Which educational model do you feel is best?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm curious as to which education model you all feel is best for autistic children. I acknowledge that this varies greatly from student to student, and that there is really no one size fits all model. I guess I'm just wondering what your preferred method is, generally speaking. Or what you feel would be the first option that parents should take into consideration above the others.

Let's just assume that each model is in a fairly average setting, if that's possible.

Please feel free to write a post elaborating on your choice, and also, if you could share what you feel the most ideal educational setting you could possibly think of would be, that would be awesome - and interesting!

Thanks everyone!!

I've always felt homeschooling was best since our brains are more advanced anyway. We might as well take the most independent path yes?

I think that parents should see how their child copes in a regular classroom, with accommodations that may include time in a resource room. If the child finds it too stressful or difficult, they could consider homeschooling.

I did best when I was competing against gifted students.

I voted special school for autism. In my early childhood I was in special needs I didn't realise I was smart until I was about 10/11 most of my time in school I just daydreamed most things I have learnt I have learnt in my on free time by watching documentaries and reading books.

If I were the client I'd go for inclusion, but with certain accommodations, such as good audibility, clear teaching, speed not to be faster than my speed of thought, and fairly quiet, friendly and relaxed surroundings. I did very well in my early education under such circumstances, and I can remember feeling good about my classmates, which I guess gave me a general liking for people, which was probably useful later on. Might not work for everybody, and I don't see how a school that wasn't already pretty much like that could change things so much for one pupil. So it'd amount to finding the school that matched the criteria best, and it becomes more like going to a special school.

Assuming that moving to Finland is not an option, I have some preference for homeschooling, but 90% of the selection would depend upon the particular people who would be interacting. School taught me to avoid boring situations, and I got my education from books.

Not sure that there is one best model.

I was homeschooled for everything except 8th grade, but Mom still hasn't dealt with her own emotional issues (Dad was un-dx aspie, but not as involved due to work). My fallback position on my own education was that I should have been homeschooled, but Mom never should have homeschooled.

I voted a mixture of homeschooling and school.

Most wealthy parents in the UK use homeschooling to smooth the edges of their children's more blunted areas of knowledge. But there are advantages to competing with other students too. Without interaction with others most people, even introverts, will become less motivated IMO.

Schools should be altered a lot though. IMO meals served there should be sugar free, and all made fresh. And the power to exclude a child should be removed from the school board and instead placed in the hands of a jury, with the right to an appeal too. Too much power is concentrated with the people who run schools.

The rest of the world needs to be like Finland:

https://youtu.be/nHHFGo161Os

I didn't vote. I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all solution as every autistic child has different needs and struggles. One solution that may be perfect for one student may be a complete disaster for another.

Some autistic students perform best in a mainstream school working alongside neurotypical classmates, with or without a teaching assistant, while some cope better in special needs schools or inclusion classrooms.

Others, on the other hand, struggle with the whole school system altogether so feel most comfortable being homeschooled or in a flexi-schooling programme.

Personally I went to a special school during primary education, and then went on to mainstream school with little support.

I would vote for either homeschooling or a hybrid. It has been said that kids need to learn to socialize with everyone but as I see it, that's like saying everyone should go to prison to learn to get along with criminals. If I had to be in public school again I would have much preferred to be in the honors classes. I was dissuaded from taking them because it might hurt my marks and my chance of getting a scholarship. How ironic that if I had to take the advanced classes I wouldn't have been bored out of my mind and probably would have fared a lot better overall with higher marks, especially not having to spend half the day watching my back.

Of course, I should point out that in my case homeschooling would have never worked. To put it nicely, my mother isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the package.

I wasn't convinced but that video swayed me. Clearly there is too much management of children at the moment. We underestimate how much they are able to achieve without constantly being tested.

That and it made a really good case for banning private schools. If rich people's kids go to the same schools as anyone else, they tend to both demand better standards, and to invest their own money in the public schools so their kids benefit. And rich kids tend to grow up to be nicer people if they go to school around a diverse variety of people. A lot of what is screwing up things in most countries is the insane socioeconomic divide, and this seems like the perfect solution. Less socioeconomic divide = less crime = cheaper police force = cheaper healthcare, etc.

I feel, in many cases, an "inclusion" classroom is best.

In reality, especially in the public schools, "special ed" usually leads nowhere. They don't push the kids to pursue the "regular" diploma frequently.

Homeschooling could be good, I believe, in some situations.

The educational system used all depends on whether the child is weak or strong. I learned from an early age that I had no choice but to be strong and work through my issues on my own. I couldn't rely on people making broad guesses on how they could help me, so I learned how to adapt to my situation. Looking back, for someone with ASD to go through a normal classroom setting was pretty difficult at times, but at the same time that struggle allowed me to develop very strong core values that have gotten me through college with ease and even allowed me to handle a work environment without much trouble at all. Unfortunately, not every child will have the same insight that I did at that age, and they will likely require some form of accommodation to get them through school. I could imagine that being treated as 'special' can be just as rough for a child as being left in an environment that they aren't comfortable with.

So, every child should be in an inclusion based system or at least a hybrid form, so they can develop the skills they need to get through life on their own strength. Sheltering them will only hold them back and make their adulthood that much more difficult.