Mainstream school?

Hi woodstock

Firstly, no you are certainly not mad. Every child is different and if you feel that a mainstream school is the best option for your son then you should keep on pushing for it. My parents were told that the best school for me was a special school but my parents disagreed and after visiting the local primary schools found a really encouraging one and a headmaster with a very positive attitude. I absolutely loved my time there and also my secondary school years.

We have discussed the mainstream and special school issue on this forum before. Some had really good experiences of going to a special school. I think mainstream was the best option for me and with a supportive school there are few obstacles that cannot be got round. I had a helper at school, lessons were moved downstairs when necessary and adaptions were made to the building so that I could access. I was one of the first children to come under the 1981 Education Act and my parents used this to fight for me to have a mainstream education.

You do have rights and if your local authority disagree with you, you can appeal and take things further.

Good luck with everything and let us know how things go.

Sarah

Hi,

My daughter Emily is 4 and has a type of congenital myopathy, she attends a mainstream nursery (which is part of the local school) and in september will move up to the same school as her brother, although she has many difficulties, feeding tube, limited mobility & speech difficulties she has been welcomed into school and loves every minute of it.

She had previously attended a specialised nursery for children with additional needs as it was suggested by the professionals that she went there. It was a great year and a fab nursery but since Emily has been attending a mainstream nursery she has come on leaps and bounds, I can’t describe how much she loves her school and all her friends who are great with her. Emily has no learning difficulties and mainstream was deffinately the write choice for us.

Caroline

Hi woodstock!

I’m 20 and have congenital muscular dystrophy and use a powered wheelchair fulltime. I went to special school full time until the age of 6-7, until the headteacher recognised that I would excel more in a mainstream school. She helped my parents find a suitable primary school for me, and she found one about 10 minutes taxi ride from my home. It was not the closest one, but the headteacher there was hugely supportive and accommodating which was why we chose it. It was not accessible at the time, but ramps and a disabled toilet/changing area were put in before my arrival. I began slowly in the mainstream school, going in one day a week for a few weeks, with the remainder of the days in the special school. I then built up to four days, just going to the special school for physio and then finally full time mainstream school. I had a full time 1-1 support assistant for my time in primary and secondary school, until sixth form, where I did not (they thought it would help me be more independent, I argued that how could I be more independent with a disability which meant I relied on other people for help, but they did not listen…anyway that’s a whole other story!).

I hope this helps a little, I definitely thrived in a mainstream environment! Please let me know if I can help any more.

Jasmine, it sounds like you have a really good support team in place, like you say it really helps and makes such a difference. Glad things are working for your son.

@harrysmum wrote:

My brother had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, he was very intelligent and he always attended main stream schools. Sadly he died at the age of 20, 11yrs ago. Back in December my son, who was 8wks at the time was also diagnosed with this. I am definitely sending him to a main stream school. Special schools are in my option better for mental/behavioural difficulties. Why should someone who is “normal” in every way apart from mobility be ‘held back” Sorry if anyone disagrees, this is just my own opinion.

Harrys mum, It’s all good, I totally agree, my daughter has Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy and is of completely normal intelligence. I will be fighting all the way for her to go to the same mainstream school as her sisters did. Why should she not have the opportunities for a wonderful education as they have.

To be fair I think the school will be completely accommodating to her needs and sort out ramps and things, it still concerns me that people might think she’s too much to handle, it also concerns me that she won’t be able to do up the buttons on her coat, or get changed for P.E. in time but we shall tackle these things one at a time as they arise.

Abbi is awesome, so intelligent and knows what she wants and how to get it. I’m sure it will all work out!!

not all special schools are bad and I know folks who were happy in theirs but sadly they are often too far away from your home which doesnt help socially. I opted not to go to one not because of the social issue of being with kids with limited mental function but because it was 2hrs away.

I dont have kids but from what I have heard about my old primary in particlar (they currently have 4 kids with CF) the more disabled children that attend the more funding and services they can apply for. my old school in particular has 2 dedicated teaching assistants who specialise in the changing of clothing and one to one supervision during PE, class outings and lunchtimes (nasal feeding). one has also done the course to do daytime resp physio on kids with CF.

I have a 9 year old son with Duchenne. He is in Year 4 at mainstream school, where his sister went. I wouldn’t have considered any other school. He has no learning difficulties, although he is behind his peers. He has some lovely friends and as far as he is concerned he is ‘normal’. Yes he does fall over a lot more now and we will have to consider an electric wheelchair for him in the not so distant future, but to put him in a special school with kids with mental/behaviour problems would not be an option. We are going through the process of getting him a statement at the moment as we feel he needs full-time support, so hopefully by Year 5 he will have 1:1 support. You really have to be strong and fight for your son. With such a short life expectancy you want to give them the best, in school and at home. We do everything we can for him, so we expect the same at school. He does go to the local special school for swimming once a week as they have a warm hydro pool which is good for his muscles, but that is with a group of children from his own school who also have physical needs. Hope this helps. Good luck.

stop posting CRAP to sell.

nice to see your on the ball. cant we get there home address and send them our crap.

Woodstock,
Some advice which I hope you will find useful.
I work in Worcestershire and my role is specifically to help and support students with additional physical needs in mainstream schools – we offer advice to teachers, train staff with hoists and other specialist equipment, we support students with alternative methods of recording if required and generally support the student to access a full curriculum entitlement in a mainstream school. We are also link to the council in terms of adaptations to the school if req. I would never suggest which school a student should attend but would definitely help parents make a decision by showing them round and providing them with impartial advice on all the schools in their area. Special schools tend to provide specialist education for those with learning difficulties and therefore might not be the place if a child does not have such difficulties. There used to be special schools for students with physical disabilities but I am not sure if many of these still exist, certainly not in my area.
Unfortunately I do not know if a similar role exists in your area but a good starting point would be NNATPIP website (google nnatpip) they will be able to tell you more. If it helps we are called physical disability outreach teachers but they might have another name in another area. It may be that there is no such team.
Feel free to send me an email if you are still deciding. Mike