What's Your Opinion: Public or Private School for Kids with Autism?
Our reasons for choosing homeschool were fairly simple: we didn't feel our son was getting a good education. We explored our public and private school options. And we didn't like them - for a wide variety of reasons. We've both had educational experience, and we felt we might be able to do a better job teaching our son than anyone else!
But there's no question that many parents feel differently. Some have found terrific public programs that really serve their children's needs. Others have been lucky or strong-willed enough to get their child with autism a really good private education.
In general, public education tends to offer our children a better shot at inclusion with typical peers. It also has the vastly important plus of being free! On the other hand (despite the fact that the law requires an individualized education plan), it's hard to manage the public environment to craft an education that really fits the needs of any individual child.
Private education for children with autism is usually very specialized. Your child's peers will be children with special needs - and every member of the school staff will have the background and training they need to support your child with autism. Of course, private school for children with special needs is extremely expensive - and fairly hard to find.
What is your experience with public and private education for children with autism? Have you had positive or negative experiences with either system? What are your recommendations to parents who are just getting started?
Comments
I sympathize with parents who decide to homeschool. I’ve been twice at the brink of filing for sped administrative hearings with my district. Both times the issue has been to force the district to create an appropriate program. Our son needs a huge deal of accommodation and individual supports.
None of the private schools I saw were a good option. First, they were sped schoold with limited to no mainstreaming opportunities. Second, the level of control and input for parents whose kids are in private placements is even less than with the public school district.
For me, the issue has always been that I know my kid better than the people in charge of setting up his program, and what will and won’t work.
Homeschooling is the only way to gain that control. A short homeschool day can be followed up with real-world community outings and activities that provide excellent mainstreaming.
Mainstreaming opportunities in public school are by nature limited to an artificial and temporary environment that in no way represents the real world. Though better than being around only other ASD kids all day long in a sped school, in my opionion.
The best option for one may not be the best option for someone else. The best choice will always be that which most adequately fulfills the needs of the student and their family.
For our 14-year-old son, we have chosen public school, with some additional support and services provided by the school. He wishes to go to the public high school because he is a good baseball player and wants to play for his high school team and possibly at college and even beyond. He will have some huge obstacles to overcome along the way, so we’re taking is one day at a time for now.
As a parent with a strong interest in education, I feel that inclusion is vital, not only for the sake of my son with autism, but also so that his peers will someday be given the opportunity to understand my son and others who are like him, and ultimately learn to accept them with patience and kindness. For, it is they who will someday become his co-workers and possibly even his employers. We must keep our eye to the future and the big picture if we are to cultivate a society of individuals who are less ignorant of the challenges and unique needs of our children/adults with asd. Inclusion is not just for the sake of those with special needs, but also for those who surround them.
Private schools don’t always include the federal laws that were set up for disabled children in the school system. NCLB and IDEA don’t always pertain to the Private school and parents need to be aware of this. you really have no leg to stand on if there is an educational issue with a special ed child.
also, another choice in some states are Charter schools. my child attends one and is doing very well there, and they do have to follow federal and state laws set up for special ed kids. sme Charter schools are specific to a disability, where my child goes is not yet they are providing a very appropriate IEP for him.
I’d tell any parent to understand educational law, or find someone who does. locate a local advocate to your area.
My daughter is 10 yrs.old and,I homeschool her for the same reason.She doesn’t get the education she needs in a public school.Many people in this world doesn’t understand about autism are any other disorder.The world needs to educate children,because there is know one out there,that can tell me that their child has not been talked about are even laughed at by other child.If,I had my daughter in a public school,she wouldn’t be were she’s at today.She learned so much more at home.I just wish,I would have done it 5 yrs.ago.
I agree with Dave, inclusion is so vital to our children. I have nine year old twin boys with autism. Both have been going to public schools since kindergarten. Both were non-verbal when we entered the school system. I was very reluctant and wanted to keep them home, at least until they were verbal. It would have been easier for me to keep them at home, in our comfort zone. I decided to put my fears aside and enter the public school system. We had many up hill battles with the school board for services, we never gave up. We just kept going higher with our fight. Today… five years later I am so thrilled and excited at where we are as a family and where my children are in their development. It was no easy task -choosing the public school system, but I do believe it was for the best. I decided to quit my full time job three years ago to maintain our home therapy program and be involved at the school. I am very involved in writing our IEP’s at the school. I insure they are consistent with our intervention plan at home. I feel it is very important to maintain that consistency with our home team and our school team. Every year is a whole new ball game and some years are tougher than others. I now have one child who is speaking beautifully and articulately and he is now a “social butterfly”. He has come some far from our scripted conversations at the play ground and our copious numbers of social stories. Now he can converse better than most adults
My other son has also reached many milestones. Although he is not completely verbal yet and we are still prompting him for most of his language he is able to make simple requests and complete most of his school work in the class room. He will request to play with certain children during his breaks and knows most of his class by name. It is amazing to see him interact with other kids because he used to shut out the rest of the world and now he is letting people in to his space – by choice. This was a child who could only spend up to 10 min at a time in the class room at the beginning. Screaming and yelling WAS a typical daily behavior. His curriculum is now modified to his potential and with the proper sensory and gross motor breaks put into place during his day he is very successful. Now we experience a little yelling, maybe once or twice a month. The Key is - Setting our children up for success. Often this does fall into the hands of the parents. We are the ones that know our children the best. I do believe there are many people in the school systems that want to help our children, but often they don’t know what to do, they are afraid to ask, they are very restricted on what they can tell you and what they can ask you. I feel it is so important to be very involved in their education. You don’t need to spend the day at the school but you definitely need to know what goes on from day to day, ask questions and hold them accountable for your child’s IEP. Make sure these goals are being worked on and find out how they are being implemented on a daily basis; create a daily home-school communication book designed specifically around your child’s needs, which also ties into the IEP. Well… as you can see I am very much for inclusion. It is not the easiest road to choose but if you plot your course first you will get there with less bumps.
