Plans for new autistic led school to open in Hampshire called Koala Academy

Peter said:

It looks very promising but I wonder how scalable it is. Most local areas have one maybe 2 special schools and most of their students are going to be intellectually disabled. In such a school you might have one class worth of autistic kids with IQs in the 85+ range. Most of the autistic kids in the. 85+ range are in mainstream schools masking hard or being homeschooled.

I understand your point, hopefully this autistic led school will be designed in a way that suits a whole range of cognitive and intellectual abilities. Given that this school is autistic led, I imagine the need to be academically challenged is well understood. Also if the curriculum is based on an understanding of monotropism then education should be interest based.

Peter said:

t secondary level they often teach less than the national curriculum would require and don’t offer a full choice of GCSEs and A levels.

Yes I completely understand, this is very true. I imagine it is quite hard for a specialist school to offer such a wide range of qualifications.

Peter said:

I think a better solution might be to require mainstream schools to employ a quota of autistic teachers and make them home room teachers for the classes with autistic students.

Great alternative idea! 

So I am. Hopefully by being in an autistic led school these children should be able to thrive with their neurokin in spaces designed for their neurology.

I understand what you mean about being autistic in a non autistic world, everything is designed for the needs of the predominant neuro type as opposed to minority groups such as our autistic community.

 I hope you feel that this online autistic community is easier to engage with and provides you with relief from the outside non autistic world.

Very pleased. It's good. Being autistic in a non autistic world ist very very hard.

It looks very promising but I wonder how scalable it is. Most local areas have one maybe 2 special schools and most of their students are going to be intellectually disabled. In such a school you might have one class worth of autistic kids with IQs in the 85+ range. Most of the autistic kids in the. 85+ range are in mainstream schools masking hard or being homeschooled.

the special schools are often not set up to help capable children achieve or stimulate their minds. At secondary level they often teach less than the national curriculum would require and don’t offer a full choice of GCSEs and A levels.

this particular koala school seems to be a primary school maybe one class in size. Were it to be run as a secondary school it would need dedicated teachers for each subject all for the one class.

I think a better solution might be to require mainstream schools to employ a quota of autistic teachers and make them home room teachers for the classes with autistic students.

Yes exactly, hopefully these kids will be in an environment where they are actively encouraged to be authentically autistic, the next generation should have a better school experience than us. Hopefully these children will finish school as proudly autistic people with good mental health.

I would call that progress. Kids attending school like that might grow up to be first autistic that are not burdened with strain caused by constant masking, and making adjustments in order to survive school years, I wonder what they could achieve as adults.

I know! It could be the start of Autopia! (a perfect world for autistic people).

thats really exciting