Many autistic children and young people find the change of starting or moving to a new school difficult. If you’re the parent or carer of an autistic child, it can be tough to know how to help.  

In this guide, we look at how to prepare your child for this change and suggest what you can do to support them. We also look at what their school can do to help support you.  

Preparing for change  

Here are some strategies that you, the Education Authority and school could use to help your child to prepare for the change.  

Plan visits and phased entry  

Visit the school at least once with your child before they start. If possible, meet and take photos of any key people who will be involved in their transition. Create a book of photos and information they can refer to, as this can help to relieve anxiety. You might be able to arrange a phased entry into the new school where your child goes for a few hours a day or a few days a week to start.  

Use visual supports  

Visual supports can help your child to understand what will be happening and reinforce verbal communication. These will need to be used more than once, particularly if the change is going to take place over a prolonged period of time.  

When using visual supports, it’s important to:  

• use clear language and give your child time to process what is said  
• make sure that you show outcomes as well as the stages of a process. For example, if you are using a visual support to explain a bus journey to school, make sure you use pictures of the whole process, including arriving at school.  

Mark the day of the change on a calendar and encourage your child to count down to that day.  

Use social stories 

Social stories are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which includes specific information about what to expect in that situation and why. You could create a social story to help your child know what to expect in their new school.   

Prepare in the current setting  

Your child’s current school could organise individual or group work on preparing for the transition. This could include activities in the curriculum that will help your child with transition.  

Communicate with staff   

Share information with staff at the new school about your child's needs, likes, dislikes, capabilities, difficulties, and what causes them anxiety. Effective communication between you, your child, the Education Authority, school and any support services, will make a positive difference.  

Having a key worker or transition coordinator can help with this and with preparing a transition plan, or including targets and support strategies in an existing statement or education plan.  

Managing your child's anxiety  

If you are concerned about your child’s anxiety regarding the change, make sure you give them the opportunity to ask questions about their concerns and explain why the change will benefit them. You could provide them with a worry toy, book or box where they can write or draw any concerns they have.  

Try to set aside some time to try and teach some relaxation techniques. You could also create an anxiety plan or a social story to explain what your child should do if they are anxious.  

Find out more about supporting autistic people to prepare for change.  
 

Support during change  

When the change is taking place:  

• keep familiar things close to your child and make sure you communicate clearly with them.  
• give specific instructions, without using gestures or specific facial expressions. This will help them to process what is being said to them.  

Using visual supports create a visual timetable can help your child to understand what's happening. Give them lots of praise for coping with the change and adapting to a new routine.  

If your child has already attended an early education setting, such as nursery, their needs may have already been identified early. Ask your child’s nursery or other setting to pass information to your child’s new school so they can prepare for their admission.  

If your child or young person is starting secondary school or changing school, ask the previous school to pass any information about their educational needs to their new school.  

Keep in regular contact with staff working with your child to see how they are progressing. If you notice that the school is not dealing with specific behaviours appropriately, or using the means of communication that your child is familiar with, bring this to the attention of the relevant staff and arrange a meeting.   
 

What your child’s new school should do  

When your child starts school, the school is likely to assess your child’s levels of attainment, even though they may already have received information from a previous setting.  

If additional support or special educational needs have been identified, staff should  

• use information to develop an appropriate curriculum  
• assess, identify and focus on your child’s skills and areas where support will be needed in class  
• ensure there is ongoing observation and assessment  
• involve you in developing and implementing a joint learning approach at home and in school.  

You can also give staff information on how to deal with any specific behaviours or obsessions. If visual supports such as PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) have previously been used, then it’s important that these are made available to your child.  

Some autistic children and young people find it difficult to transfer certain skills into different situations, so putting means of communication in place is important.  

They may also have complex sensory issues and become anxious due to different smells, noises and lights in the school environment. To help them cope with this, you can ask school if they are able to take in reassuring and familiar smells. Some people are sensitive to bright lights or noise so sunglasses or earplugs may help them.  

Schools are responsible for making reasonable adjustments to help an autistic pupil feel more comfortable.   

Read more about reasonable adjustments and disability discrimination in Northern Ireland.
 

Involving you as the parents or carers 

You should always be consulted and kept informed of actions taken to help your child and the outcomes of these actions. The school must tell you when they first start giving extra or different help for your child because they have additional support or special educational needs.  

The extra or different help could be:  

• a changed way of teaching  
• some help from an extra adult, perhaps in a small group  
• use of particular equipment, like a computer or a desk with a sloping top.  

Remember, you know your child better than anyone, so talk to their school if you have concerns about their education.
   

Transition support 

Schools across Northern Ireland have a legal duty to take positive steps to make sure that pupils with disabilities can participate in all aspects of school life. During transition phases, you may find that you need to advocate for your child.  

However, your child or young person’s school should never refuse strategies or supports that may help them. 

If your child or young person has a statement of special educational needs, guidance says that transfer between phases should be carefully considered at the annual review meeting during their last year at the school.  

The review can also be brought forward to allow time to consider an appropriate placement. Arrangements for the new placement should be finalised by the beginning of your child or young person’s last term before transfer.  
 

Further links and resources  

Read our information on communication, including information about social stories and visual supports.

Read about dealing with change.

Read about anxiety and how to support your child.