ds due to start school next august, our area is more geared towards autism and learning difficulties and ed pshyc says has no schools that would suit his specific needs, pretty much non verbal, has a few words but not consistently, very bright, ed psych and nursery school reckon he's ahead for his age but completely physically disabled, quad dystonic cp with little or no hand function, he only really has facial expression and eye pointing, he cant use a switch but has been recommended for a ridiculously expensive eye tracker which seems to be taking ages to be approved, probably because its about £11,500.
we have identified a school outwith the area which is a total communication environment, all the kids have physical problems but use symbols and communication devices to access an expanded curriculum, they also have an ICT unit based at the school and full nursing, physio, OT, splint clinic etc so pretty much what i'm looking for...i think!
placing request meeting is in a few weeks, ed psych reckons they might want to put him in mainstream with support rather than go outwith the authority, not sure how i feel about this, i think hes bright enough to cope with mainstream with the right equipment in place but i think he would need to get his eyetracker soon to be up to speed with it by the time august comes. i always said i wanted him in mainstream but now i wonder if a class of 30 odd kids would just swallow him up IYKWIM?
im just rambling really i suppose i would just like other peoples opinions if anyone has had a similar decision to make?