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Podcast from Autism journal - Mainstream and special schools

Jim V - mod

Hi all,

The journal Autism has launched a podcast series that's aimed at showcasing recent research in an accessible way for everyone interested in autism to benefit from.

Their inaugural show features a discussion with Dr Neil Humphreys from the University of Manchester discussing issues around mainstream and specialist schools for children on the spectrum.

Here's the linkage -
http://aut.sagepub.com/site/podcast/podcast_dir.xhtml

And if you have a chance to listen we'd love to know what you think, either about the issues of school choice or the podcast itself :)

  • As it happens, I came to this forum seeking information on this subject but at primary level.  It has given me some constructive food for thought for now and the future.

    While I feel that, as Dr Humphreys said, there were no major surprises from the results of his study, in my opinion it highlights how inadvisable it is to make it the general rule that as many children with ASD as possible should be integrated into mainstream schools.

    ASD has no rules - it manifests itself so differently from child to child, that the ideal would be to ensure that every LEA was able to supply a number of places of each kind to cater for the varying needs of the children with ASD living there.  (One can dream!)  From our small personal experience of schools so far, there increasingly seems to be more than enough demand for this kind of provision, so why is the supply not being prioritised?  I understand the current problems within this financial climate, but on revealing our son's diagnosis of ASD, I am amazed by how many people respond with "oh, yes, our child/neighbour's/friend's/other relative's child has autism too", yet the provision for these many children - even within one single borough is at best inadequate or at worst, non-existent.

    Sorry, I've hijacked this post with a rant; I think we are actually rather fortunate in where we live.  It would be truly wonderful if all parents of children with autism had a real choice about the types of school setting to which we could send them so that we could avoid the anxiety and negative behaviours that appear to come with the territory.  I'll be looking out for Dr Humphrey's further research; thanks again for the information!