Autism - private or state

It depends how demand avoidant your child is. I think this is the biggest factor you need to consider. A compliant ASD child with little demand avoidance will be fine.

It's fine when they are starting out school as it's all fun but then it starts getting into serious work

The older they get the more demands on them. Especially homework. The level of work. More transitions between classrooms.
Also the evil 11 plus which nearly everyone has additional tutoring for. The hours are independents are long - at least 13 hrs a week extra than mainstream. They can / do manage children out of their schools if your child doesn't fit the jelly mould (yes you can quote all the sen laws but private school have their own rules).

EHCP - that's a fight - can take up to 2 years to get - plus all the professionals you have to pay for (£6k) A tribunal is generally a year wait. If your child needs a 1 to 1 parents pay for it until it's named school.

I wouldn't think about secondary yet - that could be years away. Or your child might not end up in school due to ebsa and schools not being flexible enough for your child

Also sorry to say it if the first diagnosis is ASD - then there is probably other ones to follow ..... never known just the one diagnosis (eg adhd, SPD etc)

Good luck - however I do believe a child can last longer in a private setting / education compared to a state school (just down to smaller numbers if they are sensitive to noise)

To answer a couple of questions. At our private secondary they provided more learning support than we had had at state primary without an EHCP. But there were also extra expenses such as Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) and licence fees for software that we had to pay extra for. 121 TA support is also charged as an extra but luckily we didn't need this. OT would also be extra. Those are the types of things.

We then got an EHCP which outlined the support required and extra funding was provided to cover the costs we had previously paid plus some extras that were written into the EHCP - our council provides the funding which goes direct to the school. An advantage of an EHCP is if we did need 121 TA or anything like that in the future as long as it was written into the EHCP the funding would increase ro cover it.

@Swiftmob being educated outside the child’s chronological year is more common in Scotland than England.

When is DD’s birthday?

If you get an EHCP, if there is a need to be educated outside of the child’s chronological year group it can be included in the EHCP.

childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/education-of-children-outside-of-their-chronological-age-group/ as a teacher, I'd say placement outside of age cohort is unusual at secondary but may be more common at primary due to changed guidance on summer born children. This info page is useful.

Thanks for the help - we’re evaluating how hard it’s going to be at this stage!

That’s the other problem, we’d popped her back a year to restart the first year of primary again and because socially she’s young for her age, is that more common in Scotland than England?

EHCP support thread no. 2 - www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4989146-ehcp-support-thread-no-2

@Swiftmob that's about right re timings sadly. Could you clarify though? If she turns 10 next academic year, won't she be going into year 5? I have an EHCP support thread on here by the way.

Thanks @Headfirstintothewild that helps - it’s daunting. I’ve an older autistic girl too who thankfully is doing ok and let’s say, I don’t relish the bad gatekeeping and discussions with schools about girls with autism.

we could get lucky with an area but as we’re likely to end up in SE commuter belt, seems doubtful!

@Swiftmob you don’t need the school to agree DD needs an EHCPs or for them to say they can’t meet DD’s needs and DD doesn’t have to be academically behind to get an EHCP.

The EHCP process takes 20 weeks unless you have to appeal. This is a statutory timescale that you can enforce if the LA breaches it. However, many have to appeal, sometimes more than once, and appeals are taking a long time. If you have to appeal refusal to assess, refusal to issue and content/placement it could be more than 2 years.

When you move you can make an in year school application to your LA via the normal route. Alongside this, you can request an EHCNA (IPSEA has a model letter you can use) and appeal if necessary. If you don’t have a finalised EHCP by the normal secondary admissions deadline in October of Y6 you should make an application via the normal admissions procedure just in case.

@Phineyj sorry to crash this - we have a dd in private primary in Scotland (she started in state and was such a disaster we removed her after 4 months).

We’re considering a move to England and ideally she’d go to a state secondary that had ASD and DCD support - she will be 10 this coming academic year (and going into Eng year 4 equiv)

DD has ASD and DCD diagnoses (nhs Scot)

am I right that we’d need to:

1. put her in state primary
2. try and get school to do ECHP (sounds like they have to agree they can’t meet her needs and she’s behind which could take a long time?)
3. apply for a secondary we think meets her needs
4. appeal and go to tribunal?

and this would all take 2- 3 years?

If an independent school is named in an EHCP the LA must fund the fees and any provision detailed, specified and quantified in F. In order to name a wholly independent school in I, you will need an offer of a place and to prove the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet DC’s needs &/or it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure. You may have to appeal.

Other than that, some LAs will sometimes come to an agreement whereby parents pay the fees and they will fund the special educational provision in F. However, this is not guaranteed and many LAs are far more likely to say by making the choice to educate in an independent school you are making suitable alternative arrangements thereby relieving them of their duty.

Of course! My son is in a mainstream independent too, with same sort of class size. The small class and calm environment seems to really be helping, although they don't have much experince with SEN.

We pay £48 per week for a SALT session (speech and language therapy). We are also looking into costs for private OT (occupational therapist) which I think is going to be more expensive than the SALT. Horrendously expensive of course, but we recently were awarded DLA money which helps a lot.

I suspect my son will need more support as time goes on. We're applying for an EHCP and will see how that goes.

We pay £200 or so a term (additional to fees) for a 1 to 1 with the SENCO each week. She mostly works with DD on emotional regulation but they also do bits of academic work.

My son ASD no EHC plan except SEN register educated in state primary. Hindsight classes too big. Transferred to state secondary where everything fell apart. Year out of school! Applied for EGC plan took La to tribunal and won now at specialist independent boarding weekly.

My son is in Reception at a private prep school. He's doing well there, I think because it's a tiny class. I do have to pay for all his extra support though.

@nightlighton yes, still in primary

My child’s ASD traits become more apparent and more challenging as they progressed through state primary school. We very nearly moved into private but held out in state and we’re glad we did - we got a great EHCP and feel very supported now by the LA. I know that we’re lucky and that’s not always the case. I suppose what I’m saying is a child will change and have varying needs and challenges as they develop so be where you can get the most support for them and expect changes in their needs as you go.

Much depends on the specific schools, not just private vs state. What part of the country are you in? Do you have a wide range of schools to choose from?

And of course, wait and see how it goes, how academic they are (likely to score highly at 11+ or private entrance exams), and how your current school manages. Some hyper selective schools can be pretty good with autism, depending on specific needs. Our mixed ability private primary is very good with SEN.

I found an advantage of private school is you can pay extra for the interventions and they can be organised quickly (maybe not all private schools). The disadvantage is you have to pay for the extras. I hadn't really thought before going from state primary to private secondary that with extra needs there can be a lot of extra costs.

I would suggest considering both state an private and looking for the best school. I found the sencos in the private school, helpful and much happier to speak to prospective parents than at the state schools.

*the experience the private school have with SEN.