Young People

Young people with autism who attend secondary school have been identified as a particularly vulnerable group. They may be academically able, but can struggle to cope in a mainstream secondary school environment.

We don’t want to get tied up with the words and phrases used to describe ASC. The terminology has recently changed, but terms such as Asperger syndrome are still very much part of the day-to-day vocabulary and part of the identity for many autistic people. In our criteria, we identify these young people by describing them as attending a mainstream school or college – but we are aware that some attend specialist provision too.

We ask people applying for grant funding to clearly describe the young people they want to support.