mainstream v special

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!

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!