Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsTeaching ApproachesProsCons
Table of ContentsView All
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Table of Contents
Teaching Approaches
Pros
Cons
Public schools are required to provide free education to all American children, and mostautistic childrendo attend public school. A public school can provide appropriate educational and social settings for a child diagnosed with anautism spectrum disorder(ASD).
However, in many cases, local public schools will struggle to find an appropriate setting and provide a meaningful educational program. Is public school likely to be a good match for the child? It all depends on the child, the school district, personal expectations, and a family’s budget.
This article explores the pros and cons of the public school setting for autistic kids, with information to help you make decisions about the teaching styles that best suit your child’s needs.
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Depending on a child’s needs and abilities, they will probably wind up in one or another of these settings:
Most autistic children will receive some kind of therapy (usually speech, occupational, and/or physical therapy) in addition to their academic programs.
If a child is academically capable, they will be taught the same curriculum as their neurotypical peers. If the child hasmoderate intellectual, learning, or attention challenges, they may be taught in special education classes or in a resource room.
If there are more intense symptoms that requirehigh support needs, the program may consist almost entirely of behavioral (rather than academic) education.
Private Schools for Autism: What to Know
There are great advantages to public school for an autistic child. Because of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), there’s much more to a free public education than academics alone. Private schools do not have to follow the IDEA. Therefore, students with special needs are not ensured accommodations in private schools.
According to the IDEA, an autistic child must receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).That means that an autistic child must receive the right supports to be at least moderately successful in a neurotypical educational setting, whenever possible.
Each autistic child in public school must have anIndividualized Educational Plan(IEP). In it, a guardian and the child’s district-level “team” will lay out a plan and benchmarks based on the child’s goals and needs. If a child isn’t progressing as expected, their guardians or team members can call a meeting to decide what to do next.
If a child does thrive in a general education setting, public school is a great way to connect more fully with new friends, other parents or guardians, and the school community as a whole.
Private schools do not have to conform to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. If your child is in a private school, they may not be given necessary accommodations.
The principle of the public school model may sound ideal for some parents or guardians. Yet parents or guardians will often hear school administrators citing budgetary and administrative constraints that limit the ability to enact certain plans or achieve certain goals.
In practice, this means that an autistic child is most likely to get an adequate education based on someone else’s definition of “moderately successful.” There are different ways this can play out.
Not a Good Match for the Child’s Needs
In some cases, what looks at first like an adequate educational program really isn’t. A child with high support needs, and significant sensory and behavioral issues, may never thrive in a mainstream setting. A child with lower support needs (high functioning autism) is not going to flourish in a classroom filled with autistic kids facing far greater challenges.
In those fairly extreme cases, it’s often possible to negotiate a change on your own or through an advocate or mediator. Frequently, school districts will see the problem and make changes based on a child’s individual needs.
Lack of Preferred Program
Or, some districts have created autism classrooms complete with sensory integration facilities.Yet many parents and guardians object because they would prefer to have their child mainstreamed into a neurotypical classroom.
Applied Behavior AnalysisMany autism experts and advocates consider Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) to be the gold standard of autism treatment. It’s based on rewards and consequences used to foster behavior modification, but its use can be controversial. Some autistic people (and their supporters) criticize ABA for treating all autism traits as problems to “fix” rather than respecting neurodivergence. They may argue that ABA practices are abusive and can traumatize autistic kids.
Applied Behavior Analysis
Many autism experts and advocates consider Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) to be the gold standard of autism treatment. It’s based on rewards and consequences used to foster behavior modification, but its use can be controversial. Some autistic people (and their supporters) criticize ABA for treating all autism traits as problems to “fix” rather than respecting neurodivergence. They may argue that ABA practices are abusive and can traumatize autistic kids.
ABA Therapy for Autism: Benefits and Examples
Bullying
Autistic children are often targets forbullying. They may behave, move, and sound different from their peers and often lack the verbal and social skills to stand up for themselves. This is surprisingly more prevalent for children with lower support needs, as they are more likely to be included in neurotypical classes.
This means they’re likely to be more sensitive to bullying behaviors and have more exposure to them, especially for young kids.It’s also possible for autistic kids to be the bully, as well as victims of bullying, more often than their neurotypical counterparts.
Bullying: Types, Examples, and How to Deal with a Bully
Sensory Challenges
Autistic children may find the sensory challenges of typical school to be overwhelming and upsetting. It can be exhausting to spend the day in a setting that is very loud, bright, and crowded. Standing in line, coping with gym class, and reacting to loud buzzers can be too much for some children.
Summary
There are many different ways to accommodate autistic children, and autistic children are radically different from one another. That means that there is really only one way to find out if a child will do well in a public school, and that’s to give it a try.
The child might also thrive in a public setting for a period of time and then run into problems (or vice versa). These challenges can include bullying, or sensory challenges while navigating school.
4 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Department of Education.IDEA Statute.Leaf JB, Cihon JH, Leaf R, McEachin J, Liu N, Russell N,et al.Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations.J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Jun;52(6):2838-2853. doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05137-y.Schoen SA, Lane SJ, Mailloux Z, May-Benson T, Parham LD, Smith Roley S,et al.A systematic review of ayres sensory integration intervention for children with autism.Autism Res. 2019 Jan;12(1):6-19. doi:10.1002/aur.2046.Park I, Gong J, Lyons GL, Hirota T, Takahashi M, Kim B,et al.Prevalence of and Factors Associated with School Bullying in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis.Yonsei Med J. 2020 Nov;61(11):909-922. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.11.909.
4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Department of Education.IDEA Statute.Leaf JB, Cihon JH, Leaf R, McEachin J, Liu N, Russell N,et al.Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations.J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Jun;52(6):2838-2853. doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05137-y.Schoen SA, Lane SJ, Mailloux Z, May-Benson T, Parham LD, Smith Roley S,et al.A systematic review of ayres sensory integration intervention for children with autism.Autism Res. 2019 Jan;12(1):6-19. doi:10.1002/aur.2046.Park I, Gong J, Lyons GL, Hirota T, Takahashi M, Kim B,et al.Prevalence of and Factors Associated with School Bullying in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis.Yonsei Med J. 2020 Nov;61(11):909-922. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.11.909.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Department of Education.IDEA Statute.Leaf JB, Cihon JH, Leaf R, McEachin J, Liu N, Russell N,et al.Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations.J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Jun;52(6):2838-2853. doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05137-y.Schoen SA, Lane SJ, Mailloux Z, May-Benson T, Parham LD, Smith Roley S,et al.A systematic review of ayres sensory integration intervention for children with autism.Autism Res. 2019 Jan;12(1):6-19. doi:10.1002/aur.2046.Park I, Gong J, Lyons GL, Hirota T, Takahashi M, Kim B,et al.Prevalence of and Factors Associated with School Bullying in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis.Yonsei Med J. 2020 Nov;61(11):909-922. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.11.909.
Department of Education.IDEA Statute.
Leaf JB, Cihon JH, Leaf R, McEachin J, Liu N, Russell N,et al.Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations.J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Jun;52(6):2838-2853. doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05137-y.
Schoen SA, Lane SJ, Mailloux Z, May-Benson T, Parham LD, Smith Roley S,et al.A systematic review of ayres sensory integration intervention for children with autism.Autism Res. 2019 Jan;12(1):6-19. doi:10.1002/aur.2046.
Park I, Gong J, Lyons GL, Hirota T, Takahashi M, Kim B,et al.Prevalence of and Factors Associated with School Bullying in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis.Yonsei Med J. 2020 Nov;61(11):909-922. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.11.909.
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