Special needs education: mainstream or specialist schools for ASD

[AllySian]

Hi, I'm Ally. I am currently at my second year of college and as part of that am doing a qualification called an Extended Project Qualification. For this, I am looking at the pro's and con's of ASD children (any age) being integrated into mainstream schools or being educated in special schools which cater for children on the autistic spectrum.
I would be extremely grateful if you could offer me any information or experience you have in this area which would relate to this.
Thanks ever so much, Ally.

This is a rather huge subject. The pros and cons would be different according to where the child is on the spectrum. No two children with ASD are the same. Also there are different levels of support offered in mainstream. A placement in mainstream can work well if the child is well supported by a suitable qualified TA or it can be extremely poor. There are also very few special schools which offer specialist support to autistic children. In my experience there are generic special school who accept children with ASD as well as children with a whole host of other special needs. Also in my experience staff in special schools can have limited knowledge and experience of ASD also. I have a child in an independent specialist ASD school and another child in mainstream with a TA but I don't see my experience being that useful because it is so individual to my children and my situation.

Thank you for your help, I probably didn't explain it as well as I should have done really. The whole title of my project is "At what point should autistic children not be integrated into mainstream schools?"
Your advice is helpful though, and I know it's such a huge subject-trying to fit it into a 5000 word essay is extremely difficult haha!!

"At what point should autistic children not be integrated into mainstream schools?"

When they are unwanted by mainstream schools! Despite all the waffle a great many schools DO NOT want to, or have the expertise to make all the accomodations these kids require. An education is not spending most days in a corridor or a corner with a well-meaning babysitter to avoid disrupting the education of others. A brief look at the permanent exclusion statistics (via the NAS) for asd kids will bear this out - it's 1 in 8.

Those were my reservations with the title! I was advised to call it that by the leader of the EPQ, the "at what point" is meant to be talking about the point on the autistic spectrum not to do with the schools themselves. I realise it is a very sensitive issue for people but any information is very gratefully received!

I have read that ASD children can suffer in mainstream schools but then again sometimes quite the reverse. As Cansu said each case is different so I am trying to build up a bigger picture of the benefits and disadvantages of different ways of educating ASD children.

Ds is at ss for sld and complex needs.
In our experience ms was never really an option for him although we did look into it.
For him it would have been impossible, unfair on him and on the other children in his class.
But the choice ultimately is the parents, regardless of the severity of the dc asd if they want their child to be educated in an inclusive ms setting then they should with the appropraite level of support.
I do not post often on these boards, I am hugely aware of the constant struggles that alot of parents have with the education/nhs/social care systems.
We have not had that experience, possibly due to the severity of his autism coupled with a decent local authority

I don't have much experience, we're still going through the diagnosis process. My son is still in mainstream, although only able to do mornings as at the moment they can only fund a 1:1 for morning sessions.

One real con I can see for my son is that he struggles with the noise and activity level of 29 other children in a mainstream school.

Well I have a ds in an independent specialist school who up until 11 attended mainstream primary with ft 1 to 1 support. 11 to sixteen he attended an ASD unit attached to a mainstream secondary with ft 1 to 1 support. So I have experienced the full range of options.
I would say that mainstream school is no longer appropriate once a child's needs are too great for that school and that time will be individual to each child.
Ds always had ft 1 to 1 since entering nursery at three without it he would n't have been able to be accommodated in mainstream at all.

hi OP, what level is your course? Undergrad? diploma? As a HE lecturer I think perhaps your title is maybe too broad.... with a more focused title you may be able to track down some useful data, it may be worth considering what level/area/type/diagnosis of the spectrum you are looking at, also are you including children with ASD and other disabilities which may inpact the choice of school?
I would also recommend putting some age range limitations, as a proportion of children could perhaps be ok in MS in primary school, but need something else for secondary school, (this is what I am hoping for my son).
I think as well you will hit the issue that posters have already made, what our kids need is in many situations not actually available, so that we end up choosing between two options neither of which is actually right... (that's if we have any choice.....)

If you leave the title so un defined you run the risk of writing 5000 words that could really be summarised as ' well, it all depends on the situation'

Trying to be useful, I would recommend looking back through past SNMN threads to see if you can pin point themes and common features, I would also look at a variety of research as well...

hope that helps.... good luck

Thank you all so much for your help and opinions It is all very useful!
The course is A level equivelent so I'm assuming Undergrad. I will talk to my tutor ASAP about whether I am able to change the title at this stage (I've been doing it since September) as it does seem to proving a bit tricky!!

If you are able to show that the information you have already gathered is far too much for the size of project you are studying it should be possible to 're-focus' the aim of the assignment. (If you present it as focusing in on one issue rather than 'changing' the title you may find your tutor is accomodating, ). Undergraduate is University (first degree) level btw.

I agree with others that you are phrasing the question in too general a way - as if there could be an objective formula for assessing an autistic child and deciding on whether mainstream could ever be possible. But in real life, there are a range of factors that determine which school is offered to an autistic child - ie the cost of transport to an SN school in a rural area makes mainstream look attractive to an LEA whereas conversely in urban areas which have a range of SN schools, the cost and inconvenience of trying to integrate autistic children into mainstream (esp. when full time 1-1 is needed) can make SN placements the more favoured option. Also apart from the extremes, there is little clear or objective understanding of how to place any given child on the 'spectrum' so you would be trying to define a point on an unplotted line.

Then no not undergraduate-that'll be next year, my brain is baffled right now with all of this info haha!!
Thanks for all your time etc, I will definately talk to her and hopefully that'll sort things out! x