I live in Doncaster in the uk my son was diagnosed with asd when he was 3 ,took 2 and a half years for a EHCP for a mainstream school looking back now it was the worst decision I made he’s 10 years old now ,and I’m fighting for him to go to a special school,

I also found this very interesting link with lots of info
https://www.surreylocaloffer.org.uk/kb5/surrey/...

Hi, I'd suggest exploring the NAS website they posted to you above, section on schooling via link
http://www.autism.org.uk/about/in-education.aspx
Via the council's website for example Surrey you can find the special schools and mainstream with special units as well as before/after school clubs, childminders, mainstream schools, nurseries, etc
https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learnin...
Every school/ nursery has to have a person employed called Senco and they have to identify kids with special needs, request extra support, even help with submitting a EHCP which is needed for accessing special schools and special units in mainstream school.
I forgot to mention ABA here is not common you might need to fight to get via government but there are a few Aba schools in Surrey and I read in a forum one in Wandsworth in London. Good luck and hope it's useful.

You're welcome! Yes, I meant privately is to pay from your own pocket. This week I called BUPA to see if they'd cover Speech and or OT for my son and they said it'd be under their exclusions. My son is having Speech 3x per year in school then they 'teach the teachers to work with him and they apply it via his IEP and he's improving. As for waiting lists I'd say they are long, in our case Health Visitor referred him for Speech when he was 2y/o and he had first app 6 months later and it was just an assessment, then they were to see him again in 8weeks to start treatment. If you are thinking about London, perhaps take a look into Surrey, I heard they have very good support for autism. Maybe someone here might have a different experience though, over here waiting lists and support varies from county to county. Sorry for long reply! Good luck.

Hello, I don't live in London however from what I hear in UK overall diagnosis is lengthy, as for therapies too. Our NHS paediatritian recommended paying privately for therapies since according to him there's a long list (more than 1 year) for OT and only severe kids get to be seen, so if i was you, I'd get private insurance but still register with GP to get some speech therapy and be on the system. Everyone is entitled to NHS here.