What to look for and questions to ask when viewing Special Schools (for kids with ASD)

[howtohelp]

I have posted before about my friend whose ds has GDD and ASD. He is 7yrs old, currently in mainstream ed (school has "Outstanding" from Ofsted) but he is very unhappy there, doesn't want to go, has started constantly saying that he's not good at doing things. We think he is now becoming very aware of the differences between himself and the NT kids there. Educationally he is very behind.

Anyway, they have a meeting on Friday at the school and she has asked me to go with her. They will also be seeing a Special school that he is being considered for and I was just hoping for some advice about what to ask at the Special School and what to look out for.

My 2 boys (AS/ASD) are in mainstream but I'll link your thread to the Special Needs board in case anyone there can help.

thanks alot coppertop

the thing is as it is not my child in question, I do not have an instinct for where he would be happier.

howtohelp

Do you know if this child is statemented at school?.

I am wondering if the staff at the special school will ask whether this boy has one or not.

I asked the ed psych this question last week. He said to look for a school that catered for more able children ie at the higher end of the learning disability scale. I think I will be looking for a friendly school with happy interactive children that can resore my Ds lost confidence and esteem!

oh yes, he is statemented, has 1-1 teaching there and in fact it is the MS school that has arranged the meeting. I don't know too many details but I know that his behaviour at the school is causing problems.

that sounds right magso. I know my friend has a lot of reservations/fears about removing him from MS school.

We asked the Ed PSych that yesterday (well, BAT).

She said that when you contact the SN schools you'll find they each ahve their own criteria and that alone will narrow doen the options quite dramatically. For example, DS3 might go to any of 3 schools- a SALT run unit, an ASD unit, or a general SN unit attached to a local school. There are, however, about 8 palces that he wouldn't be appropriate for. Now, the SALT unit ahs yet to release admissions guielines for next term, but its 50 / 50 whether DS3 will qualify (theyre not keen on ASD admissions). So although language needs are a huge concren, he might nto qualify. That would narrow it down to 2- one an oversunbscribed ASD unit, one a general SN place. Now, that cut it down really quickly didnt it? LOL.

Once you get to the stage of the special school, if they have palces and it feels OK grab that place. They dont alst long. But it HAS to feel OK.

you could ask..
Do they group children according to age or ability?
How do thy deal with aggressive pupils
Do they use specifcic techniques such as TEACHH PECS
What 'extra curricular' activities do they offer? e.g swimming, riding
Do they hva opportunities for inclision links wirth local schools?
What support do they offer parents with problems at home , e. behviour/ toileting etc.
(I work in SEN BTW)

that's brilliant thanks peachy, very useful.

I meant both peachies

I think she'll know a lot just by looking- tell her to try and imagine her son in the classes, and tyr to lok for children like him to see how they are doing. We saw 2 schools with the same classification- both SLD/PMLD. One was so obviously not the place for him, whilst the other appeared (and had proven to be) about as perfect for him as you could get.

If it's behaviour that is the problem then really ask about that. When we looked we could see that ds1's behaviour would have been viewed as problematic at the unsuitable school, at the school he goes to it's fine, he's seen as a sweety and his behaviour is not viewed as a problem at all. She could ask how they manage playtime fights over play equipment etc- at our unsuitable school the head said they all rush out and fight over the swings (oh dear I thought), whereas at the school he went to requests for the same toy are treated as opportunities to teach waiting, and paddies are not seen as a problem.

I think asking questions about that sort of thing can give a lot of clues.

glad you found such a great place Gess. That's a very good idea about asking how they deal with "difficult" behaviour. I know there are several issues with friend's ds so we should probably ask how they would deal with those - he can be aggressive and has very low self-esteem unfortunately.