mainstream v special

One reason why it is difficult to transfer from mainstream to special is that in a mainstream primary school there is one to one funding often. This in reaity means there is more than one adult in the class that can be used for help for others.

The other problem I have found with students coming to special schools is their lack of independence. Becuase they have so much help (eveerything being done for them) they find it difficult to move to an academic seting where they are expected to do more for themselves.

There is a social/normal problem as well. When you have a TA with you all day everyday it is impossible for you to be naughty - your TA simply won't allow it (to a degree). You have someone breathing down your neck at every opportunity. When you get to special school there are more chldren like you and it is possible for students to be normal by being naughty.

We found that for the first term a student was with us they would drop a level. Some of the things we were told they could do academically were way outside their ability - told they could read/write count and they couldn't - it was thier TA doing it for them. BUt the parents could recognise the strress levels were less and they could enjoy themselves - and had special techniques/equipment to use. All these things made such a difference.

Thanks

Paulz

thanks for your reply julez.My son comes home every day happy and fits in quite well with the other children.He is on the low end of the spectrum.He also has diabetes and coeliac disease.I do feel like its a constant battle to be heard, unless i should be satisfied with the minimal support he is getting.sorry for going on and thanks again for your reply, Janet

hey janet,

exactly the same thing happened to my sin when he was in maintream. the way it was explained to me was,, they had a few special needs children in the school, that all had differing hours in statement, and wot they did was , to try cover  ALL the hours, was they split it, so altho my son had some 1 - 1 time,  it was generaly shared, so he wasnt restricted to ONLy his statemented hours..  he was given 20 hours,. but really needed more,,  as did some other children., so what they did was give each SOME 1 - 1 , but then  have a few at a time to cover the other hours. if thats makes sense. however., im not so sure this is really what they were doing,, if they had given my son  his 20 hours, and it wasnt enoough, we coud have fought better to get him more hours. as it was, i moved him from mainstream into a special needs school, and he;s never bn  happier, it;s amazing the difference in him, i used to worry about him being behind, and not hitting targets etc, but yo see him smiling everyday is worth so much more than the academic stuff. in mainstream, he was stressed,  even bullied, now he fits in so well,  in a class of only 9, with a teachers and 3 support staff. i worried so much about him moving from maintream to SN school, but  the smile makes it all worth it !

julez x

Hi, my son is 7 years old and attends a mainstream school. He has autism and has a statement where he receives 25 hours a week support. I was given a timetable, upon my request to see what 1-1 support he is receiving . An assistant has been with him since he was 5,but she doesnt do a lot of work with him. When i asked the main teacher about this she said that there is other children in the class that need support.Ireplied that my son has been given these hours for him not the other children.His grades are generally below average and i feel that if the school were to concentrate on working more with my son the grades would improve.I have a meeting with the new senco next week but i am not very confident that i will be able to change anything. Any help advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

I would like to know more about how you got the ABA programme delivered in the school. We're thinking of moving to Cambridgeshire (from the U.S. where our daughter would be in a mainstream school but have a separate special classroom of 8 children) and I know they're just now closing one (the last?) of the autism units at Fawcett primary in Cambridge. What is the tribunal and what does the process involve? How long does it take, etc.

hello mhairi

Thats it in a nutshell no understanding from the school at all. We have been told that the previous HFA kid they had was happy their but it is such a broad range what works for one does not work for others. We have had less eye contact and he has taken to closing himself in a dark cupboard.

Mine like yours gets called a name or kicked punched pushed one day and 2 weeks later retailiates as it is still fresh for him. The school are branding him a bully and me a trouble maker for trying to get this stopped.

He was playing tag with 3 boys a few weeks back they then stopped and one boy ran along a small wall and did a flying kick at his face while he was putting a shoe back on. he ended up with a mark on his face and detention!! he must have done something to wind the boy up!! 

I feel let down badly. I will admit that while home schooling for the week it was both nice but very tiring. His routine had been changed and that put him in a spin and he found it hard. The no break was also tiring yet the fact you knew your child was safe was a big stress reliever.

