Autism schools Vs Special Ed Vs Mainstream??

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Over the past few weeks we have had ongoing discussions with our primary school (mainstream) over the behavior of our daughter. Since returning from holidays in July she has been throwing furniture, hitting her aide and pushing kids in her pre-school class.

Yesterday the headmaster told us he had enough and wanted evidence that we as parents are doing enough to discipline her at home. He complained the teachers are unable to reason with her as she doesn't talk so he was shocked to find out she speaks happily at home and couldn't understand why she is mute at school? We told him we are just as much in the dark.

We are now concerned that he is trying to force her to take medication for her behavioral outbursts and is talking of moving her to a special school. He even demanded that he attend the next session with the psychologist to confirm we are doing something to remedy her behavior. We told him no thanks (this is actually a breach of our privacy).

Ironically and without warning my daughter's behavior improved and she is settling back in class. Despite this we do think it's time we consider moving her elsewhere. With this in mind I wanted to get some feedback on the following models of school,

a) Special schools for autistic kids (LFA and HFA) - unstructured environment for kids and student body all autistic kids displaying varying degree of symptoms.

b) Mainstream schools with special Ed units for disabled kids - offers a semi-structured environment - units contain mix of autistic kids and intellectually handicapped children in a mainstream school setting

c) mainstream schools. - this is our preference as she is outperfoming her NT peers academically, it's just she refuses to cooperate with the structured environment.

Any feedback on your experiences as a parent or a student would be greatly appreciated

Selective mutism in autistic kids is common when they are not comfortable in an environment. Your daughter may have just had a hard time adjusting to going back, and may have really hated going back. If she is intellectually capable of it, mainstream would be best. If people skills are just too severely lacking, a special ed environment would probably best because she would be with kids that have some social skills. It would come down to who has the best plan for her. If were a parent in your position I'd be concerned that a special school would have low expectations of her and would want to do whatever is easiest for the staff. There are good special schools out there, but there are also those that are little more than a warehouse for special needs kids, and even worse, there are some that are abusive.

If you have to choose, keep a moderate emphasis on edcation, but social skills should take priority. Academics can be made up for later in her late teens and early twenties. Developmental milestones for social skills cannot be made up for if missed. If she is with kids she can't relate to at all, she will miss them, and if she is moved around to other classes later as she gets older, she will miss other milestones as well. She may be way to advanced for them in all intellectual areas or be too far behind in social skills to make friends elsewhere. You are dealing with a delicate balance and there are no easy answers. You might even have to find the classroom with the best social environment that can handle her, and get some help making a supplemental curriculum to work on at home.

We chose mainstream and it's working great for us. My son loves it and the school has been willing to work with our outside therapists. They have actually bent over backwards to make us happy and will even "work around" union rules to have a specialist observe in class, etc.

We also have a variety of private, specialized schools for special needs that we could go for. They have great reputations. We are huge advocates of mainstreaming for tons of reasons. I think it promotes community knowledge and acceptance. And the school district really is quite good here.

I know that every school district is not the same and teachers are all different. We have gotten lucky and see no need to change things.

I am NOT an advocate of putting the higher functioning kids on the spectrum in schools that have resource centres so to speak. Special educations classrooms and such. I do not want my child to be put with kids that are clearly much lower functioning than he is. Drooling, head banging, diapers, etc. And often if there are behaviour issues with your child, some teachers will put the kids in the that special room and not work through issues like they probably should. It's an easy out. But if your only mainstream option is this type of school, then be very clear about what your expectations are.

Tough decisions eh?

Oh and be careful about private, autism type schools too. You need to make sure you do your due diligence and pop in unexpectedly. Some will not allow you to do that. I say tough. You can not interrupt classes of course, but you can check things out for sure. I would investigate their disciplinary methods. And how about socialization? You have lots of great opportunities with NT kids in the public school system and sports, etc. Some special needs schools are quite limited. So many things to research!

I don't know how old your daughter is or where you live but it doesn't really matter. That headmaster seems to have overstepped his bounds by talking about medication. It seems clear he does not know much about Autism and that is the problem with mainstreaming-they tend to get plopped into a situation where the teachers know very little about their specific differences and try to make them "act normal". This only serves to make the kids feel worse and then you get worse behaviors, etc.

