SEN School or Mainstream? What’s Best for Your Child?

Episode 7: SEN School or Mainstream? What’s Best for Your Child?How do you know whether mainstream or specialist education is right for your autistic child?After spending months fighting for an EHCP and a place at an outstanding specialist school for my three-year-old son, Forrest, I finally got the placement I believed he needed.Then, unexpectedly, I started questioning whether I had made the right decision.In this episode of Beyond All Borders, I talk honestly about the emotional and practical reality of choosing between mainstream and specialist education, and why there may not be one simple answer.Forrest currently has a blended placement. He spends three days each week at his specialist SEN nursery and two days at the mainstream nursery he already knows and loves. For now, it feels like we're getting the best of both worlds.But what happens when he reaches Reception?Do we move to five days of specialist education? Could a blended approach continue? Would mainstream help his communication and social development, or could he be physically included in a classroom while still being excluded from what is happening around him?I also talk about the emotions I wasn't prepared for when Forrest started specialist education, including the uncomfortable questions about his needs, his future and whether some of my fears are actually about what the words special school represent to me.Ultimately, I've realised I'm not loyal to mainstream education or specialist education.I'm loyal to my child.The question isn't simply which type of school is better. It's where is Forrest safe, happy, regulated, learning, communicating and thriving?🎧 Chapters00:00 – Navigating Special vs. Mainstream EducationWhy I fought for specialist education and why I'm now questioning that decision.08:56 – The Emotional Toll of Educational ChoicesThe guilt, anxiety and constant questioning that can come with making decisions about your child's future.17:13 – The Dilemma of Inclusion vs. IsolationIs being in a mainstream classroom always inclusion? And what does specialist education mean for a child's experience of the wider world?25:44 – Funding and Future ConsiderationsOur current blended nursery arrangement, funded childcare, the EHCP and what could happen when Forrest reaches Reception.In this episode, I talk about:SEN school versus mainstream educationAutism and choosing the right schoolEHCPs and specialist placementsBlended mainstream and specialist educationCommunication, sensory and toileting needsInclusion versus simply being presentThe emotional reality of SEND parentingWorries about independence and the futureWhy SEND parents shouldn't be told to “be grateful”Letting your child's needs guide educational decisions💬 I want to hear from youIf your child attends a mainstream or specialist school, how did you decide?Did your child move from mainstream to specialist education, or the other way around? Have you managed a split or blended placement? And, looking back, would you make the same choice again?Please share your experience in the comments. These are difficult decisions, and hearing from families further along the journey can help other parents understand the options available to them.Follow Beyond All BordersSubscribe to Beyond All Borders by Journawell for honest conversations about autism, SEND parenting, family life, EHCPs and navigating the parts of life nobody gives us a handbook for.Because no one should have to navigate life alone.