mainstream or special school?????

[bjkmummy]

ds has just been dx - the ed psychologist now going into school to see him - hes in reception.

 

the school are talking now about statements etc - hes in a mainstream school at the moment

 

we are however considering moving house which would take us into a catchment area for a special school - its a mainstream school with an asd unit attached to it - plus the secondary school has the same facilities. where we are now there is nothing except him staying in the mainstream with a statement so hopefully some help

 

i feel he would be better at the special unit as i have read a lot of comments on here where the children in the mainstream dont seem to be getting all the help they need even with a statement. also if he did get 1:1 in mainstream - how would i be reassured that his classroom assistant has any experience of asd????

 

my 2 year old son is showing signs of asd - im getting the hv in tomorrow and shes not leaving until hes referred. again in our area there is no special nursery whereas if we move there is a special nursery that he could go to plus numerous support groups

[bid]

Hi

 

For my son, I would have to say special school.

 

Bid

[col]

Good luck with your move!

And i hope you can get your little one referred!

[phasmid]

There is no hard and fsat rule to give you an answer with. Bid has said Special school for her son but I'd say Mainstream for mine. It really does depened on so many things; you, your child, the school, the LEA etc etc. It would be impossible to say in your case as we simply don't know enough about him. It really is a case of suck it and see. If you do plan to move do your homework first and make sure the prospective school will take him and has places in his yr group. It is not as easy as just moving into the area.

[jen]

In our local support there is a special unit for speech and language. Several ASD children go there. However when you ask how many people in the unit have had training is ASD speech etc it comes back only one teacher. For me this is not acceptable my son attends a mainstream school she has had training on ASD. This month she is going on antheor course for ASD. Next month she is on a full day course for Sensory. I agree with what has been said it depends on the children the school they are in and the training of the teachers

 

Jen

[bjkmummy]

im going to visit the special school on wednesday to get as much information as possible and to see whether there would be space for him. he is struggling is themainstream school already and it is only a small school - to go through the statement process etc is going to take at least 6 months so he is going to really start to fall behind. his reading is a non starter - he has learnt nothing since he started last september. his writing is getting a little better. he has been diagnosed with asd, dyspraxia, adhd and sensory issues - he struggles with all the noise in the classroom. he has started to say every morning that he doesnt want to go to school and the bullying has started. i think i feel that the special school would just be so much more aware of the issues around asd that they would help him better. sometimes i see him at palytime and watch from a distance and although the teachers are in thepalyground they are too busy talking to each other meanwhile ben is being set upon by a gang of 3!!!!!

 

its so hard - but if i move now and get him into the special school then thats him sorted hopefully fpr the rest of his school life - hes only been at the school hes at now for a few months so although thechange would unsettle him in the short term i think to leave him there for longer would make it more difficult to move him at a later date. its so hard to know what to do for the best

[jen]

You have to go by what your feel.

Notice the interaction of the teachers, LSA and pupils. Are the pupils happy. How do they deal with meltdowns or sensory overload.

Ask the special school how they would address your childs problems what provision are in place. What specialist training the teachers have had. Is there a quiet safe area where children with sensory overload can retreat too.

 

How do the school communicate and keep you up to date with your childs achievement and problems.

 

Good luck in what ever you decide.

 

Jen

[cmuir]

Hi

 

I'm facing exactly the same dilema as you are. Have to say I'm a big believer in gut feeling. I've looked at a special school and felt that it wasn't for my son at the moment. I've arranged a meeting for this Wednesday with a mainstream school headteacher and our EP/HV/care worker/nursery manager amongst others are all going to be present. Basically, I'm looking for a lot of reassurance and if I don't like what I'm hearing, he ain't going! I'll keep looking elsewhere. I guess it very much depends on the level of 'disability' that you child has. If his speech and language isn't great amongst behavioural problems, etc then I would say special school. In our case, the main issues are interacting with others appropriately/behavioural. Intellectually my son is very clever and I know he shows a lot of potential ? it's crucial that he gets the right guidance. My only advice is to ask a lot of questions. I know that when I looked at a special school I felt that there were a lot of kids a lot worse than my son, which put me off. I don't want to set him up for a fall in mainstream, but I believe I should give him the chance and after 6 months if I see it's not working, I'll make sure he'll go to a special school.

