Former teacher Fran Hunnisett was so inspired by her class of autistic children that she decided to write a book about them. She talks to Sharon Griffiths.

WE all know about autism, don't we? We've seen Dustin Hoffman in Rainman and know that people with autism have amazing talents to compensate - mathematical or musical genius, a photographic memory or an amazing skill at drawing. Er, no. Most autistic people are not geniuses, have no special talent. They are - like the rest of us - fairly ordinary.

But despite their condition, the label and our assumptions, they are also individuals, with their own strengths and weaknesses and above all, personality.

Fran Hunnisett wants us to look beyond the label and see the person behind it. For seven years, Fran, who lives in Brotton, near Saltburn, taught a class of autistic children in a North-East school known as "The Unit". And, despite her years in mainstream teaching and wide ranging research into autism, she was still unprepared for the sheer diversity of the children.

"Yes they were just ordinary children, as most of us are, plodding their way through life. Yet each had such a vibrant personality that said far more about them than their shared diagnosis of autism. And they're the ones we should be celebrating, because each one of them helps us see beyond stereotypes, labels and diagnosis," she says.

When ill health forced Fran to give up teaching, the impression the children had made on her was still so strong that she decided to write a book about them.

"Each parent knows their child is unique, yet once you have that diagnosis of autism, it seems to be the only thing that matters. But it's not. There's so much more," she says.

So Fran wrote about the children in her class - Joss, who likes to run, who lives for the challenge of escaping from his classroom and his school; Sam, who is kind and thoughtful but never asks for help; Lotto the water baby, Nathan the philosopher, Toby, who loves trains; Liam, who loves to wind people up but who also loves to sing, and Alice, who dreams of being a princess and who has drawn the illustrations for Fran's book.

"Yes, in all of them you can recognise the textbook features of autism but over and above that, they are seven very distinct children who are reacting to school and one another as individually as you would expect any children to react. It's the heights and depths of this reaction that makes these children different and the job of teaching them so much more exciting," she says.

Teaching the class was demanding, often exhausting, and frustrating, as teacher and helpers tried to understand the children. "Everything that education is but writ large." And an education for Fran as much as the children.

"I've always been intrigued with what makes people tick and with children with autism, it's just more difficult. Sometimes I'd feel I was on the edge, almost understanding them. And, of course, I think that's what life is often like for them - on the edge, almost understanding, trying to make sense of things," she says.

"There were always going to be unexpected problems. Lotti would say '17' over and over again - which would drive Nathan into a state. Joss would need to start the day quietly and Toby would run over to him like a cheerful bull in a china shop. Nathan wanted a written timetable of his own, but could explain this only by writing 'cut' time after time."

Her job, she felt, was to make the children's lives more interesting and rewarding. As part of that, they sometimes had days in mainstream schools to help them cope with the world - a practice that Fran feels is entirely the wrong way round.

"You have children who find it enormously difficult to break out of their surroundings, who need the comfort and security of a place with which they are totally familiar and a routine that is basically unchanging. Then you expect them to go to a big school full of strangers who all know each other, where everything is different, where they are the odd ones out and expect them to gain something from it... Why should the children who already have so much to cope with have even more heaped on them?"

It would be much better, she thinks, if the mainstream children came and spent occasional days in The Unit or such schools. "Then the autistic children would have the security of their own surroundings and would be more relaxed and confident," says Fran.

What comes across clearly is the sense of family in The Unit. The children, despite their difficulties, form tentative relationships with each other. They are not always totally locked in their own worlds as the label would have us believe.

"The parents were very supportive and helped each other. They've all kept in touch over the years, even now the children are teenagers in the bigger school. It was very much a family atmosphere," says Fran.

When so many schools seem to be approaching anarchy, this small unit shines out like a beacon of what education should be about - parents and teachers working together to help each child make the most of their world.

"When we got the diagnosis, it was devastating," says Alice's mum. "You weren't getting any information from doctors or health visitors. But the school knew a bit about it. It was important meeting other parents, talking to the teachers, seeing older children - seeing there is life ahead."

The parents come over as heroes. Despite the constant worry and exhaustion they must feel, they are so anxious to understand, just so full of love and pride in every small achievement. And they have talked openly and honestly about what it's been like coping with their children.

One of the joys of this book are Alice's illustrations. The drawings are simple and childlike yet have captured the essence of each of the children - Nathan hiding under his jacket, Sam dragging his feet as Fran tries to get him to walk, and Alice herself dancing with Toby, two children transformed into the prince and princess of her dreams.

When Fran started teaching in the unit, the general public's understanding of autism was virtually non-existent. "But in the last few years, people have become much more aware if it, which can only be good. The word 'autistic' has somehow entered the language in a general way.

"But it also means that once we've given the children a diagnosis, then that's it," she says.

"What I wanted to do was to help people look beyond the label and see the people behind it - all different, all individuals, who just happen to have autism."

* The Little Class with the Big Personality by Fran Hunnisett (Jessica Kingsley, £12.95.)