Published on 12, July, 2020
As a concerned parent navigating the complexities of education for an autistic child, I find myself at a crossroads, contemplating a crucial decision:
mainstream schooling versus special education schools. This choice is not merely about selecting an institution; it's about choosing a path that will significantly shape my child's development, social skills, and self-esteem.
Mainstream schools offer the prospect of integrated learning environments where children, regardless of their neurological differences, are educated together. This setting promises social integration and exposure to a variety of teaching styles and peer interactions, which are beneficial for understanding diverse perspectives and developing social norms.
On the other hand, special education schools provide tailored educational strategies specifically designed for children with autism. These institutions often offer smaller class sizes, specialised staff, and customised curricula that address the unique needs of autistic students, potentially making learning more accessible and less stressful for them.
Given the importance of this decision, I am reaching out to the members of the National Autistic Society for advice and insights. Your experiences and the knowledge gained from them are invaluable to parents like myself, who are striving to make informed decisions.
1. Mainstream Schools:
- What were the benefits for your autistic child attending a mainstream school?
- How did mainstream schools support your child both academically and socially?
- What challenges did you encounter, and how were they addressed?
2. Special Schools:
- What specialised approaches did these schools use to support your child’s learning and development?
- Did attending a special school enhance your child’s educational experience compared to a mainstream school?
- What were the potential drawbacks or limitations you observed in special schools?
The goal is not merely academic success but fostering an environment where my child can thrive, feel secure, and be understood. Understanding the benefits that both educational settings offer, and hearing about the real-world outcomes for other children on the autism spectrum, will greatly assist in making a decision that best suits my child’s needs and potentials.
I hope you all to share your insights, experiences, and any research that can illuminate this path. Your contributions will help build a well-rounded perspective that many parents, including myself, seek during these challenging but crucial decision-making times.
Hi Adeen
I totally relate to your situation - my daughter spent a couple of years in a mainstream setting before moving to a special school, and I wrestled with the decision beforehand. For my daughter, who has some learning difficulties alongside her autism, a special school is 100% the right place for her, but it’s a very individual decision that will be influenced by the needs and abilities of your child.
1. Mainstream
- Benefits of mainstream: for my daughter, I’m afraid there really weren’t any. I told myself that in a mainstream school she would have the option of doing traditional exams, GCSEs etc, and that maybe interacting with the NT kids would help teach her social skills … however in retrospect I should have known better. I’m autistic myself and attended mainstream throughout my education, and it never taught me social skills as I was very alone in the flock of NT kids. I also got stellar grades and got all the qualifications my parents could hope for, but it’s done nothing for me as an autistic adult, as job interviews require more than good grades. For my daughter, it quickly became apparent that there was no possibility of her mixing with the NT kids and socialising or taking traditional exams - the school didn’t want her disrupting a class, so they separated her and 7 other kids with additional needs, and kept them in an outbuilding that wasn’t big enough for the purpose, with no room for desks or chairs and no hope of any kind of education.
- How did mainstream support her academically and socially? Again I’m afraid they didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, they did their best, but even though my daughter had an EHCP, they couldn’t access enough funding to meet her needs. She needed 1:1 time to learn academically and socially, but they didn’t have the staff or experience to provide that, so she learnt nothing while she was there. All they could do was try and keep her safe.
- Challenges: The ‘classroom’ for the additional needs class was a tiny outbuilding, so she felt confined and constantly tried to escape - often successfully, which put her in danger. The school had about 1000 kids, so getting her into school and home again involved weaving through hundreds of other kids and parents, which was so stressful for her. Non-uniform days for charity fundraising happened frequently, which freaked her out as she couldn’t understand why suddenly all the other kids were wearing a riot of different colours. As the setting made her very anxious, her behaviour got worse, and I was hearing nearly every day that she’d been screaming or hitting or biting or trying to eat non-food items, and she was correspondingly unhappy at home. And as I mentioned before, the school didn’t have the funds, resources, training or experience to cope with her, much less teach her anything. These challenges were only addressed in the sense that the school crossed their fingers and hoped that a space would become available for her at a special school. Although they did let her leave 10 minutes early at the end of the day, so we could avoid the worst of the crowds.
2. Special schools
- specialised approaches: after a lengthy and awful battle with the local authority, my daughter now attends a fantastic special school for children with autism and moderate learning difficulties. I’m sure I’m not going to do justice to their range of specialised approaches, but they include: daily 1:1 lessons, 'bucket time’ working on attention and listening, only 4 children in the class so a much higher level of supervision, extra 1:1 PE lessons to work on her gross motor skills, they have their own speech therapist, occupational therapist, and play therapist, trips into the community to learn life skills (bearing in mind I would never have trusted the mainstream school to take her offsite), PECs communication, visual schedules, and every member of staff has training and experience in teaching kids with autism and additional needs.
- did attending a special school enhance your child’s educational experience: that’s an emphatic yes. She’s only been at the special school for two terms, but in that time she’s made astonishing progress academically, more than I believed possible. I put this down to the teacher being able to communicate with her in a calm quiet environment and reach her on her level, using strategies that work for her as an autistic girl with learning difficulties, and doing this 1:1 every day. At the mainstream school, my daughter made zero progress in her education, and I had no hope of this changing. She’s also really happy at the special school - all her anxiety behaviours just disappeared, as she’s so settled, comfortable and safe there, which in turn makes it easier for her to focus on learning.
- drawbacks of the special school: they don’t do GCSEs, or any formal qualifications. This worried me a few years ago when I was first considering a special school, but in my daughter’s case I now realise that was never going to be an option for her anyway - a mainstream pathway would have left her less educated than she has the opportunity to become now. Another more immediately pressing one is that her classmates are autistic boys, who are prone to noisy meltdowns, and she is noise sensitive so this upsets her. The staff are good at reassuring her, and she’s gotten more used to it over time, but it is something she has to cope with which might not have been as much of an issue amongst NT kids. Although she’s currently very young, in the back of my mind I do worry about the safety implications of her being in that class of boys in 8 years time when they’re all big tall hulking teenagers (while she’s naturally tiny and likely to always be petite), but that’s a long way off and for the moment I have to trust that the school knows how to manage that situation. I know they do move classes around and choose who’s in each class based on other factors besides age, so presumably they keep the small girls away from the big boys where possible at that age, especially when there are violent meltdowns and severe learning difficulties to consider.
If the goal is an environment where my child can thrive, feel secure and be understood, 100% we have found it for my daughter at the special school, and she had none of that at the mainstream school. I also strongly feel that she has a much better chance of a meaningful education at the special school, because they have the resources and experience to reach her at her level.
I know my experience won’t be the same for everyone, particularly because my daughter’s level of learning difficulties meant that really only a special school could help her, but I hope this is in some way useful as the perspective of someone who has experienced both settings.