Just wondering how helpful it is to send your autistic child to school with your typical kids? Anybody have experience with that or keeping their kids in separate schools.
My son is 6 years old is moderately mentally retarded and has autism. He is verbal, toilet trained, goes to ABA school that we are happy with. We have 2 typical children one of which will be ready for kindergarten in 2011. We'd like all our kids to go to the same school. There is a school district that might do a good job with him and would be good for our girls. However, the school does not have as many ABA trained folks and merely contracts from time to time to help out with certain issues. We would have to move into that school district because our current district had limited options for him.
I have three sons. My
I have three sons. My oldest is a typical teenager and my youngest two are both autistic. When my oldest was in kindergarten we found that he always worried about his younger brother in the early intervention preschool classroom which was downstairs. My younger son was miserable and cried which distracted my oldest. I removed my younger son from the preschool and worked with his wraparound service provider to develop a program for him. When he was ready for kindergarten, he was sent to a multidistrict autistic support classroom. My oldest was relieved that he did not have to worry about his brother and he could distance himself from being "A"'s brother.
My oldest is in a private school and loves the distance from his brothers. It provides him with his space and his time to be a teenager and my husband and I encourage it. When he's home with his brothers or out in the community, he's fine. Allowing him to have his own private outlet from his brothers provides him with a break from autism where he can interact with kids his age. We do not have sibshops in our area and this helps our oldest.
My 2 boys went to Junior
My 2 boys went to Junior High and High School in the same school ( they have both since graduated) my younger one has Autism and they are 2 years apart so my oldest was there first so he was established and talked about his brother coming to school to his friends and others. They had their own groups they interacted with they would occasionally have lunch together but overall it was a very positive experiance for all.
I would agree with the
I would agree with the previous commenter. Our son is 7 and in a "regular" classroom at public school. He has a classroom aide to help modify the learning to his level... it is working for us because his aide is so caring and the rest of the school support team is great. But sadly, it isn't like that everywhere. You really do have to find the right fit. I hope for your sake you don't have to move! : )
My son is in regular school
My son is in regular school in the regular 1st grade but has an aide to help him during class. He is moderately high functioning autistic. My suggestion would be to talk to the school and find out more information on what they can do for your son. It really depends on how he would take it too...as you know they are not fond of change so I would take him with you to meet the teachers and aides. As parents we have to decide what is best for our kids and we are their number 1 advocate...I hope things work out for you.