses his symbols book to make choices such as choosing colour, a toy to play with or a snack. Alex does try to comment on things and respond verbally and does persist even when he is not understood. When responding Alex has developed what appears to be a stutter where he gets stuck on the first part of a word and repeats it over and over.

Alex is quite clumsy and finds it difficult to climb up a low step without support. His fine motor skills are weak and he needs support to use a pencil to make a firm mark on paper and to use scissors. (Mummy's note: Alex can climb stairs, steps and stools on his own when there is no adult present. He has this habit of asking help even when he doesn't need any. I noticed this when Alex thinks I'm not looking - his teachers fell into cheeky Alex's trap .... ha ha suckers)

The Curriculum Based Developmental Profile (CBDP) shows Alex is mainly working at between a 0 - 2.5 year level (p levels 1-3) in most areas. Physically he is working at a 2.5 - 3.5 year level (p levels 4-5). We found that he understands and can follow most simple instructions. However his huge difficulties with speech production impinge on all areas of the curriculum and it is difficult to gauge what he does and doesn't know.

Alex is very compliant and extremely willing to please. He needs intensive support with his speech and communication. He is currently undergoing a thorough speech and language assessment and the pediatrician has also been asked to carry out an assessment of his fine and gross motor skills.