Our pyschologist is great but east ayrshire has no resourses wants no resourses and is a depressed area for lots of reasons.

What wpould be great is if we could adopt the norwegian way for these kids. They have a resourse in most schools where high functioning kids are put in groups of 5 or 6 given a room with a teacher and a spare teacher that they see a few times week in case the regular one is ill. They keep that teacher that room n those classmates through out the whole of school. They have an area of the playground supervised where they have toys to play with that mainstream kids can come in and play but it is supervised.

They are integrated at gym and a few activities. Not too much to ask a room in a school with a teacher!!

Our area will not discuss half school half home. 

Good luck to you too hope your boy gets the help too . 

I really sympathise. 

We are in mainstream in Scotland and my 9 year old son has HFA and like you it is very messy and we are on the brink of big decisions - home schooling (not ideal for any of us, I would have to leave my job and no break), part-time mainstream/part-time home, specialist school with lots of travel, fixed term at specialist school and some time home schooling or mainstream or a smaller mainstream with specialist school input. 

We are trying to think of all the alternatives as currently, like you there is a lot of punishment, practically no praise or recognition and certainly bullying from our son's perception with a complete lack of support.  Another child may have coped with the name calling and it would have gone away but our boy holds onto all the names and they all build up into a massive knot of anxiety and rock bottom self esteem.

He would do anything to avoid school and break time and says everyone hates him.

The only school I have heard of that I think is mainstream is the one in Caithness which has a good reputation for supporting ASD.

Can your Paedatrician, Educational Psychologist  or Speech and Language Therapist help?

Good luck

I can see the stress my 8 year old is under and I am horrified to be honest. The mainstream school would rather say he is the bully and punish him for all that is happening to him. They know he is autistic but it makes no difference! We have had to make an official complaint about the school not stopping the bullying he is subjected to. All this has done is give them the oportunity to call me unstable and over stressed and say he is the bully and I coached him for his meeting with the quality ofiicer for our school. All I did was ask what the protocoll was and who would be present so I could make him aware and comfortable. I told him to tell the truth and she would be asking about the hitting and kicking and punching he had had and just to tell her what he remembered. It was important to tell so no other kids got hurt and thast no-one was in trouble we all jusy wanted to help. T he officer then confused him totally by saying she wasnt putting words in his mouth but he wasnt that sad by what happends at school was he!!! He did not understand how she could put a word in his mouth and then he was left confused by what she wanted. I phoned to say I was not happy but her report then slated me!!

I understand there are budget issues but my boy is being hurt in the mainstream system yet the council will not sanction daldaroch as he is high functioning or the other special school as the kids at it are too "damaged"!!

They wont help and I cant afford to send him myself! I am letting him down.

We had to withdraw him and his younger brother for a week and home school them while I put in the official complaint to make the school realise we would not put up with their failing any longer. It was rewarding but so tiring. We have no support or outside help.

I am stuck. I want the best for him but do not know what to do. The other schools in the area are much the same and too far to walk yeet if we decide to change schools we have to get them their ourselves. I would like to move completely yet in this climate where too!!

Where in scotland does the local council help kids with high functioning asd?? What do I do?? I am at the end of tether I want my son away from this situation but dont want to mess him up more.

So sorry for going on am just for the first time in my career as mum to 4 totally out of ideas as how to help.

Any one else feel like this?? Any one have any ideas .... please?

