Difference between mainstream and special needs school

There are pros and cons to both.

I would say it depends on the actual school and how truthful they are about delivering what they promise.

I went through two special schools in the 1970s, so my first hand information is very old and I assume practices have changed a lot since then and schools are now being inspected.

  When I started school, my problems were many, I was nonverbal, although I could talk.  I had severe communication  and behavioural problems.  My biggest problem was I didn't understand any spoken English because my parents were Polish wartime refugees who never learnt English themselves and relied on the family to translate for them.

My first mainstream school was a disaster, I couldn't cope with the violence, being punished by the teachers every day, although they must have known that I didn't understand the language (English).  I often spent a week in school, two weeks off.  

I think I was around 8 when I was sent to my first special school, which specialised in non- English speaking children.  Unfortunately non of the teachers spoke Polish, so I still didn't understand what was being said.  The only good point about this special school was no violence. The school taught me nothing and they didn't have a clue what to do with me!  After a month or so I was transferred back to a different mainstream school.  I eventually learnt English by just picking it up from other children around me.

After more disasters in mainstream schools, I was sent to a second special school when I was 9.  This was a school in name only.  It had many good points and I enjoyed my time there.  The biggest negative was that it's academic curriculum was ZERO.  So beware.  While there I became skilled at basket weaving.  But no 3Rs.  I only spent a year there.  I dread to think how children coped with the outside world when they left,  after spending years and years,  institutilused in that place.

The moral is,  check carefully where you send your children.

I'm so sorry to hear your story. Yes society as a whole was ridiculous in allowing and promoting abuse mentally and physically as well as institutionalizing people.

I'd say in my opinion it has changed some. For example, physical violence is not allowed. But in terms of mental abuse some teachers still think that it's acceptable to sit shouting at a child.

Yes this is the main reason I asked the question as I have been informed that special needs schools don't teach an academic curriculum. I have been told that they only teach a developmental curriculum and skills for the outside world such as being able to socialise with people. In terms of that I wouldn't be influenced in sending my child to a special needs school when there is no learning difficulty. 

I'm so sorry to hear your story. Yes society as a whole was ridiculous in allowing and promoting abuse mentally and physically as well as institutionalizing people.

I'd say in my opinion it has changed some. For example, physical violence is not allowed. But in terms of mental abuse some teachers still think that it's acceptable to sit shouting at a child.

Yes this is the main reason I asked the question as I have been informed that special needs schools don't teach an academic curriculum. I have been told that they only teach a developmental curriculum and skills for the outside world such as being able to socialise with people. In terms of that I wouldn't be influenced in sending my child to a special needs school when there is no learning difficulty. 

More details!

My information and experiences are old.  I was sent to a special school in 1972.  I only spent a year there.  The school itself was an old building in the corner of St James's hospital in Leeds, which is a very large hospital complex.

The school catered for less than 30 pupils in the age range 5 to 15.  There were around 10 members of staff, there was a constant turnover of both staff and pupils.  Half the staff were nurses in uniform and many pupils were brought by hospital transport.

My first day: 

There was a large main room with tables, chairs and a couple of table tennis tables.  While some children were actually playing table tennis, there was a skinny girl around my age sitting in silence under the table tennis tables, my reaction towards her was empathy, I knew how she felt.  A year later when I was leaving, she was still sitting in silence under those tables.

The staff had an open discussion which 'class' I should be in.  Should I be with the small boys or the big lads?  It was decided that I was a big lad.  A small boy approached me and asked me how old I was. I said 9, he got upset because he was 10 and he was still with the small boys.  He ran off crying and never spoke to me again, although we were in the same room almost every day for a year.

I was given special responsibility for looking after tomato plants which were growing in growbags on tables on one side of the room.

Three of the boys were around 15 years old and I spent much of the time with them.

Typical days:

Mornings were in the school building, in the afternoons we were split into small groups or individually assigned to members of staff and we went out into the outside world.

Once or twice a week we did basket weaving.  I now know that this is traditional occupational therapy for mental hospital patients.

Once a week we went swimming to a proper sports centre.

Most days are a forgettable blur.

When I arrived there I was deaf in one ear and I didn't engage with people because I couldn't hear what was being said.  When I explained this, the head teacher, who was a psychiatrist, took me to the main hospital to have my ears examined.  My ears were syringed with water and metal tweezers removed a small piece of newspaper covered in ear wax from my ear canal.

We had some longer days out.  The ones I remember most are trips to Robin hoods Bay on the Yorkshire coast, Fountains Abbey, Knaresborough.

The three older 15/16 year olds eventually left.  A couple of weeks later, two of them came one morning.  The head of the school told them to leave, explaining to them that now that they are older they can't come here any more, they have to go somewhere else.  They left with tears in their eyes.

Now: the big problem.

Academic curriculum of this school was ZERO!