§ Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what plans he has to provide more units and places for autistic children who do not live in the South-East of England; (2) how many autistic children are being taught in schools or institutions for handicapped or educationally sub-normal children.
§ Mr. Denis HowellAutism is not a defined handicap and my Department does not collect separate information on the numbers of children in England and Wales who may be autistic or on provision specifically made or planned for them. Local education authorities are responsible for providing special education for children found to require it and in the case of children with autistic symptoms this may be in a special school for the educationally subnormal or maladjusted, in a unit attached to a school, in a hospital special school or an independent school, or by arrangements for tuition at home or in hospital.
§ Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what research and training projects are being under- 440W taken by his department in relation to the teaching of autistic children.
§ Mr. Denis HowellJointly with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation my Department is financing a comparative study undertaken by Dr. Rutter of the Maudsley Hospital Institute of Psychiatry into the effects of different forms of special educational treatment for autistic children.