After several years of Home Ed, I've managed to get DS(11) a place in an ALN (Additional Learning Needs Unit) within a mainstream secondary school.
DS is autistic and geeky, with a very high level of knowledge in his "special subjects".
But he's almost completely incapable of focusing or taking in knowledge in a classroom environment. He just zones out.
It's still unclear to me whether this is down to sensory overwhelm, as a strategy for demand avoidance, or a bit of both.
In any case, it led to us home educating for several years, just to get the basics of reading/writing/maths in place.
I've looked around the ALN unit and chatted to the head teacher.
It all looks lovely and nurturing and they seem very flexible. They'd be open to him spending every day in the unit, venturing out to do mainstream classes, attending only part time...or any combination of the above.
Yet I still feel ambivalent about it.
I'd love to hear your experiences of ALN units. Especially if your child sounds similar to mine. Or if you transitioned from home education.