I am aware of this. Frankly, I think it is ridiculous. These children have no business being in a regular school. And no I dont think that they should go to private schools. The children obviously need some sort of daycare and basic skills traingint if parents need respite. But not much more.
This is what they do get, in a public school where they at least have the opportunity to interact with their peers.
In the past, many people thought that autistic children could not be taught. Well, that has been proven wrong. Many autistic children function very well in school.
I have a daughter with brain damage. She has a severe speech problem. Some people would totally write her off. However, her teachers at public school have been great. She just finished (and passed) first grade. She's one of the top student in math, but she struggles with reading and writing.
Her school has a special day class for high functioning kids with problems. My daughters' class included these kids in at math time. They were their math buddies. It was great for the normal kids, and it was great for the special needs kids. The special needs kids need normal kids around them so that they have models of normal behavior.
Even severely retarded kids can be taught so much. They need more than just daycare, they need someone to really help them.