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Mainstream or Special?

Rachyjane1

Hi, not sure where to start really.  I live in Birmingham but actually fall under Solihull council and have a son aged 3 and a half in a mainstream nursery.  He was diagnosed with ASD a few months ago, although we suspected this for a while.  In the middle of the statementing process now, however, I am in a real pickle in wondering which school to send him to.  He has very limited speech.  He will come and ask me for things such as "computer on please" or "wheres drink?" etc but can't answer questions or have a conversation.  He is bright though and I don't believe he really has a learning disability.  He can recognise all the letters of the alphabet phonically and can recognise a handful of words.  He can't really draw or write, however if you ask him to spell his name, he can call out the letters in order and draw something that resembles the correct letters! He has sensory issues with certain noises but doesn't have routine issues.  I've looked at a few schools and although my local special school (Merstone) looks great, I can't help but worry that my son will start picking up unusual behaviours by mimicking whats around him.  Ideally, I think with a fab mainstream school thats supportive and with a good one to one worker, I really believe he will shine.  Sorry for rambling but has anyone else been in this position and what did you do?  Noone seems to be able to recommend a good local mainstream that is supportive with this as noone else has had the experience of it.  HELP!!!

Parents

  • I had exaclty this dilmma in September. My Son was 11 and doing so well in mainstream but it wa stime to move on and move to another city. We moved to Birmingham.

    I really didnt know whether to go mainstream or specialist.

    The key was that the children at his old mainstream primary school made allowances for his outbursts though, theyd known him since nursery so just filtered out his pacing or outbursts, the girls loved him and the boys protected him.

    I eventually chose a special school in Birmingham and I hate to say it but its not doing him any good. 

    His development has stopped, in fact Id say gone backwards. He doesnt try in class, he swears, his fixation for computer games is amplified now because its also the only thing the other kids talk about. I had to twice tell the school NOT to give him a punch bag to calm imself. I still cant believe they endorse that.

    The only way I can put it is like this, you put a Jibba Jabba in with a box of others and they all kick off. Put one in a camm environment and they adapt. Im really wanting to put him in mainstream now.

    I didnt initally because my main concern about mainstream was that hed be misunderstood, bullied, probably punched on the first day. However hes now in a room of kids who arent very good at controlling themselves anyway and so it's actually worse.

    Im now looking for a mainstream with provisions in the Birmingham area if anybody can reccomend anywhere. Im in Harborne but despite it being an afluent area the local schools seem to have terrible ofsteads. 

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  • I had exaclty this dilmma in September. My Son was 11 and doing so well in mainstream but it wa stime to move on and move to another city. We moved to Birmingham.

    I really didnt know whether to go mainstream or specialist.

    The key was that the children at his old mainstream primary school made allowances for his outbursts though, theyd known him since nursery so just filtered out his pacing or outbursts, the girls loved him and the boys protected him.

    I eventually chose a special school in Birmingham and I hate to say it but its not doing him any good. 

    His development has stopped, in fact Id say gone backwards. He doesnt try in class, he swears, his fixation for computer games is amplified now because its also the only thing the other kids talk about. I had to twice tell the school NOT to give him a punch bag to calm imself. I still cant believe they endorse that.

    The only way I can put it is like this, you put a Jibba Jabba in with a box of others and they all kick off. Put one in a camm environment and they adapt. Im really wanting to put him in mainstream now.

    I didnt initally because my main concern about mainstream was that hed be misunderstood, bullied, probably punched on the first day. However hes now in a room of kids who arent very good at controlling themselves anyway and so it's actually worse.

    Im now looking for a mainstream with provisions in the Birmingham area if anybody can reccomend anywhere. Im in Harborne but despite it being an afluent area the local schools seem to have terrible ofsteads. 

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