Chamber and committees

Autistic children and young people are supported through local Getting it Right Pathways and processes to have needs identified early and individualised plans in place. Support should be in place before, during or after diagnosis according to need and not diagnosis. All health boards have an autism or neurodevelopmental pathway, with a local plan for ‘post diagnostic support and information’.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board has recently agreed the final version of the National Neurodevelopmental Principles and Standards of Care. The Principles and Standards of Care is for those children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles and support needs, including those with autism, and require more support than is currently available. The National Neurodevelopmental Principles and Standards will be published shortly.

The Additional Support for Learning Act places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with autism. We provide free professional learning opportunities for practitioners, including the Autism Toolbox and Inclusive Practice online professional learning modules.

In addition, we published our Autism Action Plan in December 2020, setting out the actions we will take to improve the support to children and young people with autism in Scotland’s schools. We have made significant progress in implementing these actions and will formally report our progress in December 2021. Our work on supporting young people with Autism in mainstream schools is also supported by our guidance on the presumption of mainstream education.