SN school vs mainstream, am I being over-optimistic?

[laumiere]

DS1 is 3 now and is due to start school in Jan 2011, so the council want to start doing his statement soon. He's diagnosed with cerebral palsy, hypotonia and ASD and is mobile, can walk but can't talk yet (he's getting good at PECs though). He's also still in nappies.

We've already ruled out one of the 3 SN primaries as it's for severely disabled children with poor mobility, which isn't DS. Trouble is the other 2 schools are ASD specialised, have a very large number of boys and also advertise as being for severe, complex and enduring learning disabilities.

Although DS's CP is for life, he manages it really well and can eat and self care (barring dressing) really well. He's also very aware of social situations and has a good danger sense and realisation when he's been naughty. He currently attends a nursery that is 50% mixed SN and 50% NT kids and does fine there, so should we be pursuing an SN school or an NT one with good support services? Portage think SN is the way to go as it's harder to transfer NT to SN rather than the other way.

Help!

Hi Laumiere,

From the little you've described I would say your DS doesn't have SLD. This was my professional field for several years so that's the perspective I'm coming at it from. I'm not saying he doesn't have some LDs, but I would agree with Riven that you should choose a school that caters for his intelligence. Check whether the special school also has MLD kids in there despite their classification as an SLD school - as someone else said, there's generally a much wider breadth of kids in there than the school classification states.

Also look round your neighbouring LAs and see what they do. There may be schools in those LAs that do exactly what you want. It might be a battle to get them but at least you will know better what's out there and what you're fighting for.

Re future transfers etc. Enquire with your LA as to how many children have transferred between M/S and Spec provision in the last few years (if you put it in writing they have to respond, under the Freedom of Information Act). That won't give you all the answers, as it may be that your child never needs to transfer, it might be the reflection of a change in their provisions (ie they might have opened a unit attached to a M/S school that accounts for a big transfer and skews the numbers a bit) but it will give you some idea of whether or not they take special to M/S transfers seriously.

I would go against the grain on one point though: in my professional experience it's been much easier to transfer children to special from mainstream then it has been to go the other way. Legally the law favours mainstream whenever that's parental preference but it's hard sometimes to make that work if you have heads who aren't very inclusion minded - even if the law says they should take a child, there are many ways they can make that transition difficult if they want to. Whereas special school heads are obviously already receptive to catering for a wide range of needs, plus it's very hard for an LA to win a tribunal claiming a special school is full, as "full" is defined a bit differently.

I don't for one momeny suggest the people on here saying the other way round are wrong - that's obviously been their experience and I think so much depends on your LA and your local headteachers and their feelings about SN. I would go and visit every school even vaguely possible, mainstream or special, and get in to see the head and ascertain their personal philosophy on SN. Good M/S heads will move heaven and earth around a child to ensure their time there is happy and successful - bad ones just want you out the door because you wreck their stats. So it's not just a question of "M/S or Special" - but also which M/S in particular.

I hope that's helpful. Sorry for rambling. I am a parent, too, but my SN experience is work, not parental, so that's the angle I'm coming from. I left SN about 18 months ago now, and the terrible attitudes of many heads were a big part of the reason I couldn't do it anymore. Hopefully your area is different and your heads are much more enlightened

ooh Springlam and madwomanintheattic

what very lovely hats you both have! And worn at such jaunty angles.
Just the thing for keepingthe sun off...