Twice Exceptional Secondary school - Autistic and Bright DS

[ToastMarmalade]

I wondered if anyone had any tips or experience for twice exceptional kids for choosing the best secondary school. DS is autistic, age 10 and behind a year at a specialist school. He has significant autism but is also quite capable. At home he really did well at maths when I was helping him, but at the specialist school they don’t really support academic high achievers and most of his class is struggling with basic reading and maths.

He is growing in confidence, he used to be non verbal but now has almost caught up with language. I feel like he needs more opportunities to excel at maths, or he loves making up stories and would love to learn music. If he carries on at his specialist school he will get a high ratio of teaching staff, which is helpful, but no real opportunities to ‘go for it’ in whichever area be it maths, music or science that he might be really good at.

If I could afford private schools that might be ideal, high ratio of staff is what he seems to need. He doesn’t have behaviour issues, but does have high anxiety. Could I apply for fees / bursary? I would be prepared to move anywhere in the south of England.

I should say that he is a year behind just because of other factors, not his ability. Recently he was tested by an educational psychologist and scored average IQ, but this was because he was in the 99th percentile for working memory and maths achievement, but much lower for language or verbal tests as he’s catching up on language.

My dd went to grammar school with an autistic girl who had one to one support. Could that be an option?

I could be. I’d rather smaller class sizes in general, as sitting with a one to one in a big classroom all day, having to move around, would be harder than a more tailored experience. Only just learning language, he also has hearing loss and sensory issues, and needs people to ‘get to know him’.

Recently he was tested by an educational psychologist and scored average IQ, but this was because he was in the 99th percentile for working memory and maths achievement, but much lower for language or verbal tests as he’s catching up on language.

I hope an ed psych didn't give an average IQ score to a child scoring like this. If there is more than 23 points between lowest and highest clusters, no IQ score can be given because it is invalid.

If he is specifically scoring low in verbal tests, then he quite possibly could be thought of as having a developmental language disorder. Has he seen a speech therapist?

Have you looked at independent specialist schools? They are able to give a bespoke package to individual children. They would be fully funded by the EHCP. Personally having had a son with similar profile I'd say the best school would be a school that threw support at the difficulties instead of concentrating on a small area of ability.

Can you find a specialist placement with an academic stream?
A friend's son is in the autism unit of a state school (he did mainstream primary) and is being taught GCSEs in line with his ability (high in STEM). We are too far from you for it to be useful, but they do exist.

That’s such a good point about the IQ - the average is a bit meaningless!

He was non verbal so he’s progressed so well in language, and now scores around average for language - have paid for regular SLT and did most of the speech work myself over the years. Ed Psych said that his lower scoring verbal skills were because even though he’s now average, he’s only just caught up.

His vocabulary is very good, it’s just the putting sentences into paragraphs etc. He’s also had fine motor skill difficulties which affected some of his scores. I’ve recently got OT to recommend a laptop to use for school instead of hand writing.

Yes am looking at a wide range of schools

• independent specialist (but finding they usually either concentrate on functional / living OR academic (where he could flourish, not just ‘do’ the odd GCSE), rarely both!)
• private schools - not sure but the small class sizes seem beneficial
• Autism unit in mainstream just seems to be a separate cabin where some OT happens - I might be wrong so will seek them out and have a proper look

Am even thinking - what about a part time school and then funded to do online school in subjects he was best in? No idea how that works or how complicated.

I presume DS has an EHCP? If so, that can fund independent or non-maintained special schools. A minority of which can cater for those who are academically able. You could look at Wemms, Breckenbrough, West Kirby, Alderwasley Hall, Gretton, some of Aspris’s schools.

You don’t need to fund SALT privately either, that can and should be in the EHCP.

Be aware, if you do have an EHCP and move LA the new LA will review the EHCP and potentially amend, reassess or even cease to maintain. Sadly some LAs do this and force parents to appeal.

Autistic unit in mainstream seems a good fit. Two friends daughters are at different ones and at one are flying academically with support on tap, and being able to escape when they needs it. I would definitely go and visit some. I would guess they all work differently though.

My son has autism, diagnosed late, and is in a grammar. His handwriting is a problem and he now has a laptop. He had a lot of issues in primary but is in the top set of the grammar. They do take children with EHCPs and it is possible for them to have 1 to 1 support if indicated in the EHCP. In fact, the highest priority for admission (in quite an oversubscribed school) goes to children with an EHCP in which the school is named.

Also, I had worried about the 11+ as Dc's writing was so illegible. However, our 11+ was multiple choice, all ticking boxes and no writing.