Find out if you can bump her down in case the HF class is too fast paced or advanced. If you feel she can handle it you should try. My son improved so drastically in 1 year or Pre-K. He was in a mixed level class and did on occasion copy the other behaviors.... but we were able to nip them in the bud.

Our son is almost 6. He is pretty verbal and obtained some skills including academics pretty early. He desires socialization, but struggles to play with peers. He is usually ahead of the kids in his class because he struggles with self regulation and behavior. We now have him in a private ABA school. The owner/BCBA said that kids reach a point developmentally where they are ready to learn from their peers. Our son does not seem to be there yet. I think if she is already learning from peers and has some self regulation ,and is not too self directed she can benefit from the higher functioning room . Maybe even with an aid if needed. If she is not quite there, she might benefit from more support until she is ready. The special needs room might be able to do things at her level so she is not lost. The higher functioning room should be able to do pull out or push in therapy. You could also do therapy on the side if you have time and resources. The school chose the blended and less restricted room for our son after evaluating him for preschool, but he just ran and struggled so he was moved to the special needs room where he progressed.

I answered this question in my latest blog post if you would like to read it. Ultimately go with what you think is best.

Dualspectrumdad.wordpress.com

My family is pretty much in the same boat as you right now. My son is a similar place as your child. We've decided to try to put him in an inclusion classroom with a mix of typical and special needs students (in other words the "higher functioning" choice). We thought if were in the self-contained classroom with only special needs children he would regress.

Pre-school was so great for our son. Def push for more speech and ask if you can have 1:1 speech , and small group speech. We did both for our son. the small group helps with peer interaction. <3