Mainstream vs special school

[Greyskies86]

Hello SEND parents,

My little girl is due to start school in September next year and we have just received a diagnosis of ASD and are in the process of drafting EHCP. She is currently non-verbal but will take us to things she wants. She enjoys sensory activities and holding small items but does not "play" yet.

We don't know if she will benefit more in a mainstream or special, can anyone who has been in this situation provide pros and cons?

TIA.

Look at both, and ARPs, and decide based on the individual schools within travelling distance. Schools, special and mainstream, vary so much.

We were in the same place as you earlier this year. Our Ds needs weren't being met in mainstream nursery but we were concerned about whether a special needs school was going to be right for him. We visited the special needs school and we were so impressed and knew it would be a great environment for our ds. Our ds started at the special needs school in September and absolutely loves it and is thriving. I would recommend visiting some schools including ARP's to see how they would fit your child's needs.

We knew our boy wouldn’t cope in mainstream. He is also non-verbal autistic. It would have been unsafe for him.

He wouldn’t have got anything out of mainstream school and would to have someone shadow him all the time. He needs a different curriculum.

We had to fight to get him into special school but I think the tipping point was getting the SENDCO from the mainstream to visit him in nursery as she quickly realised they couldn’t meet his needs when she’d seen him in real life and not just on paper.

A non verbal child who doesn't yet play with other children will almost certainly get more help and appropriate developmental support in a special school. Certainly in our local mainstream primary children with a similar level of need ended up being "babysat" rather than educated and lived a parallel sort of existence to the other children.- physically present but unble to access either the curriculum or social activity going on around them.

Sorry if that sounds bleak but actually, it was. In both cases (so my sample size isn't great- 1 school, two children) both children transferred to special schools before the end of ks1.

Hi OP, I was just wondering how your little girl is getting on at school as I have similar worries about my DD?

@Ponche I would try an @ to see if the OP will see it and come back

I'm in the same position as you. We have mainstream schools, mainstream with an autism unit and a specialist school and it's so hard to choose. The problem I have is at this age we don't know how they'll be by age 6 or 7. That and all our schools are over subscribed!