ABSTRACT
Autism understanding should be embedded in the education system, with autism training for all teachers, with ongoing funding for the Autism Education Trust. For a teacher to be able to support an autistic girl in class effectively, they need to have a very solid understanding of autism and an empathetic appreciation of how her different brain will affect every aspect of a girl’s school life. Each autistic girl is different to the next, but the experience of schooling is common to the vast majority of them. There will be autistic girls with additional learning disabilities who may need a huge amount of help and support in a special school environment, and others who are able to function within a mainstream environment most of the time with far less support. Most parents only turn to home education when the options they are being offered are unsuitable or their child has become unable to attend school through anxiety or illness.