We had been a part of the public school system for a few years with 3 children with Autism.It proved to be very frustrating.We are now in an independant school where my children get the services they need.They are happy and learning.Integration just was not working for our kids as I had hoped it would.Homeschooling is always a last resort for us but Kudos to those who school at home.
Private and Public Schools share most of the aspects when it comes to teaching children with autism.
I would prefer an school that specializes in social skills, monitors student’s progress, and most importantly I would prefer an school that offers a curriculum that includes parent-involvement.
Mainstream education is exactly what it says, a main stream where all children are thrown in at the deep end without any consideration regarding whether they can swim or not.
We HE because the school could not cope with our sons special needs, teaching staff had no awareness and couldn’t provide the specific strategies needed for a child on the spectrum. That was over five years ago; judging by the number of parents I now assist with the statementing process and the deplorable attitude of teaching staff who only wish to ‘normalise’ children with autism, nothing has changed.
There are pockets of good practice, but unfortunately not enough.
We have the SEN code of practice, autism exemplars, autism manifestos, best practice guidelines and so on, but very little of it is actual law, mostly they are purely guidelines with no bite.
Until ASD awareness is included in teacher training, very little will change and our kids will continue to suffer in mainstream.
Only last year a senior minister declared that inclusion was a form of abuse as far as SEN children were concerned, enough said.
A child on the spectrum doesn’t need to know the history and biography of a potato, they need to know how to prepare it and cook it.
My 11-year-old son is autistic and has been in public schools since the age of 3. I’ve had my ups and downs with public schools, but I’ve had a much better experience here in NY than Ga. It’s really tough to get related services in the south. I have wanted to try private schooling with my son due to behavioral issues. However the Public school system is never too willing to transfer your child to a private school due to $$$$$$; so they will do whatever it takes to keep them in the public school system. Nevertheless, I feel it’s best for him to have contact with regular ed children,especially since he imitates others. I hope one day he will have the opportunity to experience private school.
I have to say that my 6 year old son has had a hard time of it. When we found out he was autistic in Florida he was 2 non verbal. The schools there I tend to think don’t know what they are doing for special needs children. We moved to a small town in South Carolina and I enrolled him in the special classes there. He also had an IE come to the house once a week. I was not impressed untill his IEP meeting when I met a lady by the name of Alisia She is the director of an awesome program at Oak Grove Elem. When they transferred christian to the new school the following year he has jumped hurdles I never that I would see. I have to say it is all in the school enviroment. Are they equiped to handle children with special needs. We became fortunate b/c this is an Autistic class room he also mainstream s into first grade this year. Christian went from not talking to telling me what he would like to drink, eat and a few more things. He’s not talking in sentences but he’s getting there. I fully support the wright. school and for that it was public. He also is getting 30hrs of home therapy So I cant complain.
Wow! There are a lot of strong feelings going on in the comments. I agree with each and everyone of them, because it is your child you are speaking about. Are son had been in public schools since he was 3 yrs old. We wanted the social and verbal skills he him that this would hopefully provide. He did not like to be around others and he did not speak. Over the years, he did learn to socialize and speak. This was a long hard road for him. We had to decide in the long run what was best for him. I was very interactive in the school and would Substitute teach in his school to keep abreast of what was going on. You would be amazed at what you don’t find out even when you are there everyday. After eight years in the public school system we chose to homeschool our son. He is eleven years old. He is a social butterfly today because of the public school interaction and his verbal skills are great. The sad thing was that the staff and students had a very challenging time with his behaviors. The students could be extremely cruel as were some of the teachers. Don’t get me wrong, there were a large number of great teachers and students who were wonderful with him. However, it seems that the cruel ones have a larger impact on your self-esteem. Since we have been homeschooling six months he has flourished academically, verbally and socially. His self-esteem has increased by leaps and bounds. (He was left behind academically by three years. In the six months he has caught up by one year. We believe in the next year he will be at grade level. The educational system had services for him but he was still lost in the cracks.) For all of you that have a child with special needs. You have to decide what is best for your child. No one else can determine that. For us the school system did work for a time. Now, homeschooling is what we have chosen. Good Luck to all of you on your journey with Autism.
Hi,
Our son is 15, and in public school. Private school has never been an option for us because they are not required by law to provide modifications needed to get an education. Our son, thankfully has done very well. He sees himself as one of the gang so to speak. Everyone is his friend, teacher & student alike. Thankfully the most of the kids have learned to accept him as he is; he like everyone else in this world, has his quirks. AS far as education itself is concerned, he is in both Resource classes, and Pre-AP classes. He bridges the spectrum. My husband and I know that we are lucky in that he is not severely affected. My best advice to everyone is to learn quickly how to speak up for your child; and stay on top of everything. Get to know the teachers ~ at all grade levels. Being able to talk to them directly about your child and what he or she needs gets the quickest response. Then if needed take it further up.
As a teacher, I sympathize with the parents, but at times it is next to impossible for the other students to ignore the child’s behaviors.
One of my students will start screaming
“shut up” over and over at various times throughout the class. Is this fair to other students? Why should they have to put up with this indiscriminate
“screaming?”