Autism Schools?

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I live in New York and I have a kid aged 8. My kid has been recently diagnosed with classical autism. We are planning to enroll him in a specialized school for kids with autism. I have a heard a lot about schools like Rebecca etc. I want to know are they any good??

My nephew was diagnosed with autism when was 6. His parents enrolled him in a specialized school (Rebecca School or something, if I remember correctly). I don’t exactly know about the particulars of the program but I can tell that my nephew and his parents have never been happier. I think you should check their program because they certainly seem to be doing something right.

If you want a different point of view, my daughter was diagnosed with classic ASD when she was 5 here in Melbourne Australia. The mental health professionals were all suggesting an autism school would be best.

We decided to put her in mainstream and she seems to be thriving, has a friend and is fairly self-sufficient. Over time she relies less on aides, now at 9 she only needs an aide for 1-2 hrs per day. Most importantly she now wants to be independent. Of course there are negatives but you always have to weigh up the pros and cons.

I think it's more a matter of best fit for a specific child, rather than a generic good vs bad. A school can be the absolute best for one child while simultaneously being a disaster for another child. The approach I used was to visit schools with my daughter. That way I could see their style, she could see what felt comfortable and what felt wrong and the staff at various schools could observe her and see if she was similar to other kids who were doing well at their school.

The other option is mainstreaming at a public school. For some kids this will be best fit. For others (for mine), a disaster. (My daughter crashed and burned when mainstreamed, emerged like a phoenix from the ashes when transferred to a specialty school). This depends on the specifics of your local public school.

What will work best depends on the specifics of your child and the specifics of both the available specialty schools and the specifics of your local public school. Since he is 8, he must already be enrolled in a school. Whether this school is working for him or not and if not, why not, is what you use to make your decision.