Sept 12, 2019, Irish News: Charity demands mandatory autism training for teachers https://www.irishnews.com/news/educationnews/2019/09/12/news/charity-demands-mandatory-autism-training-for-teachers-1710163/ AUTISM training should be made mandatory for all teaching staff, a charity has urged. Hundreds of people attended a rally at Stormont yesterday where Autism NI handed over a petition. The charity wants the Department of Education to introduce training "to ensure the best possible educational outcomes for all autistic children". An Autism NI survey found that one in three children were on a reduced timetable at school. Chief executive Kerry Boyd said this was unacceptable. "As the vast majority of autistic children, 78 per cent, are placed in mainstream education, all teaching staff in Northern Ireland should be sufficiently trained to work with an autistic child so reduced timetables become a thing of the past," she said….
