You know, we do know a lot about our kids. But sometimes our "knowledge" holds our kids back from the next thing. I'm all about keeping that success level high. But when we get asked about the next thing, we need to ask the right questions and not assume that what we "knew" will always be the case. Our kids change and we don't want to be the ones holding them back.

In this situation, I would ask questions about what "mainstream" looks like. What supports will your child have? Who is the teacher? What training will the new teacher receive? How will this class handle _______ (fill in the blank of the special accomondations that your child gets now)? What adaptations will be put in place to make your child successful? How will they manage his behavior plan? etc. etc.

Then if you are thinking.... hmmm maybe.... agree to a "trial" period of short duration. Sell it as a learning opportunity. So for example, 1 period per day with these supports and the IEP team will meet in 2 week to discuss how it went.

My son has surprised me more than once when trying something new. That doesn't mean that I let the school district try anything they want. But I try to stay open to their ideas... and sometimes try things that I'm not sure about (but with defined boundaries and an exit strategy if it fails).

I think it really depends on whether your school is able to happily and skillfully accommodate him and whether he can learn in a mainstream class. Some kids might be overwhelmed in a mainstream class

Your son is 14 with aspergers and highly intelligent. We took a middle course sending him to private school with classrooms of 18-20, and they would move him up grades based on the subject.For example, he would go to sixth grade math class when in the fourth grade and then return to his normal class.

He continues to do very well in school, but you may find as he progresses that his level of advancement over his peers diminishes a bit as memory becomes less important than other intellectual abilities. We chose to put him in a more mainstream classroom situation deciding he will always thrive intellectually and "its not a race" , but what he needs to thrive in life are social skills in the mainstream world.

However, that seems to work in our case, but may not be right in yours. When asking these questions I believe that no one knows or cares about your child the way you do so go "with your gut". If you find out later another course may be better then make the adjustment then. Good luck. Tom

You are his parent and if he's on an IEP, they aren't supposed to change the IEP without your approval if where he's at is written into his IEP, they can't do a thing! If you need to, contact different agencies and see if they offer advocates. Usually, they are free. When we lived in Arizona and my sons were still in elementary school, I found The ARC offered advocates and it was the best thing i could do when the school decided to do something I didn't agree with. There was so much less arguing!
If you feel your son is doing the best while in the classroom he is in, fight to keep him in it. Course, if the classes they are wanting to mainstream him into are things like PE, singing, art, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I would get an advocate and find out specifically which classes they want to mainstream him into.
I know my asperger syndrome son was in high school and he was in a special classroom for everything but elective classes like computer repair which at that time, he was nuts about computers so it fit like a glove for him to be in that class although he did have some problems with the class I didn't find out about until he was due to graduate. He wasn't doing the written work which meant the teacher was going to flunk him. I fought it and they had to put him in a summer class and do the written work, thereby passing the class before he graduated because the teacher didn't do anything prior to the end of the school year to tell anyone he was flunking the class.
I hope this helps.
Edwina

@ BarbaraBuffaKovalovsky I agree with you. If your school is able to provide the mainstream material in the special day class he will thrive. My son was mainstreamed and even though he was super smart he couldn't concentrate with all the distractions. Plus the teacher didn't know how to handle him or his disability at all. She had 35 other kids to worry about. So my son got left behind even though he was perfectly capable of doing the work. He fell behind because she didn't have the time or patients for him. Go with your gut :)