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Special or Mainstream - which school is best?!

SusieL

HI - I'm new on here and have a dilemma I wonder if anyone could advise on please?

Our little boy is 5 - he has a diagnosis of autism and hypotonia. He started at our local mainstream primary school in September 2012. His Class teacher is also the Deputy Head and the SENCO at the school - she is fabulous and is doing all she can to include Jack in all that the class do. He has his one to one learning sessions and has a TA during lesson time and a lady that looks after him at lunchtimes. He has settled into the school better than we imagined - despite a rocky start when his newly appointed TA left before the new term even started and he had to attend part time until a replacement could be found. The second TA was amazing with him and used to working with autistic children - unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstance, he had to leave at Christmas. The TA who looks after him now isn't trained to work with autistic children but she is fabulous and very willing to learn everything she can to help him.

However, looking forward to September 2013 - I wonder if Jack will cope in Year 1 in a more formal learning environment that isn't sympathetic to a child with learning difficulties. We're now wondering if mainstream school is the right/best choice for Jack - are we being fair to him and would he be better off in a Special School? Has anyone else moved their child from mainstream to special - or, indeed, the other way round and for what reason? Any advice, comments would be most welcome. Thanks. x

Parents

  • Hello

    I would very strongly argue that you should put him into a special school if you can. 

    From my experiences (I am age 17 and having a terrible time in a mainstremm collage. I was diagnosed with ASD last year and now failing to get all the support I never got as a child. Also trying to get to a special collage but can't because I apparently have 'no specialist needs' having been in mainstreem schools all my life. A complete lie but what can I do?) 

    So, based on that I would say get him into a specialist school now-while you can. He will then get all the basic skills and extra support people with Autism need. If he progresses well then you would be able to put him in a mainstreem school but still with support if that was decided to be best for him. But what I am saying is do not do it the other way round. You need to start speciallist and work towards mainstreem. As he has a diagnosis this will be possible-unlike it was for me. 

    Amy

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  • Hello

    I would very strongly argue that you should put him into a special school if you can. 

    From my experiences (I am age 17 and having a terrible time in a mainstremm collage. I was diagnosed with ASD last year and now failing to get all the support I never got as a child. Also trying to get to a special collage but can't because I apparently have 'no specialist needs' having been in mainstreem schools all my life. A complete lie but what can I do?) 

    So, based on that I would say get him into a specialist school now-while you can. He will then get all the basic skills and extra support people with Autism need. If he progresses well then you would be able to put him in a mainstreem school but still with support if that was decided to be best for him. But what I am saying is do not do it the other way round. You need to start speciallist and work towards mainstreem. As he has a diagnosis this will be possible-unlike it was for me. 

    Amy

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