If your child is autistic, you suspect that they may be autistic or they are on a waiting list for an assessment, your child has the right to additional support for learning.

You can work with your child’s school to share what your child’s likes and dislikes are, what helps them stay regulated at home, and what could potentially cause distress. Every autistic child will have their own individual needs, so it is important that the school has a full understanding of your child’s own needs. For example, if they struggle with noise or busy environments, does it help when your child uses tools like ear defenders, or do they prefer to be given space to regulate? Could they benefit from using a talking mat to communicate with the teachers and other pupils?

If you see any ideas of support that you think could work well for your child, you could bring this to school to see if it is something they can put in place, as you have the right to be involved in the decisions made about their support for learning.

Finding neuro-affirming approaches for autistic learners

Here are some resources that are created for professionals, but you can also access to look for ideas that you could bring to the conversation:

The Autism Toolbox is a resource created to support educational practitioners, schools and local authorities understand autism and support their learners and families.

Education Scotland’s CIRCLE resource to support Inclusive Learning and Collaborative working has lots of suggestions on how to create an inclusive environment at school.

Understanding autistic masking

Some autistic people also ‘mask’ in order to fit in socially and cope with the day. This can then lead to burn out and a release of big emotions when they return to their home, or safe space.

If your child is masking, at school it can be helpful to:

Some autistic people tell us that masking is an important coping strategy. It can help individuals manage times that are difficult or stop them feeling as though they stand out. The goal should not be to stop children from masking but rather provide opportunities or times when they can have a break.

For advice and information on supporting your autistic child, you can contact:

There are many characteristics of a PDA profile, but the main one is an avoidance to ‘common’ demands of life, expectations and the resulting high level of anxiety and pressure for the individual. This can also include expectations around positive things; this can feel like pressure to a person with PDA profile and cause distress and avoidance, even to things they enjoy.

If your child has PDA profile or is showing signs that they may be PDA profile, it’s important that you work with your child’s school to help them fully understand your child’s needs. You can explain the language you use with your child that is either helpful or unhelpful, steps you take at home to avoid their anxiety building up or for them to feel under pressure, and steps you take to help reduce their distress if things do get to a difficult point.

For advice and information on supporting your PDA profile child, you can contact:

PDA Society offers information and advice on PDA profile. You can request a call for expert advice, and the website has lots of useful resources for teachers, which you can pass on to your child’s school.

Mental health and anxiety can have a big impact on your child’s experience of school and can sometimes make attending school feel difficult. Whether your child has a diagnosis of a specific mental health condition, or if they are going through a difficult time of feeling low or anxious, for example due to bullying or circumstances at home, your child should be getting support at school.

If you’re concerned about your child’s mental health, it’s important that you make an appointment with your child’s GP and keep the school informed.

Living with a mental health problem can feel very isolating and your child may not wish to share with their peers that they are experiencing this. It’s important that if your child does not want other pupils to know that they are dealing with a mental health condition that the school staff respect this and find ways to discreetly support your child. This support could look like:

You and your child can also get further support from these expert services:

If your child has a physical disability or healthcare needs, they may need a package of additional support to help them get the most from school or nursery. Depending on your child’s health issues, the support they need might include:

The school or nursery may also need to provide support to avoid emergencies (such as an allergic reaction) or to react quickly and suitably if one occurs.

The type and amount of support that your child receives should be based on your child’s individual needs. Guidance to help schools, nurseries, local authorities and NHS Boards to support children with healthcare needs says that ‘the rights, wellbeing, needs and circumstances of the individual child should, at all times, be at the heart of decision-making’.

You can find more information and advice on our page Supporting pupils with healthcare needs  along with further information on the professionals who may be involved in supporting your child on our page Who’s who: Healthcare Staff.

You and your child can find further information and support from the following expert services:

If your family’s home life is impacting your child at school in any way, this can be an additional support need. The reason can be short-term or long-term.

For example, this could be if your family is experiencing:

This is not an exhaustive list, as anything that impacts your child’s ability to learn and make the most out of their time at school is an additional support need. If something is worrying or affecting them, the school should be identifying this need and putting support in place for them. For example, giving them a named person to talk to in the school about any worries they may have, extra support or time to do homework if they don’t have time and space to do this at home.

You can find out more about the professionals that could support your child in school on our page Who’s who: who is the professional supporting my child?

Our page Attendance and missing school covers how to work with the school when home circumstances are impacting school attendance.

For advice and information supporting you and your child with emotional health, you can contact:

If your child is part of the LGBTQIA+ community and needs any extra help at school, they should receive it. For example, having someone safe to speak to, support to change their pronouns and access appropriate facilities, or help to deal with any issues that arise with other pupils.

It’s important to know that under the Equality Act 2010, gender reassignment and sexual orientation are protected characteristics. This means it is unlawful for anyone, including school staff members and other pupils to discriminate against your child based on these protected characteristics. You can read more about this here: Equality rights.

If your child is experiencing prejudice-based bullying behaviour, the school must take specific steps to address this. You can read more about this on our Bullying webpage.

Every school should have a whole-school approach which ensures every young person feels safe, included and respected in all aspects of school life. The Scottish Government has created guidance in line with legal framework designed to help education authorities, grant-aided and independent schools support LGBTQI+ pupils:

Here are some support services for you and your child:

If your child has ADHD, is showing traits of ADHD or is on a waiting list for an assessment, they have the right to support at school with any associated needs.

For example, it may be helpful for the school to:

Our blog Supporting children with ADHD: Q&A  shares links to resources with tips for teachers on ways to understand and support ADHD pupils, this is something you could share with the school to look at new ways to support your child.

