Mainstreaming vs Special Schools

[James K Trefethen]

The current, popular method to handle children with autism involves educating them with other, NT children. Mainstreaming assumes that teacher learn multiple methods of teaching methods so they can communicate material to everybody. Those students with handicaps are supposedly given accommodations so they can learn with everybody else.

In mainstreaming, autistic students are taught to seek out others who are not on the spectrum that they can learn from. The idea is that a friend who is "normal" can teach you social manners and such that you would not get on your own.

Special schools, on the other hand, exist in some areas. I imagine they usually are private schools that have plenty of money for teachers and technology. Maybe they also have resources so students can indulge in their special interests.

So that is some of the differences. What do you think? Would you rather have one or the other? I know I have a particular preference but I want to hear from everybody else.

 

[Jambo_nick]

Personally I was placed in mainstream school. I was also lucky as I had 2 older brothers close in age. The biggest problem with this is not the asperger child but the attitude of staff at the school! Some schools suck but others are great! My school had strict rules so benefitted me. Find schools with zero tolerance on bullying also. I guess the type of school will depend on the individual and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Mainstream school also presents pressure with the 'unwritten rules' etc. If you have a child with AS and they have NT siblings then encourage them to play together! My older brothers taught me a lot in terms of reading between the lines, taking jokes and how to play in games properly. My brothers also loved to tease me which thickened my skin to this a lot which put me in a much better position to tackle the playground. Many special schools are also government funded.

 

[Cali Cat]

I'm torn between the two. I would have preferred to have a special school for my education, which was interfered with by social problems. However, the social interaction forced upon me during mainstream public school did give me a good education about what it's like to deal with the NT world and reality. I'd like to see something where kids are separated for part of the day in a special class to learn basic reading, writing and math. They can then join the regular students for other classes. That way they can get a social education without it interfering with the basics they'll need to learn. When I was in school, I couldn't see myself approaching an NT child to ask about school work. Of course, I don't think there were any who knew more than I, but lower functioning kids on the spectrum, I don't know if they'd seek help from their NT peers. That's why I think special needs kids should be separated from the mainstream students for basic classes where specific educational techniques are targeted to individual students. Of course, that only happens in a rich school district or in a perfect world.

 

[Nitro]

I like Dr. Temple Grandin's approach to working with autistic children where their special interests are built upon and the rules of society are stressed as learned responses during upbringing. A specialized school may offer a better educational value but would lack the interaction of being able to mimic the "outside" world with which so many with ASD suffer from early on. A poorly run public educational atmosphere may actually impeded any progress an autie may have as well. I would probably ride the same horse as Cali Cat on her split curriculum approach

 

[Ylva]

There are schools that have strictly enforced, but very vague rules. "Be nice", for instance. All the time, even if the other person is not nice to me? And, why does the other person get to decide whether my behaviour qualifies as "nice" or not?

 

[The Penguin]

I don't have an official assessment on Aspegers yet, but I do legally have a language based learning disability from my childhood assessment so I'm going to write about that instead. When I was born there was birth complications. Doctors said I wouldn't be able to walk, talk and many other things. I was able to learn to walk at a later age. Same thing for talking. However, I did have speech difficulties. My father had me to do speech therapy. I did attend a normal school, but still needed to attend speech therapy a few times a week. Around grade 3 I was able to speak decently and didn't need speech therapy anymore.

I had trouble in many subjects including math and English. For some reason around grade 3 I improved a lot in math and did well in it ever since. But I still struggle with English. For most of my classes I didn't get high marks, but was high enough to pass all grades. For high school, the school board wanted me to go to a special school. My father rejected the idea because the school they wanted me to go to is where lots of students are drug addicts, been in trouble with the law and many other bad things. My father considers to be with a crowd of students like this wouldn't be any benefit for me. He said to allow me to try a normal high school for one year. If I don't do well, they can transfer to me. Not just I have been able to finish a normal high school, I was able to graduate college too.

Now, for all schools I did attend, they allow extra time for test and allow me to have a note taker. I was also able to get books on tape and get a tape recorder to use for lectures but I didn't use this technology. However, for the classes I'm taking now for the business program, I'm using a my phone to record the lectures.

