DS starting at his new special school next week...but I'm so nervous

[Notgivingin789]

Thanks to all those special needs Mumsnetters who helped me with DS tribunal appeal, that he has gotten funding for his place at an independent special school.

How did you prepare your DC's that they were going into a new school?

I don't think DS has comprehend that his going to a new school. We've pretty much done everything. I put on his new school uniform for him to prepare for the change , he didn't react and luckily he recently went to a taster session at his new school. He loved the environment and liked playing with the toys, but then again, he could of thought it was a playgroup or something.

Just a bit worried how his going to react on the day.

I'm having doubts, did I do the right thing?

I'm having doubts, is that stupid of me? I was looking at DS one day and was thinking, maybe I rushed the whole appeal/tribunal palaver...that his only 5 and maybe he could actually cope in his mainstream school. Has any other parents had any doubts? I miss DS Mainstream school, the children and the staff.

I'm also worried that DS may copy any undesirable repetitive behaviours from the other students at his new school. How did you parents cope with this? Did this happen with your DS?

After all the money that went into getting DS funded at the school, and it doesn't deliver

I'm very worried that with all my time, effort and money, that went into getting DS funded at the school and it doesn't deliver. What do I do? The school is perfect for DS and when he went to the taster session, all the TA's, therapists and teachers were excellent with him. But I can't get this niggling feeling that this school may not deliver.

Why do I feel like this? I should be ecstatic! Believe me I am. But maybe..... I'm finally realising that DS life is going to be very different from most other children at his age...

I know there are many grammatical errors, I just could not be bothered to proof read the post.

Can you show him pictures of the new school to help to prepare him?

My ds also starts ss after a lengthy tribunal. It's natural to feel all of the above, I have been showing ds (6) pictures but a lot of it ds just doesn't get because it's not something that's "immediate". I hope all the prep we did before the holidays (3 visits) will help with the overall "recognition" of the ss tomorrow.
As for the fears that the ss may not deliver, I feel relieved that if ds was attending the mainstream option I remember that dread of each day wondering if he would just be babysat or sat with an iPad - they tried their best but the reality is that ds just learnt v little. I'm looking forward to how ds's learning will be specifically focusing on core skills like language.
More importantly, I don't know how much ds's self esteem was affected (because of speech) in mainstream, all I know is that every day after school ds was vacant, sometimes angry and didn't seem happy. I'm hoping at ss ds will finally feel part of a class instead of removed for being disruptive.
I liked the ss enough at the time to fight for it at tribunal, and I saw plenty. So, whenever doubts naturally creep in, remember that.

I've been here, OP, and understand very well that no matter what you do you'll always have doubts about whether it's the right thing

But I hope you won't mind me sharing the words of another very wise parent who made all the difference to me when he pointed out that you can only make what seems the best decision based on the circumstances at the time. As he also reminded me, you might later wonder what would have happened "if you'd done such-and-such instead", but here's the point ... you can't possibly know how that choice would have turned out either

It really helped me and I've never forgotten it - hope it might help you too

Op I also wish looking back ds went straight to ss instead of the mainstream option and I've yet to come across a parent that wished their dc had tried mainstream!