Secondary mainstream or specialist ASD?

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In your experience, is a mainstream or specialist ASD secondary school better for ASD boys who are academically bright but struggle socially/have a social communication disorder? I’m wondering if I need to start investigating this way ahead of time for DS as I can imagine securing a place isn’t easy. He does have a diagnosis and an EHCP.

I think it would depend how your child copes throughout primary. My autistic son excels academically but is socially awkward, and is quite quirky. Through primary school, everybody liked him because he was kind. He didn't have a friendship group and preferred to be alone or with the teachers, but he was well liked by his peers and would interact if they approached him, so I chose to send him mainstream. By year 8 he was part of a solid friendship group and still has those friends now in year 11. Academically he's still excelling, and he still chooses to have time away from the friends so has taken on roles like library monitor at lunch. I don't think he would have thrived as much if I sent him to a specialist school

It really depends on your child and the schools available to you. DC1 is in a specialist school for the academically able, that teaches the mainstream curriculum, so kind of half way between the two options. These schools are quite rare though and do get full quickly.

You need to look at the schools locally and then decide which is best. I would advise not seeing it as mainstream v secondary.

when ds was in year 4 i was sure he would need specialist but when I looked around the local options as fantastic as some where they weren’t right for him and his set of needs. I had pretty much decided to push for EOTAS for him when the primary senco suggested talking to our local mainstream school and when I did I realised it was the best option for him. They are very nurturing and relatively small and very flexible to his needs. Due to his ehcp he has full time 1-1 and although it’s not been perfect he is in year 9 now and I am sure I made the right decision. I don’t know what the next two years will be like but even if it turns out mainstream becomes too much when it comes to exam years I won’t regret the choice I made for him.

My son is academically ok, not super bright, but can hold his own and is now at uni. He social skills aren't too bad.
He went to a fabulous mainstream secondary. It was a relatively small school with 500 students. They had lots of experience with kids with ASD and ADHD, also with adopted and fostered kids which was relevant for us. The SENCO was brilliant and the pastoral ethos of the school was very strong. The students were seen very much as individuals.

My son did very well there, he found a strong friendship group very quickly and is still friends with most of them. He had opportunities to participate in things which he wouldn't have been able to in a much larger school because he would have just been lost in the mass.

So it depends very much on the school and the location. Our local catchment school, whilst not a bad school, would have been a disaster for him, just too big. I also wanted him to go to school in our community and not have to travel out to a specialist school.
We were very fortunate to have such a good mainstream option on our doorstep

I'd agree with @Sirzy and not make it about mainstream v secondary. Look at the options and see what fits best and don't worry about what its called

I think it depends on the school.

My DS is 20 now and has ASD. He had an EHCP and was bullied at primary school. He’s academically very bright. The school we were in catchment for wouldn’t have worked for DS as it had no pastoral care at all. Coincidentally, around this time DH got another job meaning we moved area. So we moved and DS went to a fairly small secondary school with decent pastoral care. DS absolutely excelled. He won trophies, made friends and came out with 9 GCSEs. He’s now at uni. I couldn’t have imagined this happening if he had gone to original school.

My advice would to look at the secondary schools and consider where your DS is likely to be happy. FWIW, I was dreading DS at secondary school but in actual fact it was a much better experience than primary for us.

My ASD boy (yr 7), is working at slightly under peers, struggled massively in mainstream secondary. Vomiting daily.
it was a mix of sensory needs, pressures of learning, size of school, homework, rules that didn’t make sense.

school were hugely supportive, tried it all but couldn’t change the numbers of students, the huge environment. He would say he could feel and hear the movement of the students. Senco would say to me ‘ he is able academically if only he would come in every day’ not really understanding he would go in if it was the right environment!

we always knew specialist was best, found small ASD independent school.

you know your child, but it’s also ok to try and I would certainly meet the school to explore how they can ensure your child can excel.

with an EHCP you can explore private, independent, specialist as well as mainstream as the EHCP gives priority in mainstream school.

This is so good to hear, as my ds (currently Y5) is much the same as your son by the sound of it. Thank you for the positive story!

My nephew on the other hand, who has history of anxiety-driven mutism but somehow has got himself a good little social group, has absolutely crumbled on going to secondary. Struggled terribly at school A, so moved to school B, who were really supportive but ultimately couldn't overcome his anxieties and EBSA ensued. He is now being home-schooled - an option he is very fortunate to have due to high salaries parents meaning there is flex in terms of reducing working hours and £ to pay for tutoring.

Size of school matters a great deal. No big state comps. They are under funded and your DS will drown. Grammars maybe. Good academies maybe. Big state non religious comps in cities can be overwhelming.

We have just made this decision and went with mainstream secondary. He also has learning difficulties. He has crumbled at primary this year and i already am regretting our decision but too late to change. We are going to trial the school and then look at alternative provision or homeschool.

There can actually be more support in mainstream than in specialist

Another vote for mainstream - but do look round the local schools. DS is at a small but excellent comp. He is sitting GCSEs and predicted to do well. His social skills are still lagging, but he has some friends and has learned from them.

However, I can see other local schools which would have been disastrous.

My son goes to mainstream that has an ASD unit. He’s doing really well.
attends the majority of mainstream lessons, but has the additional support where needed. Some of children do lessons in the ASD unit full time and some do a mix - it all depends what they can cope with.
Speak to your senco they will have an idea of what is available at local schools.

I think it depends. My friend's child is like yours. He's struggled increasingly at mainstream and in Y10 and 11 his attendance has been virtually zero. His anxiety has always been quite high but has got worse and worse. Mainstream didn't really know how to handle him or help, they put pressure on all students when it comes to exams and he felt it so he stopped going when GCSE pressure started in Y10. It's hard to know what a specialist school would have been like though. Maybe he'd have been the same.

My son also bright and lovely stared s1 in August and it’s all just gone to hell since the October holiday, think he tried to mask but it’s just unravelled to the point he sits in a base all day doing nothing maybe sleeping - asn team are pushing for specialist but it’s so slow, it’s so hard to know what is best, but to watch your lovely child struggle, stop talking, not eat and interact at all at school is horrific. I think the transition to high school for some kids is just too much (mine is asd/adhd) in Scotland so no ehcp here, just staged intervention.

Im glad its nice for you too hear 🙂 I remember the worry I felt for my son through primary school, it wasn't nice. Hopefully your son settles well when the time comes 🤞🏻

My sons current school is known as one of the worst in our area, around 1500 pupils, but he has thrived because he keeps his head down and gets on with what he's there to do. I made sure to build a good relationship with his head of year when he started, and he did too with his helpfulness. This has been key to keeping on top of any issues or adjustments he may have needed over the years.