For me, I glad my father fought hard to allow me to go to a normal school. I know not everyone with a disability can succeed in a normal school, but if the teacher offer enough support for that student, more people would be able to succeed. The biggest flaw with traditional school systems it was never designed for people with a disability. Things over the years have improved compared to when my parents went to school. However, there is more improvements can be done. It seems they are not making it a high enough priority to help people with disabilities. It would be cheaper if the government invested more money to help people with disabilities to do better in school than instead of have the student struggle in life, be a victim to turn into a route of crime, being homeless, living on disability or and other type of life struggles. It would be a great investment to help them as more people would be employed paying taxes instead of having people using government services that takes away from tax system.

 

[Nitro]

There are schools that have strictly enforced, but very vague rules. "Be nice", for instance. All the time, even if the other person is not nice to me? And, why does the other person get to decide whether my behaviour qualifies as "nice" or not?

I would have never lasted in a setting like that...

 

[epath13]

In ideal world this would be perfect. One of my kids in a regular ed and one is in special ed classroom. Both of my kids can get overwhelmed when it's too noisy or if somebody is not in a good mood (my younger son is very sensitive to other people's negative feelings even if they try to hide it) and sometimes it can lead to issues, but if all the challenges were appropriately addressed they both would be totally fine. A lot of teachers are not willing to put all they've got into education system improvement. Some are simply unwilling, some are too overwhelmed, some don't want to go against the system and some are just don't want to change. We need new system at schools, how kids are treated, how discipline issues are addressed, how teachers deal with different learning styles etc etc etc there're so many things can be done if educators work together, learn from each other. My personal opinion is that there shouldn't be special schools, there shouldn't be special Olympics either, there shouldn't be separate recreational activities groups for disabled kids. We all should be together, learning from and about each other. It may happen one day after years of tireless affords of people who believe in true meaning of equality. At this point each person who wishes education system to change can do their small part.

 

[Ylva]

I would have never lasted in a setting like that...

The answers turned out to be: "yes, you have to be nice to kids who are mean to you, but no one else has to be nice to kids who are mean to them", and "their feelings matter more than yours because they cry and weep (and don't get taunted for it), so that's why they get to decide what is nice and not on their part and on yours".

 

[DarkAscent]

I have experienced both. Although I attend a special residential school for deaf students rather than for autistic students.

I hated mainstream school mainly due to the attitudes of a lot of teachers there and most of my peers. A lot of the teachers at the mainstream schools that I went to held the attitude that they were the experts of my disabilities and knew better than me. When I tried to tell them about how difficult lessons were and the type of support that I needed, they would dismiss me and pretty much tell me to get over it. During my time at mainstream school, most of my teachers had no understanding of deafness or autism spectrum disorders and so received no support during lessons. I had to study at home for hours and during breaks to catch up on work that I'd missed.

I can recall one "learning assistant" screaming at me in front of my class, "You should have listened more!" when I hadn't heard a specific verbal instruction. And this was coming from someone who was interested in Deaf culture, had learned some sign language and had researched the disability and knew about my deafness (they had worked with me before).

Since I've started at special school three months ago, the attitudes of the teachers and students are incredible and it's been life-transforming. The teachers are so caring and passionate, and determined to support students in achieving the very best of their abilities the entire way. There is constant support and understanding from both teachers and students alike. It is a truly wonderful place. When I become non-verbal, I'm not pressurised to talk but am supported and allowed to use my phone to use an app that generates a virtual voice. The school provides support not just in deafness but in other disabilities too. I am about to begin in a programme that teaches independent life skills for those with ASDs and other learning disabilities. There are teachers who are trained to specialise in different disabilities too alongside deafness.

The students are also very welcoming and sweet. They are very aware of disabilities and so are accepting. There is a girl in Year 7 (the first year of secondary school) at my school who uses a wheelchair regularly. She has made many friends already. I saw her with her friends and they were playing together. Because the school is situated on top of a hill, they were making her scream and laugh by pushing her in her wheelchair down the hill, and were running alongside her. They help her at meal times too by making sure that she can access the food bar and carrying her tray for her so that she can manoeuvre herself in her wheelchair at ease etc.

