Subscribe
Previous Post
Two grandmothers—Gillian Hutton, a former headteacher at Foresters Primary School, and Vail Sale, a former speech and language therapist—-have mortgaged their own homes to open an independent school for autistic children in Tadworth, in the UK. As described in today’s Surrey Mirror, Hutton and Sale founded the school, Papillon House, on seeing the lack of placements for autistic children who cannot be mainstreamed and who needed a school tailored to their learning needs. While the article does not clearly refer to what kind of teaching methodology that the school will use, the new school is said to have “state-of-the-art equipment [that] is designed to help the children”: This is described as a “mood room where a child can calm down” and also a “sensory theatre, soft play area and a brain gym.”
If you had the resources, would you start a private school for your child and other autistic children? What kind of school would it be? Or would you prefer to work with your school system and work on options with the district?
I am a mother of a son aged 3.5 yrs and he is autistic. At his age he does not walk straight and has no verbal word. It is very stressful. I have not found a good school for him even to be potty trained. I have a great passion of start a specila school for autistic children in Nairobi kenya and walk the journey with other parents in a similar situation like mine. I belive the children are a gift from God and there is a life for each of them. Am looking for sponosrs to help me realize my dream of starting a specila school that would incoporate special needs teachers, occupational therapist, speech therapists and sensory integration therapistics with modern equipments. Please get intouch with me. Am a trained teacher by profession with a degree in Education and masters degree in strategic management( MBA).
Hi, I’ve just read your post. My son Kevin is autistic and am looking for a good school for him. could you please help me?
I am a Kenyan mother of an autistic boy aged eight. My dream school would be a school that would use not only the diet therapy but also the daily life therapy. A school that would cater for both able and less privileged children from poor backgrounds. Currently, most children from this families just stay at home. I have a dream: having gone through so much heartaches trying to get a good school for my son, and having used the daily life therapy method to train him, i feel that starting one of the kind would be the best thing. This should be inclusive of both Autistic and able children from both able and poor families. A school like Starehe Boys High School in Nairobi Kenya.
I am a Kenyan Mother of An Autistic Boy, Havs a piece of Land that I can start a school in my home town as there is none but need a sponsor for the structures. Any Help will be appreciated.
I have a nine year old son.He has remained in one class for two years.Compared to children his age he is behind by two classes.He was intially rejected in two other schools.Teachers in his current school are trying but at one time some were complaining citing admission of children with special needs.
I am in Nakuru Town in Kenya. I would appreciate advise on how to start an Autism school.There is no good school in Kenya.
i know there are many parents who could be in the same position.
I will be resigning my job in August 2009 to work on modalities of starting the school.This is upon receiving the neccessary advise from people like you.
Hi Ngeta, I have an autistic child as well and I think I know you. Lets share and see what idea we can come up with together. Please call me – # is 0722 758 750.
Kids here in NJ who go to private school generally have tuition (which is usually much higher than $39,570 and $50K and that’s not included transportation costs) paid by the school district. (Of course, it’s not that the districts just agree to pay—know more than a few families who have been through due process etc.). There are also some county programs that are considered “out of district” but are not “private.” I don’t know of an RDI school here in NJ (yet); a school called Celebrate the Children uses Floortime.
Thanks for mentioning the location. I dont drive freeways. We are in Echo Park close to downtown.
We live in Los Angeles, both kids were LAUSD. Nick is with CAVA and it is thru East San Gabriel Valley SELPA, West Covina School District.
We started with the online testing last year about March and at his matriculation IEP I told them it would be CAVA and they were clueless but that is what I asked and we did an IEP on the phone last summer and he passed all entrance exams for sixth grade and loving it.
There are several yahoo groups that I belong to where you can hear from many parents and lots have kids on the spectrum. I think one is k12users (that is for VAs and independent users) and then CAVA parents should produce others. You can email me and I can send them to you.
