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mainstream v special

george

My son matthew is 6 years old and is in mainstream school. he has a Statement and gets lots of support from a very nice teaching assistant who is with him most of the time. He seems reasonably happy, however he does not really play with his peers and is falling further and further behind his classmates academically. I recently visited a Special Needs school and was very impressed. I am now beginning to reconsider my earlier decision to keep him in a mainstream school. Although he gets lots of support is he been taught in the correct way, self esteem etc etc does anyone have any views?

Parents

  • 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.

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  • 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.

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