The parents of Jimmy and Robert (children who are unrelated) applied for their children to be placed in a school with a special unit for children with Autism. The children did not receive this place and so began their first year of school in a mainstream school.
In documenting their experiences in this blog, we hope to be able to answer two questions:
- How will these children with additional support needs cope in mainstream school?
- How will the mainstream school support their individual needs?
We feel this blog has to the potential to inform and educate a wide audience. One audience would be parents who might find themselves in a similar situation to Jimmy's parents and Robert's parents; we hope they would find this blog a valuable source of information. Another audience would be other parents who might read this blog and better understand the experience of parents of children with additional support needs. We also hope that school staff and professionals supporting pupils with additional support needs can learn from this blog and the unique insight this blog provides into the experiences of parents and children might inform their professional practice.