As a therapist I have worked with a lot of children with ASD. The ones who attended special school were always happier and less stressed about school than the ones in mainstream (and I had several children with ASD for therapy specifically because of stress caused by issues in mainstream schools). I would go with a special school.

hey! we visited daldorch and were very impressed. we would love our high functioning asd boy to go as it was set up brilliantly and catered for the acadmic and social and sensory needs, but have been told as he is high functioning it is a no go at all. he struggles at mainstream with bullying that is very violent. the school are not interested in movement breaks or a class or playground assistant to help. his teacher this year is great but last years told him he was awful and horrible!

we are struggling to get an acceptable csp just now it just seems like all the educational psychologist says is no!

i want my son to be happy at school and learn social interaction is nice as all he is learning now is that he gets hurt and then gets punished for it.

why is it so hard to get help for our kids?

if possible i would go with a special school whether the child is high or low functioning.

hiya,,

i was 1 of those parents that used to say, special school ? never ,not for my child ! then i went to see our local 1. its is amazing, they know exactly how to deal with asd children thro to teens, and have extras that you just dont get in mainstream. apart from which, the mainstream teachers had not only no training, but no experience.

 what pushed me finally was my son wasnt allowed his "golden time" ( where they play wot they like on a friday afternoon) because he;s made * noises* during class,, he was so upset because he was told he was naughty, because he  doesnt even realy realise he makes noises. he now doesnt want to go to school, and gets upset because his teacher  tells him off  for making noises and his short attention span.

i would say, its all down to the individual child,, but my son is now starting at a special schoool in september, and i cant wait, i KNOW he;s going to be so much happier there,, its the right thing for HIM.

  it can be a battle with urself trying to decide whats best,,theres; pro's n con's both ways,, i finally went for, where will he be happier rather than where can he get better exam results in future,, he may not have a chance to sit all, or as many of the exams as in mainstream when he;s of the age,, but im sure having a happy childhood and teaching for everyday living will make him a more rounded adult.

best of luck, and no matter which you chose, you know you have your childs best interests at heart x

This is a dilemma we have struggled with.  I am a mainstream secondary teacher and do not have a great deal of faith in mainstream schools to have any detailed knowledge and understanding of autism.  I would entirely agree with everything said by Joolz above - the average mainstream teacher has very little training in autism, nor do their hectic timetables permit them the luxury of going off to do research or reading.  When it comes to lesson planning, much is said about class teachers producing 'differentiated' lesson plans which address the needs of different learners within the class, but the reality is that there is hardly time enough to plan the 'basic' lesson, let alone tweaking and adjusting it for individuals as you might like to do in an ideal world.  The TAs who are assigned to children may satisfy the requirements of the statement on paper but the TA will have even less knowledge.  However, my experience is limited to the two mainstream secondary schools I have worked in - I have never taught primary.  Other schools may be very different and I wouldn't like to generalize.

I am almost certainly going to avoid mainstream schools with no added extras for the entirety of my daughter's education - although we are very fortunate to have a local mainstream primary school with an enhanced resource autism unit and I hope she will go there (she is about to start a Special Needs Nursery school first).

I wonder could you try approaching the school your son is currently at, and ask some searching questions about what EXACTLY is being done, what approach/ rationale is being used, what research is this based on etc?  You could particularly focus this on areas of concern - e.g. you mentioned self-esteem.  If you get vague answers such as 'the TA sits with him and helps him to join in' this may help you decide.  Good luck!

Hi ByteBandit,

You might to have a look at the link below:
http://www.autism.org.uk/directory/browse/cid=53~aid=1.aspx

It's for the education section of the Autism Services Directory where you'll be able to find out a little about some of the schools in your local area. You could also use this link to find out contact details for your local Parent Partnership who may be able to offer you support and advice about local options.

Hi also to tibby25731

I hope things will improve for you and your brother - it would be great if some of our other users, who have been through this difficult period of transition and lived to tell the tale, could share their experiences.

Good luck everybody!

Sandra

My brother stopped going to school several years ago, he just could not adjust to the demands of a mainstream secondary school and he threatened to kill my mum on one occasion, armed with a knife - this is how much he did NOT want to go to school. It took over a year before the local authorities would provide him with home schooling, and this was only for several hours a week. Attempts were made to move him to a unit for troubled kids, which was a disaster. A special school was mentioned but my brother - quite rightly, in my opinion - said there was no WAY he would go to a special school. He doesn't see himself as that different to other kids, although he struggles to understand them.

