An interpreter: explaining to the child what is happening and perhaps explaining the behavior of the child to peers

This is a useful role but can result in the learner not listening to the classroom teacher because he/she knows the teaching assistant will ‘always show me what to do’. It can move the responsibility of the teacher for the learner with ASD away from the main position and on to the TA so that the learner becomes more isolated from the activities of the class. As the OFSTED report on the inclusion of learners with SEN (2003: 15) noted: ‘The expectations of teaching assistants by a few teachers, mainly in secondary schools, were unrealistic. One example was the expectation that teaching assistants undertake all the necessary differentiation of tasks.’ The teacher’s knowledge of a subject is central and all the learners in the class must have access to it.

The teaching assistant can be in a position to explain to other children why the learner with ASD is behaving differently, provided that this is done sensitively and positively based upon a sound knowledge of the child. We have to be careful of labels at this point, because we can fall into excuse mode which at its extreme does nobody any good, for example, ‘He does that because he has autism/ Asperger syndrome.’ Empathy, however, is part of the broad curriculum aims of schools and this may be a means of teaching it, provided we are not patronizing and belittling people with a disability.