Thank you for sharing. This has been so helpful - I’m new to this, my son is beginning pre school and it’s all very scary. Thanks for your wonderful words of encouragement!
Thank you for posting this. My son is entering his second year of special needs pre-school through our school district, but he just got accepted to a special school for autistic children. I felt the same way visiting the school, it felt right immediately but I couldn’t help but compare my son to the other children there. Also wishing these lovely kids didn’t have these issues. I was on the fence about the special school, but after the final assessment to make a treatment plan, I feel pretty good, still anxious but better…
I could have written this post myself as it describes my feelings exactly. My son is non-verbal and autistic. He starts school next September and choosing a school for him is something I think about every day. The decision feels so overwhelming. We are currently waiting for an EHCP so fingers crossed we get it. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I love following Jude and Tommy
A shortcut for us, and maybe others, is to ask whether animals are present. Animals are a focus and convenient subjects for conversations about emotions and behavior. They're maybe a risk, but then so is everything. Huge benefit for our boy.
Our little chap started school this September and it has been one of the most stressful times of my life. He had been going to a private nursery since he was 3 and the staff there were fantastic with him and they all adored him. In December '22 we started an ABA program, fully funded by us and the nursery staff received training to deliver it in the setting. He, like your boys is non verbal and until we began ABA, his method of communication was dragging an adult to the general area of the things he wanted and flapping his hand, getting increasingly frustrated when we didn't get the answer correct. But within 2 weeks of ABA he was using PECS cards and making a lot more sounds. We also used ABA methods to get him out of nappies, something which we thought would not be possible before he started school.
When looking for a school, we knew that a local school was already doing ABA and had been working with our BCBA for more than 5 years, so we put that as our first choice and our catchment school as second choice - huge mistake! We were swiftly rejected by our preferred school and allocated a place at our second choice. I was devastated and cried for two days. We appealed and were rejected again.
The school we were offered had ignored my emails about him continuing ABA (paid for by us) at school, despite me asking several times by email and leaving numerous message for elusive sencos to call me back. In the end (3 weeks before the end of the summer term) I was told that the answer was "no, but maybe some day in the future". I was livid and started looking at finding an alternative school. We did get him in somewhere else but thanks to the other school not applying for any additional funding, there was none to transfer and the new school still want to try their methods first.
So he is only there part time for now and being homeschooled the rest of the time, by me 🙈 hopefully his ehcp will be done by early next year and we can nominate a school of preference, especially if the current school still say no to ABA, as we've already noticed a decline in his communication and his ability to focus.
I think I spent the first week of term crying and feeling totally powerless. He was so well looked after at nursery, if only he could stay there forever lol.
Thank you for sharing. This has been so helpful - I’m new to this, my son is beginning pre school and it’s all very scary. Thanks for your wonderful words of encouragement!
Good luck, I hope he settles in well
As the father of a neurodivergent son, I appreciate your work. Thank you.
Thank you Frank, I'm glad you enjoy it.
Thank you for posting this. My son is entering his second year of special needs pre-school through our school district, but he just got accepted to a special school for autistic children. I felt the same way visiting the school, it felt right immediately but I couldn’t help but compare my son to the other children there. Also wishing these lovely kids didn’t have these issues. I was on the fence about the special school, but after the final assessment to make a treatment plan, I feel pretty good, still anxious but better…
To clarify, he will be in preschool in the morning and the autism specific school in the afternoon!
Oh good luck, I hope he enjoys it and settles in quickly.
I could have written this post myself as it describes my feelings exactly. My son is non-verbal and autistic. He starts school next September and choosing a school for him is something I think about every day. The decision feels so overwhelming. We are currently waiting for an EHCP so fingers crossed we get it. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I love following Jude and Tommy
A shortcut for us, and maybe others, is to ask whether animals are present. Animals are a focus and convenient subjects for conversations about emotions and behavior. They're maybe a risk, but then so is everything. Huge benefit for our boy.
Our little chap started school this September and it has been one of the most stressful times of my life. He had been going to a private nursery since he was 3 and the staff there were fantastic with him and they all adored him. In December '22 we started an ABA program, fully funded by us and the nursery staff received training to deliver it in the setting. He, like your boys is non verbal and until we began ABA, his method of communication was dragging an adult to the general area of the things he wanted and flapping his hand, getting increasingly frustrated when we didn't get the answer correct. But within 2 weeks of ABA he was using PECS cards and making a lot more sounds. We also used ABA methods to get him out of nappies, something which we thought would not be possible before he started school.
When looking for a school, we knew that a local school was already doing ABA and had been working with our BCBA for more than 5 years, so we put that as our first choice and our catchment school as second choice - huge mistake! We were swiftly rejected by our preferred school and allocated a place at our second choice. I was devastated and cried for two days. We appealed and were rejected again.
The school we were offered had ignored my emails about him continuing ABA (paid for by us) at school, despite me asking several times by email and leaving numerous message for elusive sencos to call me back. In the end (3 weeks before the end of the summer term) I was told that the answer was "no, but maybe some day in the future". I was livid and started looking at finding an alternative school. We did get him in somewhere else but thanks to the other school not applying for any additional funding, there was none to transfer and the new school still want to try their methods first.
So he is only there part time for now and being homeschooled the rest of the time, by me 🙈 hopefully his ehcp will be done by early next year and we can nominate a school of preference, especially if the current school still say no to ABA, as we've already noticed a decline in his communication and his ability to focus.
I think I spent the first week of term crying and feeling totally powerless. He was so well looked after at nursery, if only he could stay there forever lol.