Decision making re Autistic school or mainstream school for Autistic child

[MamaLlama123]

Just wondering in peoples experiences re this decision

My 2yr old is thought to be autistic and applying for ECHP currently. This sept, it will be time to apply for his school place

Local options include

• A state primary which has very good reputation (prev ofsted outstanding) particularly including SEND provision as detailed in recent inspection reports and word of mouth
• Autistic school - solely delivers education for children with autism and covers age 4-19

Both schools are very oversubscribed and unlikely to be able to move child midway as schools become full

My own experience with mainstream education was positive in primary however horrendous secondary experience due to social difficulties. (I was academically high performing so didn't struggle in this way however my child is significantly behind in all development areas in particularly social/ communication)

Following my own negative secondary experience, I'm wondering if the specialist autistic school would be a better fit.

However it is likely through the mainstream setting that i learnt resilience/ coping mechanisms that i guess did help into adulthood

Any experiences? thoughts?

Without an EHCP, special school won’t be possible. The exception to this is some LAs have specialist early years assessment places covering reception for those going through or needing to go through the statutory assessment process.

With an EHCP, schools don’t get ‘full’ in the same way as mainstream schools get oversubscribed via the normal admissions process.

Have you looked at the schools? Near the time, speak to the staff and aso around locally. Does the special school cover the needs DS has? Autism covers a wide range of needs and not all autism specialist schools cover all presentations of autism. Is the school wholly independent? Does DS attend nursery? How is he coping there and hat support is he currently receiving? What do professionals involved think?

Special school doesn’t mean children don’t learn strategies to regulate and manage the world. Equally, mainstream school doesn’t mean a child automatically becomes resilient.

Try not to let your own experiences cloud your judgement. DS is a different person, and the system is vastly different from when you attended school.

The other thing is, some autism specialist schools require a formal diagnosis, so it is worth looking if that school does.

It really depends on your son's needs. For us our 4 year old is very sensory seeking, 2+ years delayed socially and is non speaking and needs a lot of help with dressing and keeping him safe with a lack of sense of danger.
We've been told by SALT AAC approaches surrounding him in school would be the best thing for him, also the educational psychologist who did his EHCP assessment was very clear that a school that fully understands and has the expertise in his needs would be what he needs to thrive.His mainstream nursery agreed that from their knowledge a specialist school for reception would be best too. So, definitely speak to those professionals and find out what they think is needed educationally.

Visiting a couple of special schools made it very clear they could meet his needs better than a mainstream school ever could and it was the right choice. It's not completely unheard of for a non-speaking child to join reception and improve verbally, but also, you have to be prepared for the possibility that it may take much longer. I knew a mainstream school at most would give him a 1:1 TA all day to keep him safe and try to adapt some activities for him to work on but they just wouldn't have the time,space, resources to do any of the interventions he needs and really couldn't meet any of his sensory needs or manage his joint attention difficulties in a class of 30 kids.