 

Best of luck.

 

Caroline.

[jen]

Caroling,

 

you may find once he is in a mainstream school it will be difficult to move him to a special schools. LEA believe if the child can manage in a mainstream school than they stay there because it is cheaper.

 

 

Jen

[Jill]

BJKMummy

 

Visit both, see which you think. It really is down to the individual child.

 

For me, it's currently a special nursery and I've got his name down for an ASD unit attached to a mainstream school for when he starts "proper" school. I've been so impressed with how he's come on, that it was an easy decision for me & we never considered mainstream.

 

Best of luck with your decision making! Hope the house move goes well too.

[mossgrove]

For a long time I felt that our boys ( 8, Aspergers and 6, ASD) should be in mainstream.

 

Over time it became clear that they were not coping, and we started to question why we were sending them to mainstream.

 

To cut a long story short, they have been in an Autism-specific Special School since September and are coming on in leaps and bounds.

 

I would visit both and go with your gut instinct. As soon as we visited the boys special school we knew it was for them.

 

Simon

[bjkmummy]

Bens in a mainstream school at the moment but im unsure about whether he is 'coping' or not. he certainly isnt making any progress with his reading as i think the classroom has too many distractions

 

im going to see the 'special' school on friday - its a mainstream school with asd unit attached to it. they take the kids riding and everything so i will go with an open mind. ben is coming with us as well so if he freaks out at the school will be interesting to see how they cope with him

[BusyLizzie100]

This can be such a hard decision to make, it certainly was for us. I was convinced my ASD son would be better off in a special school when he started school. As it was, starting school was imminent and his Statement wasn't finalised, so it was the mainstream school his brother was already at, stay at nursery (without any support - that was a wasted year) or stay at home - not an option - while it was decided if special school would take him.

 

The dilemma was agonising, so I really feel for you. I was dead set on a particular lovely little special school; as it happens he is doing well at the mainstream... so far. He has two excellent teachers who have really made a difference (he's now in Year 1) and an excellent LSA who hopefully will stay with him - we were very lucky, as we had no control over who the school recruited. But, I don't know what the future holds, and as learning gets more abstract and demanding we may find that special school is the next step; it's certainly not true that you can never get into a special school at a later date but, as with most of these things, it may take a battle.

 

So, my advice is get as much info as poss. Visit the schools, talk to everyone, observe as much as you can and go with your instinct. There are advantages/disadvantages to either option, and there will be days when neither seems ideal! Don't let anyone pressurise you - the LEA lent on us heavily to go mainstream and some unpleasant things were said over the phone; however, ultimately it WAS our decision. At the time I just wanted a Fairy Godmother to appear and tell me what to do, but that didn't happen!

 

All the best,

Lizzie

[supersec]

I agree with what has been said above.

 

For me and my ds special school was really the only option. As he is pretty much non-verbal the thought of putting him in mainstream school scared me to death. Worried about bullying and him just not making progress, he cannot cope with lots of noise and distractions. We were very lucky to get him a place at a local special school which he starts at in September. Go with your gut instinct as everyone else has said

 

Hope it all works out for you

 

Supersec

 

x

[val]

Go on instinct i say - all our children are different - what might suit one won't suit another.

For my son Kane it had to be special - although when i first was looking at nursery places i wanted a Resource Nursery.

I looked at 4 diff places and knew instantly where kane would be happiest - the best decision ever - it is a lovely, family environment with specialist teachers and support staff - everyone is committed to the children- right down to the caretaker.

Kane is coming on, coping well and all the staff know him.