Autism - Peoria,IL

it really depends on the school and the child's level of functioning as well as the principals willingness to make it work. Some Catholic schools in chicago are really trying. It's a lot of work

Dont do it. The catholic schools at least the ones in my area do not have the resources for any child with "special" needs or arent up to the average as the rest of the class. I am speaking from experience, and here in California if your child is in a private school and they qualify for services from the public school system, they will only get half the number of service hours as a child in the public school system, even though we pay the same taxes! Very frusterating. My child was not on the spectrum but had some learning issues that we have had to pay for services ourselves for. Good Luck with your decision

I think it depends on the particular school. In general, Catholic schools are very structured and all that structure and routine could be good for your child. However, (also a generality) they are not set up for "special cases." We go to a Catholic school -- they do an excellent job on the basics of education, but there are no special services. If your child would have an IEP at the public school and get any sort of special services then you might be happier at the public school. Also, our school has rather large class sizes. This works because we have very high expectations for behavior and the children are able to meet them. However, there is no extra staff to spend a lot of one-on-one time with anyone who has trouble going with the flow of the group. But, if your Catholic school has really small class sizes, then maybe it could be a good fit for your child.

They do not have the services or ability to handle a child with autism spectrum. My older two went all private Catholic and it hurt to accept Andy would not be successful there.

The nice thing about sending him public and the services he received, he is now able to go to the Catholic high school of his choice. :)

The school would need to be accredited with the state and have staff on hand that can handle the child's special needs. Not just the special education aspects, but the behavior aspects as well and any other special considerations that must be made. They have to have a good history of complying with IEPs and outsourcing as needed.

I don't send my daughter to a Catholic school, but public school as they're able to meet our needs better. She gets her religious education here at home and through our church's CCD program. I don't doubt that they could handle her education, but I would worry that they would cry foul on the cost of her IEP requirements even though the state would fund it all.

I would recommend looking for a school for special needs children. My autistic nephew went to pre-k and kindergarten in public schools before his parents found the school he is in now. At the time, the school was 45 minutes away, and the bus still came to get him. He has improved so much being in a school with teachers and aids specially trained to teach children with different levels of learning abilities. He can even write his own name now! We weren't sure if he would ever be able to do that!

as a former catholic school teacher who was first an art teacher but had reading specialist, math recovery and gifted teacher added to my job titles by the middle of my first year there, I would say NO DON'T DO IT!!

Catholic school as a general rule do not have the state funding to cover specialists like an autistic child deserves.

Catholic schools can not support the hours that you need they only are able to give half. I had my daughter in Catholic School for two years and they weren't able to give her what she needed we had to choose between what to work on with her. So now she goes to a Public School and is getting all the hours she is supposed to. They have a very good system and the teachers are very well schooled in the programs.