[Toy Soldier]

My youngest (she's autistic with complex learning and language disabilities) is in specialist provision within a mainstream school, which seems to be the most common way that it's done up here in Scotland. Basically, a few primary schools and high schools in the area have a separate ASD provision with their own classrooms, separate budget, head teacher, the works but it's within a mainstream school building. She isn't in any mainstream classes but it does mean she can have arranged time playing with some of the (gentler / more understanding) kids from the mainstream school and also they share the lunch hall / have assemblies together etc.

It's really tailored to individual needs as they get older, in terms of integration. Some will integrate more than others but the option is always there.

IMO it works mostly pretty well, as the "double edged sword" of special needs education was something we worried about. My daughter definitely could not be in a mainstream school, that was never an option. Getting her "ready for the real world" isn't really a concern - she's a very independent little scamp but it's very, very unlikely that she will ever live totally unassisted. However she loves joining in with other kids at the park / her sister and her friends if they come in the house etc. and gets a lot of her social learning that way which is vital. The worry of purely special needs education is that it can mean limited access to "normal" social situations and thus compound some of the social aspects of the disability.