I'm thinking of this in the context of the current UK education system, as that is where I live.

Here's the WrongPlanet thread - http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt159394.html

Currently, I've got to this as a starting point for future discussion:

What do ya'll think? Is there enough interest to warrant future discussion and the making of plans?

This post was last modified: 04-26-2011 07:48 PM by Magneto.

Evidently not...

There are two schools for children on the Spectrum in Scotland.

http://www.autism.org.uk/daldorch

http://www.scottishautism.org/childrens-...an-school/

sounds like a nice place. would cost a lot to run.

I'll have to look into those places more, see how close they are to my "vision", as it were. Is there anyone here with more information on those places, maybe first or secondhand experience?

What's a dojo?

I find it strangely familiar that someone going by the name Magneto is proposing the creation of an academy for misfits....

Would the education include careers advice and work experience placements?

A place to learn martial arts.

Martial arts was actually good therapy for me.

What the martial arts teach is not how to beat people up, or even self-defense, but a kind of warrior dance, to help develop self-confidence.

It's probably a good idea to do so. The founders of such a school would have to scour the qualifications list, to look for things that can be slotted in - expect heavy usage of the Open University . Perhaps diploma's and such can be found which allow people to gain one of those scraps of paper that seem so important in today's society, verifying that they are capable of cooking a meal, to give an example?

Of course, I'd like to experiment with this idea as the basis of an Aspie Kibbutz... but that's a separate(ist) discussion.

Can anyone up in Scotland find some more information about Daldorch; or perhaps someone goes to, or knows someone who goes to, Daldorch and can get a students view on it? It's piqued my interest, I'd like to know more details about it. As with New Struan; the parents view doesn't give a bad impression - well, except for this, perhaps...:

I want to know what works. Also, I'd like to know if there's much interest in this idea...

This might be a good idea for kids with the most extreme sensory issues. Kids who simply would be unable to attend a regular school without extreme stress.

For kids who can get by in the regular school system, I think the answer is to keep them in the regular school system and give them extra support and protection. Because if they are going to get a job in the real world some day, then the sooner they learn to adjust the better.

I had a couple of telephone conversations a while back with a friend of a friend whose son is Aspie and who was hoping that he would be able to go to New Struan.  Her son was very interested in going, having been for a look round the school, but as far as I remember she wasn't able to get a place funded for him.  I think it's pretty much on referal by local authority, and they then cover the fees.  Places are limited and demand exceeds supply so places are granted to those whose needs are assessed as being the greatest/impossible to meet elsewhere.  This particular boy should have been able to do well in a mainstream school - the problem was with the particular school and as they lived on an island there was no local alternative.  They moved to England not long after I last spoke to her, and I haven't heard any more from or about them.

Daldorch - I used to know a woman who worked there.  She was a member of a church I was with for a short time, and she was certainly very knowledgeable about autism and great with my son.  I don't know anyone else with a connection with Daldorch, but what little I have heard about it is very positive.  Again, demand outstrips supply.

In Scotland, the preference is for mainstreaming with support.  Some schools, primary and secondary, have specialised autism units.  I was speaking to someone recently whose niece is at a school in Edinburgh with an autism unit, and he said that with that support she is doing well academically and socially improving.  She travels outwith her local school area to attend that school.  It seems that the main benefit of the autism unit for that girl is that they provide a quiet, safe place for her to go when stressed or overwhelmed.

Indeed, and it would be difficult to get it started.

We need some rich bald guy to fund it.