Here are some services and resources which could also be helpful:

If your child is dyslexic or you suspect they are dyslexic due to how they read, write or spell, they have the right to additional support at school.

You can let the school know if you suspect your child may be dyslexic and they can arrange an assessment of your child’s needs to get an understanding of what support they may need. If the school does not agree to carry out an assessment, you do have the right to request an assessment of needs from your local authority. You can read more about this here: Identifying and assessing your child’s needs

Here are some tips to help you when you are planning to talk to your child’s school:

You and your child can seek further advice and support from the services and resources below:

If your child is experiencing bullying behaviour, it may have an impact on their learning and wellbeing. Their school should have an anti-bullying policy in place, which sets out a whole-school approach to preventing bullying behaviour in school, and what steps to take when bullying occurs.

The school have a responsibility to recognise and support your child to feel safe and included in school and support them with anything that is impacting their learning. Your child’s wellbeing should always be a focus for the staff working with your child.

You can read more on this on our page about Bullying.

Here are some services which could also support your child:

A child or young person seeking refuge or asylum can be considered an additional support need, as your child may now be learning a new language, adjusting to living in a new country, having to navigate making new friendships and they may also have experienced trauma.

All children living in Scotland have a right to an education, and with that, they have a right to additional support for learning if they need it. The rights of asylum seeker or refugee children are also protected under the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (Article 28).

If your child has additional support needs, the support your child will get may not be exactly the same as the support at nursery or school they went to before you moved to Scotland. But the school or nursery should listen to you and take into account the information you provide about their needs and previous support. Any information you can pass on to your child’s school is valuable. For example, this could be sharing results of previous assessments but also talking to the school about what has helped your child in past, what they struggle with now and what your concerns are.

The school or nursery can then use this information to help them build a fuller picture of who your child is and get the right support in place. If needed, the school can carry out an assessment of your child’s needs, this is also something you can request if you feel it would be helpful.

Some examples of what support can look like are:

As your child’s parent or carer, you have a right to be involved in their education and support. You can do this by sharing your views, or any information that may be helpful in building your child’s support at school. The school should take this into account and keep you up to date with details of their support in school. You also have the right to take a support person or advocate along to meetings about your child’s support in school. They can help by taking notes, writing letters and preparing for meetings.

Our webpage Moving to Scotland provides more information on the education system in Scotland, along with steps you can take with the school to get support in place.

For further support and information, you can contact:

Each child with FASD has their own strengths and challenges. When the right supports are put in place in education, at home, then they are more likely to succeed and achieve throughout life.

As their parent or carer, you can work with the school by explaining what your child finds difficult and the impact this has on their day-to-day life. You can also share what works well at home for them and ask if the school could try to implement similar supports for example, breaking down tasks or preparing for exams.

There is also a higher chance of a child being care experienced and having FASD. Click here to watch a video of Amy from Adoption UK Scotland talking about the importance of understanding FASD in school and the increased chance of FASD being present in children with care experience.

If you’re worried about your child keeping safe at school because they take longer to understand boundaries, how to stay safe or control their impulses, you can also ask for a risk assessment to be carried out. You can read more about this here: Keeping your child safe at school

For expert advice and information on FASD, you can look through the website and resources of FASD Hub Scotland.

If your child has a learning disability that impacts their learning and wellbeing at school, they have a right to support for learning. You and the school can work together to understand their needs, and with input from healthcare professionals or social workers, if they are involved in your child’s support.

If your child has multiple or complex needs and need ‘significant additional support’ to reach their educational goals from education and from another department of the local authority (such as social work) or another agency or agencies (such as the NHS), they may be eligible for a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP). This type of plan is useful when there are lots of different professionals involved in your child’s care.

You can read more about this here: Co-ordinated support plans (CSPs)

If your child needs help caring for themselves, for example help with toileting, you can find advice for this on our page: Supporting pupils with healthcare needs

Here are some services which can be a support to families of children with learning disabilities:

A child or young person with experience of living in care can be ‘care experienced’ if they are living, or have lived, in care at any stage in their life. People’s experience of care can be very broad and may change over time. Care experience can be used to describe kinship care, foster care, residential care, or care at home, under a supervision order.

Adopted children who were previously ‘looked after’ can also be considered ‘care experienced’.

Like everyone, children and young people with care experience are a diverse range of people whose life experiences, views and opinions vary greatly. Some people self-identify as being ‘care experienced,’ while others do not. Care experience can sometimes impact how a young person is feeling at school, how they form and maintain friendships, and build their self-esteem.

While not all care experienced children will be automatically assumed to have ASN (as with currently ‘looked after’ children), if they need support for any reason then they have the legal right to receive it.

‘Looked after’ is a legal term used to describe children in the care of a local authority. Children and young people can be ‘looked after’ at home, or away from home. If your child is currently ‘looked after’ by a local authority, they are automatically assumed to have additional support needs, unless they are assessed as not needing extra help to learn. The local authority must also decide whether they need a co-ordinated support plan (CSP), which you can read more about here: Co-ordinated support plans (CSPs).

Navigate is a section of our website where you can find resources, advice and information to help support children and young people with care experience in education. It can also help support children and young people who are on the edges of care. It covers stories of care experience shared by young people, and helpful tools like draft emails for requesting a CSP.

Care Experience /

Care Experience

Help for adults supporting care experienced children and young people through their education.

Kinship care is when a child lives full-time or most of the time with a relative or friend who isn’t their parent, usually because their parents are not able to look after the child themselves. There are different types of kinship care arrangements:

Our short video Recognising kinship care talks about what steps schools can take to recognise the needs of children in kinship care.

For further support, you or child can contact: