Yesterday after reading the article below my worst fears reared their ugly head, about the standard of education in the UK for our children at mainstream school. At present I want Bryan to attend both (50/50) when the time comes. I have discussed this with his SEN 'Special Ed Needs' officer and they have said it's possible so I can see and compare how much satisfaction he gains from them and decide from there. For also our mainstream classes are overpopulated enough as it is and I worry about just how much focus on Bryan's needs can be mustered. I also have grave concern over the closure of so many special needs schools and fear their being sacrificed to save money and using the inclusion ideal as a smoke screen. Dont get me wrong I would love Bryan to be included at mainstream but am concerned as also sometimes I feel this is a utopic dream and a government whitewash. Obviously your local authority hold the key as to the standard of education our children will recieve.I would really like to know of your perspectives, experiences and aims. :confused: http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1813854,00.html?gusrc=rss

Jayne

You might do well asking this on the PROUD website as there are a couple of moms on there that their children are attending UK mainstream schools

Hannah goes to mainstream school nursery and she is going into reception next year

she has full time support and she is doing great.

I think alot of it also depends on the school themselves and the area you live in

Hi Hannah's mum I dont have time for two forums, and Bryan also attends a mainstream nursery. However there are a few people from the UK on this Forum and if no one replies it no big deal. But hey thanks for that!

No worries, I'll post something up on the PROUD website for you and see what comes back

from other people's experience it has been 50/50

some people have good views of special schools and others have good views of mainstream

our mainstream is excellent, they totally accomodate Hannah and also set her targets and a curriculum for Hannah whilst also including her in with her peers.

Not all areas do that though and some have a fight on their hands concerning education

One thing I would say to you though is make sure you get a statement for Bryan, without it, you haven't got much fighting power for if you want speech and language included in mainstream and also if needed PT and OT

Thanks your very thoughtful, once Micheala is at nursery I'll have a little more time on my hands for forum's and look forward to corresponding with PROUD.At the moment Bryan has private speech therapy lesson's with The Canterbury Down Syndrome Eductional Trust because the NHS down here is limited, Bryan's had two assessment's and no actual advice. I have put a lot of personal effort into my children's development and it's paying off e.g Makaton. Bryan's doing really well.As for nursery he' has one to one but I am concerned as he cant walk yet and has had a couple of accidents banging his head. Which doesn't happen so much at home, it makes me wonder about one to one? Also the parents of children in Kent are amalgamating the DS groups to create a charity so that we can have our own specialist systems for Eduction and Health as it really is a postcode lottery and us so called affluent southerners are recieving limited facilities e.g Parents have to wait six month's for a hearing aid in our area. There have been a lot of financial cut backs at our special needs centres a lot kids aren't provided with Pedro Boot's, Comodes etc. So something has to be done.The staff of the centres do a fabulous job but are having to tell us to write letters to their boses about how we feel about our kid's not being provided with the basics. That's why I'm concened. Hope you had a fantastic day today

[Edited by jayne on 08-07-2006 at 06:12 PM]