My son wants to do Los Angeles High School Magnet so we will do 7th and 8th grade of CAVA and hope he gets accepted. If not there is the San Pedro Magnet that is about animals.
debbie:
For those of us who have been to due process and won NPS, it would simply be a switch from one NPS (ie private school) to another … if you were vendored. So, no, it’s not uncommon for LAUSD to pay for private education. There is an advantage to being vendored. On another note, I am very familiar with RDI and I have to admit I am loathe to get into another situation with having to do the “one thing” the “one experts” way. The whole marketing deal. There are parts of RDI I disagree with and that would be difficult to have to argue in a school environment on a daily basis. Gutstein is a psychologist, not an educator. In fact, RDI has never been peer-reviewed to my knowledge.
Bonnie:
I was interested in using Calif Virtual Academy, but was unsure it was doable at the time I looked into it. Are you in LAUSD?
We are located in Culver City, right off the 405 freeway-on washington boulevard. School tours start in the summer.
What part of Los Angeles is the actual location? My son is going into Middle School and the school I want him to go to is brand new with hours of 8:30 – 3:30 and Tuesdays they go in at 10 am instead of early release for teacher meetings. This will be my first due process with two kids on the spectrum for ten years.
I homeschool my HFA son using California Virtual Academy and find it safer for him than the LA middle school campuses, especially for fully included kids. http://www.caliva.org
Bonnie
No, we are not vendored by LAUSD.(My understanding is that it is difficult to have LAUSD pay for a private education).
The tuition is close to that. It is $39,570 to be exact. We have some scholarships this year, but not many.
We are a nonprofit research foundation RDRI(the school is just a small part of the work we do.)
BTW, all schools are typically formed as non-profits. Please note, however, I read the tuition as being nearly $50k per annum if I’m not mistaken. But please do correct me if I am wrong.
Are you an NPS vendored school in LAUSD?
yes, we are RDI and only RDI. Our school is founded by Dr. Gutstein and Dr. Sheely.
Thank you for your interest.
Not for profit-just for a purpose is our statement
I’ve been reviewing your site—-is the teaching methodology particularly based on RDI? Thank you for sharing about it!
I am opening my dream school for my child, and all of the other families that will be attending this Fall!
http://www.gilberthallschool.com/
if any one needs any help- email me!
Thanks for the reco Kristina.
Cliff wrote:
“…I understand much has to be done, and it has to be done in context of the public school system; there’s simply to many autistics to now ignore.”
I totally agree. While (again) there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing other options where available, and creating them where they are not, this does not absolve the public school system of the responsibility to educate ASD children, the majority of whom do not have another workable option.
As an autistic, I got a rather brutal treatment a public school, and had I not opted to learn martial arts and how to defend myself early on, I would have found I had a very limited safety being different. That’s not entierly fair; the school I attened wasn’t known for its high standards and a good policy regarding bullying. In fact, I’ve heard that later the current vice-principle actually stomped on an ASD’s child’s foot while trying to get her attention, causing a gash in the foot. In that regard, perhaps my elementary school wasn’t a fair shake. But I could see negative circumstances being replicated.
But there’s huge practical issues. For example, I spent some time going to a public high school, not as a student, but occasionally to pick up my sister and for various events. I found the environment, in all of its sounds and stimuli, to be incredibly stressful, not suitable as a place of existence, less than learning. In fact, even when I went to a private school (not for autistics, just a general private school), I found that stimuli was still an issue, though I dealt.
Some of it’s a larger issue of understanding; I think if people understand autism appropriately, there is less of that aspect of bullying. It’s also a huge issue with the public school system. As Chuck noted, there is a serious issue when the school is as painfully cookie-cutter as it is. There isn’t help that might allow for an environment with suitable social interaction while also giving the autistic (or “autie”, as I most recently read) basic rights.
On the other hand, as Ian said, there is a social understanding that schools exist to promote social values. And, so long they don’t compromise a sense of self, I don’t think that’s a huge issue. It’s ok to tell an autistic that certain actions are not welcome for another person. In fact, the autistic probably doesn’t understand they are doing any harm, and might even apologize and back away from that behavior.
I’ll admit, as an end note, that I never really found an education system that worked from K-12. I bounced from public schools to charter schools to private schools. In the end, I applied, and got into, a college for those who areready to skip two years of high school. And that took a lot of work and social understanding I wouldn’t expect exist in every autistic. So though it is working for me (though I can’t draw final conclusions; I’m typing from my first dorm room), I understand much has to be done, and it has to be done in context of the public school system; there’s simply to many autistics to now ignore.