SEN school or mainstream?

[ellie09]

I have a 6 year old who attends mainstream school. He has moderately rated autism (according to the scale) and he completely verbal but struggles with social/emotional regularity. He is also awaiting assessment for ADHD as he has next to no attention span.

He is a very smart boy as we can gauge through his interests. He is capable of maths, reading etc when it comes to these but lacks attention and focus for other activities unless supervised 1-1. Because of this he is rated as being a level of a child around a year younger than him.

After his assessment, the education board called to say they had a placement for him at a SEN unit at another school around 25 mins away (his current one is less than 10 mins away) and that he would qualify for transport etc also.

I have bounced the idea to my son who hates it. He wants to stay at his school with his friends etc. He seems to be in a good routine and loves his school (always asking to go to clubs etc).

We have heard really bad reviews from the offered school where I know of one autistic child who went who was relentlessly bullied from day 1 which has put me off considering.

He has also made friends on our street with a few children from his school and I dont want him singled out when they notice the "big yellow bus" coming to collect him in the mornings and fear it will isolate him more and prone to bullying.

Some family members have said I am not doing the right thing and that a SEN unit would be great for him. However, I am reluctant to pull him from familiarity and somewhere he loves to go somewhere where it may not work out.

Can anyone advise me on what to do?

Visit the SEN school and see what you think don't let other peoples opinion put you off ,but
If he's doing ok where he is and he has friends etc then May be leave him where he is for now you can always re visit the idea if things change
It's about what a the the best environment for your child
My son is severely autistic and has severe learning disabilities he's always been in a special school.,and its the best environment for some children
But oh know your son and what works for him.

Also regarding transport I trends to be a mini bus in my experience its certainly not distinctive ,some children get their own taxi .

Visit the school and then consider it . I’m assuming he has an EHCP?

The transport will indeed be a taxi or school minibus.

Your child needs an environment that is best suited to his needs and will help him to make progress.

My son attends a specialist school. He goes in a normal car taxi with an escort. It very much depends on the child to be honest - if your son has friends and is happy where he is then personally I’d be reluctant to change, being settled is so important. My son is 11 and has been at two different specialist schools, the first let him down really badly - too pushy; not nuturing enough etc, and the second one is generally better but he doesn’t really have a good peer group, a lot of the children have much more severe autism and he finds that difficult. (He does seem generally happier there and has friends). I don’t think any school is perfect but I would go with what your son wants for now.

Your son sounds very like mine. Asd but also awaiting an adhd diagnosis. We moved from mainstream to an asd class with access to a mainstream class when he turned 7 in September of last year. It's been a game changer. He has leaped ahead in all his academic subjects and is doing amazing socially. He is loving the small class with only 6 students in it and loves his asd class teacher. He is getting the one on one attention he needs which is setting him up well for the future. He is flying it in the mainstream class also . I had his parent teacher meeting last week and I was on a high afterwards which is amazing as two years ago I was so worried for his future. I'm not in the Uk so not sure how the set up is with asd classes there but just giving my experience of moving schools. It can definitely make a positive difference.

When my DS was in primary he was offered a place at a S&L unit at another school, it would have been for 2 years max (years 2£3). I went to have a look and it didn’t feel right for DS. He stayed at his mainstream and it was right for him until year 6. Year 9 he started an amazing specialist school.

Does his current school feel that they can meet all his needs educationally? If not, then you’ll need to move him.

If he needs 1-1 support to complete any work then he either needs funding for a 1-1 or a special school place.

I'm quite surprised that the local authority is nominating a specialist school, as in most areas there is a shortage of specialist schools and, based on your description, I would have thought most LAs would say that a mainstream school could meet his needs, at least at primary level. So I am wondering whether his needs are greater than you perhaps realise.

However, if you want him to stay where he is the law is on your side. Parental preference for a mainstream placement has to be met unless having the child in the mainstream would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children, AND unless there are no reasonable steps anyone can take to get over the incompatibility. To rely on this exception, the LA would have to show that the school would otherwise be able to offer efficient education to your child's peers but would be prevented from doing so, i.e. would be tipped over into being inefficient, if he stays there - even if the LA pays for lots of support including the 1-1. It doesn't matter even if providing the 1-1 makes this more expensive than a special school placement. There's lots of case law that effectively says that problems need to be pretty extreme before it would be accepted that a mainstream school cannot cope with a child with an EHCP.

If he has next to no attention span and requires 1-1 support then I really don't see what benefit mainstream is to him? In the nicest way. It's not really just about having friends, and I'm surprised you feel so strongly about a 'yellow bus'. Do you not want him to attend a specialist school either? He could be picking up on that.

I have a child myself with ASD and SLD. Where I am, it was an absolute fight involving legal to get a school placement but we thankfully did get one. My own DC has progressed more than I could have dreamed. In mainstream they would also have required 1-1 and have a similar attention span and I know myself in our case it really wouldn't have been in their best interest, or the other children in the class.

Fwiw my DS has A 1/1 ,in MS which is currently working well, children with poor attention span can benefit from higher expectations and some specialist schools struggle with this in my own experience of the schools in my specific area.

We have a taxi transport but it's a massive PITA as they only drop off at your home so i actually have to drive most days because we have after school activities that start at 3.30. If i had my time again i would have chosen the nearest school if it was good.

Often primary schools can manage a child with SEN, especially ASD, quite well with a 1 to 1; however at secondary, the difference is much more pronounced, and many children that have coped no infer can (think increased noise / huge buildings / moving between classes all the time etc etc). I assume you can still consult for a SEN place for secondary, even if you decide that his current MS school is ok? What does his school say, that would have a big impact on my decision making I think.