A leading charity has warned that autistic pupils are being denied their basic right to education, with figures showing persistent absences have increased by 166% in four years.

Research shows that more than a quarter of children with autism in the UK – around 51,000 out of 200,000 children – are chronically absent from school, meaning they miss 10% or more of term time.

Four in five of the nearly 20,000 autistic children who are persistently absent from public secondary schools experience mental health problems, according to data analyzed by the government. Ambitious about autism.

“These figures demonstrate that England’s education system is broken,” said Jolanta Lasota, the charity’s chief executive. “These children are forced to miss school and that’s the beginning of exclusion. It’s not a choice they make: they want to go to school but are forced to leave school because their mental health needs are not being met.”

Based on its own research, the latest government data and academic research, the charity also found:

More than one-third of children with autism want to go to school but are missing out, some for years.

Students with autism are more than twice as likely to be expelled from school as their peers.

One in four children with autism wait more than three years to get the support they need in school. Nearly 60% waited more than a year.

In 74% of cases, parents said their child’s school location did not fully meet their needs: more than half of autistic students had no quiet place to go at school and no one to turn to when they needed support.

Sustained absences from school for students with autism cause them to miss out on critical educational milestones, harming their life chances: Only 29% of adults with autism are employed and About 80% have mental health problems.

LaSota said it’s a mistake to think that children are excluded because they are violent or aggressive. “Many are excluded from schools simply because they fail to meet the school’s high expectations for behavior because schools do not have enough funding or staff to provide the policy adjustments required by law for children with autism,” she added.

Research has found that many pupils are being forced out of school while their families fight local council decisions about school placement or support rights. This is often driven by councils’ precarious financial position: many councils face bankruptcy and others have complex deals with the Department for Education to reduce spending on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which is mainly for autism child.

Figures from independent SEND courts reveal the struggles families of children with autism face to access support to which they have a legal right. The tribunal, which oversees disputes between local authorities and families over SEND decisions, remains the most common type of need in appeals, accounting for 45% of all appeals (6,200).

Latest figures show 13,658 families appealed local authority Send decisions last year, a 25 per cent increase on the previous year and the highest number on record. Only 1.7% of appeals upheld local authority decisions.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the charity Autism Center of Excellencehe cares so much that he plans to conduct research on the educational experiences of children and adolescents with autism.

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“There is strong evidence that children with autism are often failed by the education system,” he said. “The fact that children and young people with autism often do poorly in school is extremely worrying.”

A big reason why more autistic students are struggling or missing school is funding, which in real terms is much less than it was 10 to 15 years ago.For this reason, the school Got rid of the teaching assistant (Teaching Assistants), many of whom make life bearable for students with autism. However, even if schools do have a budget for teaching assistants, schools may find it difficult to recruit them due to low salaries.

High-needs funding to councils increased by more than 60% from 2019 to 2020. But at the same time, the number of autistic children in schools has doubled.

The government’s promised reforms have been criticized for the piecemeal nature of their implementation, with many experts arguing fundamental issues are being sidestepped. Fines for parents whose children with autism are unable to attend school – which recently increased by 33% – have also been criticized.

“Our research shows that in stark contrast to 87% of teachers who are confident in supporting autistic pupils, 70% of autistic pupils say teachers do not know enough about their condition. Nearly 55% say the worst in their schools The thing is the teachers don’t understand them.” national autism societycalling for systemic change in education in England.

“This disconnect needs to be bridged,” Merritt added. “Training is key and our research found that only 39% of teachers surveyed had received more than half a day of autism training, compared with 14% of secondary school teachers alone.”

A Department for Education spokesman said the government recognized “pupils with Send require more specific consideration, which is why we are changing our attendance guidance so all services must work together to ensure tailored support.”

They added: “More broadly, our high needs budget next year will increase by 60% to £10.5bn compared with 2019-20. “We are reforming the student delivery system and alternative provision to ensure Early intervention and consistently high standards.”