when did you know your dc had to go to specialist school?

[drlove8]

how old? . am wondering as dd4 is at mainstream nursery now, but have doubts as to whether its the best place for her.... and i have no idea how she'll be at primary.how do you decide anyway? Do the medics recomend specialist school, or is it usually the parents decision? obviously as dd4 is "different" she'll be an easy target for bullies, she's already had comments from a 4 yr old at nursery,(he's just a baby though so let it go, but a wee bt of educating its ok to be different wouldnt go amiss )just want whats best for dd4......

How old is she now and are your LEA planning on doing a statement? She would need this for a special school.

What is your local special school provision and what additional needs will she have ?

It is important to realize that the LEA could well have a very different agenda to you. A place at a special school will usually be more expensive than a supported mainstream one. The duty of the LEA is just to provide an 'appropriate' education not the best.

DS2 was dx with autism when he was 2. We started going to a toddler group for ASD kids that was run by social workers/SALTs/EPs and there was a lot of talk about schools etc. We were all told that our kids already had a place at the local ASD nursery if we wanted it, but it was our choice. We could go look at it if we wanted and decide from there.

As it happened, we had ds2's visit to MS nursery and ASD nursery the same week. First was the visit to the ASD nursery where it was just me, dh and ds2. It was very informal, but very structured. We got to meet some of the children already going to the nursery, all the teachers, the head and also got to see snack time and outside play. DS2 really enjoyed it.
The following day was the MS school visit, and I can honestly say was a terrible experience. The dep head hadn't informed any of the nursery staff that ds2 had autism, there was about 6 other families all with NT kids and everyone was running around hyper. There were alot of "gosh he is going to be a handful" and "oh is he still in nappies?" comments. DS2 had a major meltdown as it was all too much for him and one parent said "Oh what a noise, I can't stand screaming kids". I cried infront of everyone

We sent ds2 to ASD nursery. He is however going to the MS school for two afternoons because his EP has said it would benefit him. It has, but I still think he is far betterin the ASD school, as the differences between him and the kids at the MS school are very apparent.

I hope you get help in making your choice.

SHould maybe also add that to begin with, I was totally against him going to any SN school until we did visit the MS school.

she's 4 in july! no-ones mentioned statements to me, there is a local small specialist school for children with disabilities, they take autism,downs, cp and have just about every thing a SN child would need,including great links with the salt.the nursery she attends is at a primary school, which has a snoozums( sensory room) dd4 spends quite a bit of time there.i'd happily pay fees for dd4 to get the best education for her .i really want to get a much info as possible before she's expected to got to school.

Does your dd have an EP? My EP is getting ds2 statemented before he starts reception in September so he has the best care possible. He is 4 in August.

She will a statement for a special school so you really need to get that underway. It takes 6 months to complete.

Go and visit any potential schools and it will help you form a clear idea of where she fits.

i see you are in Scotland, does your dd have an educational psychologist? that is who would do a co-ordinated support plan, thats the scottish equivalent of a statement.

we just did ds one, he has CP and will be starting at a school in Glasgow for kids with physical impairments in August, this was a placing request as we are in North Lanarkshire.

i see you are in Scotland, does your dd have an educational psychologist? that is who would do a co-ordinated support plan, thats the scottish equivalent of a statement.

we just did ds one, he has CP and will be starting at a school in Glasgow for kids with physical impairments in August, this was a placing request as we are in North Lanarkshire.

also she wouldnt be starting P1 till August 2010 so you have plenty of time yet, ds is 5 in May and we only just finished the draught of his CSP, his was started in November.

yes she does have an eductional psychologist, she's got a support plan, i thought that just applied to the nursery! . i stayed in glasgow for a bit, is the school one like Kennyhill?. thats a fab one - have had glowing reports on that one from friends who's ds went there!

Full time? Right now, aged 8. Making moves to have it in place for September.

the CSP should be reviewed yearly and will be updated to include whatever school you choose, probably about a year before shes due to start P1 you should begin looking at local schools, also look outwith your local authority area if theres nothing suitable.

ds is going to Richmond Park, at present it only has about 20 pupils so great staff ratio, its got its own on site Physio, SALT, ICT unit, OT and nursing staff, they also have wheelchair clinics etc at the school too, should be fab

in a few years once he is up to speed on a communication device we will look at a split placement with the local mainstream too.

I got really excited there, seeing Richmond Park School, thinking it was a school in Surrey that I hadn't heard of......! So googled.... and it is Glasgow! (Had visions of meeting glitteryb6 at parents' evening etc.... but no!)

You can also ask for dual placement, mix of sn and ms, which is what our dd2 does. Sn hold the funds, she is on their register and goes there 3 days and to local village sch 2 days each wk. Working very well, both schs happy, esp ms, where it has opened eyes to the sn world. Highest praise for both schools.

How to decide? We looked around all sn schls in area, trying to picture our dd there. It was immediately obvious to us where she would thrive.

been in the same quandry myself DS is due start school september and we are currenly going through statementing.Ds has Gd, non verbal, mld and autistic traits .

I found the ep and early years team worse than useless , they did not even mention the sn schools but another parent who knew my ds tipped me of about them and like LGoodLife was obvious straight away that he would trive there could see older versions of him.Though will yet have to covince the LEA .

We was told by ep well if he goes Ms yes hes probably going struggle but he can work on social skills and were move him after y2 basicaly here they ike the kids to fail before they do anything

don't wait for anyone to suggest it to you - find out what special schools there are locally, then phone up/and or visit to find out more, and exactly how local procedures work to get your kids into them if that's your choice.

When ds was about 2.5yrs old. His first SALT mentioned the local special school (which he now attends) in conversation but at that point, I hadn't really thought about schooling. However, I soon realised that a special school was the only option.

my dd goes to quite a medical special school. We decided on it before she had statement. Like TotalChaos said - we went to see it, liked it and felt it was the right place for her. She was 2 at the time. She's just starting to go full time now at nearly 4

I've just read that back - by medical I mean it has on site nurses, paed, physios and salts. Not that its some sort of hothouse for getting sn kids into medical school

lol @ pheasantplucker, that would have been nice!

Tried DS (cp) in mainstream playgroup with 1:1 support. Total disaster. Visited his school for kids with physical/medical needs, he started at their nursery unit when he was 3 whilst awaiting statement. Statement done within 3 months.
He's still there now at 14, in Year 9.
I absolutely felt I'd made the right decision up till last November. Now the problems have started.
For someone who has never had any problems with my LEA (actually I've never even had to phone them), the chickens (or may I say pheasants) are coming home to roost now!!!