What do you think?

Mr&MrsMTA

I posted the below in response to another post, but I wanted to know is this what you find in your schools as well???

It really depends on the district and the amount of special needs children they have. I know there are a lot of towns that refuse to have special needs children in the main stream schools and only offer parents the option for special needs schools only. My DH neice has DS and his nephew has classic autism they are both in the middle school now in the same class despite their different needs and there is only 3 other kids in that class my SIL has observed manytimes and it really just looks like a daycare she said she was so upset. After middle school they have to go to a special school because the high school has no classes/program for them at all. However my SIL said she is really just concerened at their age in teaching them life skills.

lite-bright

That has not been my experience so far with an autistic child, but we are nowhere near the HS level. 

My DD1 has autism and started out in a summer program that had only children with IEPs; the ones most at-risk for losing skills over the summer. This was soon after dx and it was more of a "better safe than sorry" approach with a higher level of services while we got a better handle on her needs. 

They wanted her out of the high-support environment into a regular one ASAP. The district admin actually wanted her in a mainstream class that fall, but I pushed back and she went into a class that was led by a SpEd teacher, had a mix of typical kids and kids with IEPs, and one extra teacher. Now she is in a mainstream preschool class and does very well in a classroom environment. 

I've been told that the special-needs-only school in my district (there is only one) is only for children with pretty severe cognitive and/or behavioral needs. Some of those will inevitably be kids with classic autism. Some kids with DS end up there, some don't. The school we are trying to get my DD1 into through choice enrollment has an ASD lab for extra training/resources for teachers and social support for the kids -- these are kids for whom the social component is the biggest liability. So there are specific programs outside the SN-only schools for kids on the spectrum; they aren't all being funneled to SpEd-only schools. If she doesn't get in there, she'll go to our neighborhood school and receive speech/OT/social support there. We are lucky in that she is high-functioning enough that her needs can be met in a mainstream classroom. 

As auntie said, the SN-only facilities are the most expensive and so far the district has (rightly, IMO) discouraged that placement for my DD1.