Hi, I'm Lynn, I'm new to this forum and I am trying to find out more about different special schools in different areas.
My daughter has cerebral palsy and currently goes to a physical disability school but the council is planning to merge it with a school for MLD & ASD.
Does anyone have any experience with this mix of pupils? Tx

(11-01-2009 11:16 PM)lynn Wrote:  Hi, I'm Lynn, I'm new to this forum and I am trying to find out more about different special schools in different areas.
My daughter has cerebral palsy and currently goes to a physical disability school but the council is planning to merge it with a school for MLD & ASD.
Does anyone have any experience with this mix of pupils? Tx

Hi Lynn,
Have the council started a consultation process and are the plans online anywhere for me to take a look at?

in my area our special school all the children are together, im not sure why this is but its the reason why i dont want my daughter to go there as she doesnt stand a chance against children that are very boisturious (sp). im hoping for a unit that she can go to that has a small setting where she can have one to one, apparantly she would lose this if she went to the special school.

In my area there is a special school with a big mix of pupils nearby and also a specialist ASD school further away. In my very limited personal experience I prefer a more specialist school rather than a general special school because the school can become more expert in what its dealing with & get little groups of children to work together who are well matched. I would worry about my son hitting vulnerable children or scaring them with his tantrums whereas at the ASD school tantrums are the norm and no one bats an eyelid. (not that this sounds like a good advert but you know what I mean!)

Hi All
Thanks for your replies.
Daniel - yes the link is
http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...ation.aspx
I would be very interested in your opinions.

Becky29 - I don't like the idea of all children with special needs being schooled together as they all have very different needs. The reason my daughter is at this special school is because it is small and specialist and the staff are more experienced in problems associated with physical disability (eg alternative communication). I'm worried about this planned new school because if I were looking for a place for my daughter now I don't think I would be so keen to send her there because of the mix of children.

Bessie - I completely agree with you about the specialist school. However, when I have tried to point out the potential problems you mention about scaring/hitting other children I have been made to feel prejudiced and anti-ASD children which is not the case at all.

Most parents I've had contact with seem to feel specialist schools are better yet many councils seem to be going down the route of big "all needs" schools. I just don't get it!