It is a huge difference to the mainstream schools that I attended where students with disabilities were sometimes called "retarded" and were often shunned or ignored by their peers.

Personally, if I had a child with deafness or autism, or both, like how I do, I would fight for them to win a placement at a special school to receive the support that they would need so that they wouldn't have to endure what I went through.

 

[Nitro]

The answers turned out to be: "yes, you have to be nice to kids who are mean to you, but no one else has to be nice to kids who are mean to them", and "their feelings matter more than yours because they cry and weep (and don't get taunted for it), so that's why they get to decide what is nice and not on their part and on yours".

It is very disgusting to think that human error has to flaw educational processes

 

[clg114]

When I was a child, nobody knew anything about AS. I could do the school work, so I always went to a mainstream school. I was just considered to be different by the teachers and a target by other students. Because of my size I didn't get picked on to much, but I got teased and taken advantage of a lot. The further I went in school, the more social it got. By the time I was in high school, I was alone in a whole school full of kids. Thinking back, I guess this did help me deal with a NT world. However, I think that if my AS had been diagnosed, I would have gotten consoling that would have helped me deal with my weakness's and take advantage of my strengths. Maybe the result would have been more education and a very different life.

 

[Nitro]

Public schooling was a waste of my time.
As I sat in a classroom with other students struggling with basic education,I was off in my own little world preparing myself for the life I did go on to live...
I would never be able to properly describe my extreme level of awareness as it even baffles me as I reflect on my life. When asked how I could possibly know so much,my reply was always that I had just seen and read a lot of things...I was not aware that everyone did not had the visual based memory that I do and could not sort and store most anything that ever held their interest in moving and still images.

There have been discussions with my professionals that I am possibly what is defined as a prodigious savant with splinter skills in many areas,not single isolated events such as number or pattern savants who only have one super skill set to work with. I guess it is risky for me to even state this but it is what it is and always has been. I would be a stumbling block for even seasoned professionals to determine what I am with no prior history of me to observe. I have a severe distrust of most brain professional subjective processes to begin with. Many of them appear to be under educated to me as their myopic views are too narrow for my taste.


Sorry about the tangent kids...

 

[AsheSkyler]

I'd rather be homescooled. I hated the public school I started off in and I wasn't fond of college either. My social skills are fine, but other people have some serious lessons to learn about being quiet and orderly, and their own social skills need some serious work too.

 

[Ylva]

It's irresponsible to let kids raise other kids.

 

[James K Trefethen]

I'd rather be homescooled. I hated the public school I started off in and I wasn't fond of college either. My social skills are fine, but other people have some serious lessons to learn about being quiet and orderly, and their own social skills need some serious work too.

Lol. I had not thought of it like that.

I think I would have liked a special school for people with autism. But really the main problem with mainstreamed education was dealing with the nasty comments.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Lol. I had not thought of it like that.

I think I would have liked a special school for people with autism. But really the main problem with mainstreamed education was dealing with the nasty comments.

Heheh, exactly! What kind of example are the other kids and teacher setting to improve our "poor social skills" when they're being rude and nasty themselves?

 

[Shannon Beech]

There is no simple answer to that. Frankly, it depends. Numerous aspects go into determining which environment you'd be at your best. One is where are you on the spectrum people on the higher spectrum may benefit from being in a mainstream school if they're only real problem is the social aspects of autism. On the other hand those with the learning problems as well may benefit from a special school. Second, is it depends on the school and the environment itself. Depending on the attitude of the people your child may be better placed in one via meant over another. Finally, it comes down to resources is there a special school in your area? And if there is can you afford to send your child there? Some schools are able to get your child's perspective district to pay for the schooling at their school however this may involve you going to court against the school district.

My point is, that every case is different what works for one will not work at all for another. You should focus on assessing how you or your child is as a person and then from there research into what kind of a resources are available to you and what options you have before making a decision.

 

[James K Trefethen]

Shannon, you have some very good points.

I think that special schools, are, for a good lot of us- just a dream. I know from where I am the nearest school for children with autism is 185 miles (roughly 300 kilometers) away. Then, again, I live in Wyoming (the least populated of the US states).