Autism - private or state

[nightlighton]

My child is due to start school in September, currently they're likely going to our local state primary.
I realise it's a long way off but, from what I gather, it's when children start mainstream secondary school when challenges tend to arise. I realise it's not 'one size fits all', I am new to all of this and I currently do not know what my childs needs are.

I do not have a crystal ball but, I imagine my child would not have high enough needs for a specialist provision but they will need adjustments.

Financially we could probably just about afford private, it would be a squeeze.

I am concerned that if their needs increase as they get older that private school will not be able to continue to meet them - if not then we will be left in a difficult situation.

Currently I'm thinking go to state, see how things go, then if needed the private school is there. To be clear, the only benefit I currently see with private school is small class numbers and a small school in terms of overall numbers of students when thinking of secondary, all if which I know would be a benefit.

If anyone has any thoughts or experiences or other considerations they're able to share I would really appreciate it, thanks

(Reposting to educational>SEN as I think this is probably the right topic group)

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.

@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.

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.

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)