Luckily he has been blessed with an amazing support worker, who has brought him on in leaps and bounds, and who convinced him to go back to mainstream school. It's taken a year of him going in fits and starts, but he is now 16 and receives the EMA allowance if he attends, and this has tipped the scales for him :) He now attends all lessons, most of the time! He is adamant that he is leaving at the end fo the school year, after sitting the few GCSE's he is being entered for. Hoping he changes his mind - what else would he do with himself without school? He doesn't yet have the relevant social skills to hold down a job, and no self esteem at all....

My son is 9 and started at a Special School in September.  We had a long rough traumatic ride to get him there.  His mainstream school wasn't able (and didn't really want to) provide the support we all needed.  We were so concerned that he should stay in mainstream as he needed to learn to live in the real world but now we have come to realise at the special school they have the time, specialist knowledge and passion to teach him the skills he needs to survive in the real world.  It is still early days, but we have already seen dramatic improvements.  We attended the family disco last weekend and to see our son for the first time playing, really playing! and having fun with other children was just priceless. 

I know for the future, the school he is at are planning for him to be integrated into the local mainstream secondary school within their satallite unit provision.  He will then be able to access a wider curriculum but have the specialist knowledge and  support available should he need it.

Its a tough decision and depends on the support and services available in your area, Good Luck xxx

I think your dilemma is a common problem because although mainstream teachers are becoming more skilled at recognising autism and have better basic understanding of autism they do not get training in how to set and deliver programmes eg social skills programmes or indeed how to teach children with autism fullstop. Also that much of the day to day 'teaching' is delivered by TAs not teachers. Teaching children with autism is difficult, intensive, specialist work and that is not really recognised with mainstream schools encouraged to say they can meet needs when they rarely have the training to do so. We have managed (via tribunal) to overcome this problem by getting an ABA programme that is partly delivered in mainstream. This is an alternative if you do not have an option of dual placement / ASD unit locally. This way we get specialist autism staff to go into mainstream and basically bring the skills of special school to him. Our ABA staff are very skilled at social skills but have had alot of training - to teach social skills properly requires several weeks of training, not a 1 day course. There is also an issue about how much time mainstream teachers have to work on social skills - to be effective this has to be all day everyday; but in reality social skills in mainstream is a 1/2 hour group held once a week.

My son was in mainstream school and started to really struggle. We knew staying in mainstream was not an option as he became routinely violent, highly anxious and just could not cope. He has now been in his special school for 2 years. The school takes children with any special needs but the children are in classes where their needs and abilities are similar. When he first arrived he was in one ASD class, but as it was the right environment for him (Sensory Processing problems being the biggest cause of his difficulties in mainstream) and once he had got the hang of and then no longer needed PECS he was moved into another, more able class. He is now fully toilet trained, can have a very basic conversation, can tell you that he is upset, the violence is now occasional rather than routine, he is happy, can dress himself and even managed a 2 in his end of key stage science (equivalent to SATS which children at his school do not sit). 2 is an age appropriate, mainstream score.

His English scores are still at PLevels (so not mainstream) and are likely to remain so, but I have been very impressed with the school's ability to not only help him where a mainstream school would not, but to also push him where he is capable - something I was worried a special school would not do.

My son is 13 years old and has always attended mainstream until May this year. It took a long battle to get him to a special school for children with autism, but it is the best move we have ever made. He is now such a happy little boy who is now with people who 100% understand him and his needs. We would never ever have imagined special school was the way forward but it has made such a massive difference to his self esteem, his anxieties and his general wellbeing. We would absolutely wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.

Hi George,

I don't know if there is anything similar in your area, but my eight year old son attends a special unit for autism within a mainstream school.

Initially, I was convinced a special school would be the way to go, because I was concerned he may be bullied in the mainstream. However, this has not been the case. He has the special care that is provided by experienced and specialist staff, yet the same opportunities available to mainstream children if he chooses to be involved.