Making a difference in the education of autistic children and young people: the Autism Education Trust (AET) good autism practice guidance, 2019.

In 2007, the Department for Education set up the Autism Education Trust with the express aim of developing the understanding and practice of all those involved in autism education in England. Since that time, a whole suite of materials has been developed comprising a set of training materials for staff working in Early Years, Schools and in Post 16 settings. These are delivered by a network of training hubs. In addition, a set of Autism Standards was developed for each age phase against which a setting can ascertain the extent to which their practice reflects what is deemed to be good practice. Competency Frameworks have also been devised which contain the key knowledge and understandings staff require to teach autistic children and young people. These can be used to audit the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs of staff. More recently, a Progression Framework has been developed to help staff monitor the progress of autistic individuals. All these products have been informed and updated by reviews of research evidence in autism education and the insight of autistic children and adults and family members. This paper gives details of the latest review of evidence entitled Good Autism Practice in Education, written by its lead author, Karen Guldberg. Eight key principles that are currently considered to underpin good practice are discussed and summarised. The full report and a summary with case study material will soon be available free to download from the AET website (www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]