Moving this from SN Education
Hi all
My autistic son is currently in mainstream state primary in central west London and needs quite a high level of support to engage with the curriculum, etc. He has speech/language delays, but doesn't have significant behavioural problems. He does struggle with the sensory demands of a busy school (borne out by his hugely improved ability to apply himself at home).
We have no clue about secondary schools. A couple of professionals who know my son have recommended a "nurturing mainstream independent school with small class sizes". I can see that this would suit my son, but is it a fictitious setting! I strongly suspect that we could fade back his one-to-one to occasional or background support in such an environment. Does anyone know of any independent secondaries in central or west London which might be open to such an experiment?! We appreciate that we would have to pay for additional support, as well as the fees.
All our local state secondaries are unsuitable. They are too large and busy and there is no way he would thrive. It would also mean that he would continue to need high levels of support to cope with the chaos of the setting. We want to move him towards independence. Special/specialist schools (e.g. Blossom House) have indicated that they cannot meet his academic needs (he is good at maths and about a year behind in literacy, but catching up). He trialled at BH and despite the small class sizes, he struggled with the noise, the way the school day was structured (very chopped up) and boredom (he was completing the work in a few minutes).
Does anyone have any suggestions/thoughts?