Vanilla

Hi, My boys went to a special needs school and it was shocking, they lost skills, they refused to take measures to ensure their safety even after one of my boys nearly got knocked down in their car park, didn't provide the basic things listed in their statements, didn't comply with dietary needs, allowed them to self harm, and terrorised and bullied them to try to make them into the docile children they prefer to deal with. It was a constant battle with the head-teacher making it her life's work to be difficult, I removed them from there and home educate them, it might not always be bliss but I know they are safe and they are making progress. Access to the right interventions has been surprisingly simple having opted out, the things that should have happened in school and didn't are now happening, I might have to nag a bit but they happen :-) My boys are severely autistic and would not have functioned in a mainstream school so I have no experience of that to comment on, sorry my school story is so anti but that was our experience. Good luck working out what's best for you, L

Hi, Just wanted to introduce myself, I'm in Kent and am Mum to 5 and a half year old twin boys, both autistic with global developmental delay, one entirely non verbal the other echolaic. I removed them from a 'special' school in June as they were losing skills faster than I could replace them and were being treated appallingly by the most arrogant of staff who felt they'd seen it all and had nothing left to learn. I now home educate them in the absence of a safe suitable school and they are doing brilliantly, much happier and healthier and actually learning!! The boys were diagnosed two and a half years ago and we've seen some brilliant people and some less brilliant, it seems things are rather patchy here, especially since they closed our CDC with three hours notice and scattered the services across five towns, it's hard now to keep track of who is where. It's nice to find a UK forum for discussions Best wishes L