My daughter is sometimes selectively mute at school. She talks incessantly at home. As others have pointed out it is a sign that she is not comfortable.

Mainstreaming is good if you have a strong support system with people who understand the unique differences of Autism to monitor, support, and advocate for the child.

For a child with HFA I don't believe Sp Ed is the optimum setting, at least not in my experience. They can get bored or lack the academic challenges to keep them learning. However, a smaller class size is almost always beneficial, and sometimes that can only be in a Sp Ed setting.

I have my daughter in a private school with very small classes. It is not an Autism school but she does attend a school specializing in Autism in the summers. I have found with good communication with a caring teacher, a regular school with a small class size can work really well-you get the academic challenge and lessen the anxiety that too many children can produce.

Well, we are not at this stage yet but I'd personally lean away from a 100% special ed environment especially if she is up there academically. She may feel totally out of place.

In the US at least, there are special ed classrooms at regular schools for kids in the normal range of intelligence who have other learning disabilities like severe ADHD and dyslexia, for example, and the classes are for kids that are falling behind in a regular class. Schools usually offer 2 versions, the resource classes that are all special ed kids for some classes and mixed with a regular class with an aide for others, then there is a special day class where 1 or 2 teachers and aides handle all the subjects but the kids go out to recess or lunch or any other activity with no additional supervision. In both kids of classes, kids can be mainstreamed for subjects they are doing well in. A lot of kids on the spectrum with intelligence in the normal range or are gifted but can't handle a mainstream environment often go to such classes to accommodate them best.

Mainstream, with an aide if you can. Great advice from previous posters!

Quite honestly, I am really bothered by your conversation with this man. It is not your job at home to discipline the child for behavior at school, and yet he implies it is. If an AS child is acting out at school it is because something is wrong for her at school, and I would suggest he spend some time trying to figure out what that is instead of threatening you. Pretty much exactly what I would say to him.

And I'd be investigating options outside of his school or his control.... Which, it sounds like you are.

As for which alternative is best, I think it is really hard to say, so many factors come into play. But don't disount all special needs schools. We have a wonderful private special needs school in this area that has been practically miraculous for many kids who just don't fit into a traditional classroom, and some of these kids are extremely high achieving, getting noted in newspaper articles for various accomplishments, and you wouldn't know they were special needs without that last note, "student at ____.". Two families we are friendly with have kids there, and I've watched those children turn into confident, capable youngesters, with a lot less stigma than they would have faced being mainstreamed with an aid (which was the district solution for both; it just doesn't have anything like this). My son is mainstreamed, no aid, and I think that is right for him, but some kids just need that individualized approach in a very small setting that the private school can provide (only 3 kids per class). My instinct reading your post would have you find a place just like it.

Is home-schooling an option? You sound like you have a twice-exceptional kid (gifted and disabled simultaneously) and that can mean you need a pretty specialized kind of education.

I'm not sure how things work where you are. Here, a parent could demand a functional behavioral assessment to try to find out the root cause of the behaviors.

I'm not sure an autism class would be less structured. Most children with autism need more structure. But perhaps you're using the word in a different sense than I'm thinking of. I know that my own son, though he does need structure and routine, responds badly to authoritarianism, rules he doesn't understand or believe in, and too much being told what to do. What is really good for him and many autistic children is knowing what to expect, when.

After having spent most of his school life in a Special Day Class, he was in a mainstream classroom with an aide last year. It was an exceptionally good teacher and he did fabulously well academically, and reasonably well socially. I'm concerned about his 5th grade teacher and would not be at all surprised if he winds up back in the Special Day Class (exactly what happened to two other autistic boys in his school) which would be a shame from an academic standpoint and could result in him being very bored, but it does have an understanding teacher with special training.

I would suggest that you get her evaluated by a trained psychotherapist before you take any drastic steps. In case she’s diagnosed with autism or any similar disorder, I’d suggest Rebecca School that’s located in New York: http://www.rebeccaschool.org It’s one of the best schools I know for autistic kids.