Statementing and chosing schools/type of education.

[staryeyed]

We are in the middle of the statementing process (everybody submitting their reports). We would like DS to stay where he currently is (ASD unit nursery) to go to the school (ASD unit) but the chances of him getting in are slim. Ideally what we want is him to do ABA either homebased or at the neighbouring boroughs ABA school but the chances of getting funding for this are even slimmer. Now we have only mentioned the ASD unit so far but Im wondering whether we should also mention ABA at his point because we are not really being offered any suitable alternatives to the ASD unit.

I fought and got part-funding for ABA part-time and part-time (with LSA) in a mainstream school which has experience of taking autistic kids who are on home ABA programs. To me, at the moment, it is a great mix - he gets the intensive tuition at home with his ABA tutors, but then exposure to the mainstream classroom (with an ABA trained LSA) in the pms. What worked well was that I could point to the results that ABA had got whilst we had been paying for it, as against the results other systems (like TEACCH) had not got while we had paid for them. Although the LEA didn't like it, it was very clear that ABA was "better suited to his educational needs and style of learning". We would have had no chance of getting funding for our out-of-borough ABA school, but I think the LEA liked the above plan because ultimately they are hoping to get DS full time into mainstream. The combo of mainstream and ABA worked well therefore. Wonder if you could make some suggestions for part time ABA at home and part time at unit or with LSA in mainstream? I actually found the right person in the LEA and wrote out in detail to her what I thought would work best for his education - with evidence attached (eg reports from tutors).I stressed that I would like nothing better than ultimately to have him full time in mainstream, but that he had a lot to learn on a one-to-one ABA basis before this could happen. I did not think I had a hope, but sometimes you can be lucky if you chance your arm. Worth a try? Good luck!