It is being suggested that he should go to a kindergarten that has special resources for autism. One of my worries is that among other autistic children he might behave worse in that less chance of learning to socialize, picking up bad habits regarding speech and acting out.
Hoping someone has some familiarity with issues and can point out to good data on what benefits there are to having him in a kindergarden with other autistic children and if there are any problems associated with it.
Normal kids can and will learn the latter from other kids, but it is way harder for autistics. He can learn social skills for sources that are made with autistic way of thinking in mind and that will be more humane (?) I think.
He will also need to learn a bit different set of skills than neurotypicals (like more emotional regulation etc), I don't remember exactly when I found it, but there is a theory or sth that autistic people develop differently AKA on a different timeline.
Being in regular kindergarden will likely result in bullying so please keep that in mind.
Source: my autistic self being bullied since kindergarden and living with NTs for quite some time ;)
But really, this is case by case -- or rather individual by individual according to context. If the educational institution is trustworthy, then their recommendation probably is in good faith. If the institution isn't, that's a core problem.
The outcome is going to vary more with individual teacher competence than the student makeup. A good teacher will better meet your child's needs irrespective of class composition. Bad behaviors happen across abilities.
My advice: make the decision at a fine grain of actual teachers and classrooms. If it clearly isn't working out, switch to something else as is your right. It's a long haul from kindergarten to college and it usually turns out alright. Good luck.
It could be some other problem. Relying on what kindergarten or you think is not enough. Pushing child into some special kindergarten before any diagnosis is irresponsible.
My son is now 16, at 3 he was diagnosed PDDNOS (Pervasive Development Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, first rung on the ladder of autism, but a symptomatic "syndrome"), they said he would need a full time care/assistant with him in primary school. I laughed out loud, I thought they were joking.
It came about because the district nurse said at age 3.25 (roughly) he only had 12 words. I couldn't believe it, but then I looked closely and maybe 12 was right, but he had no problems communicating.
It wasn't helped at the time by the mother wanting to play the "I am too sick to work, but not too sick to look after the children" game, and she was encouraging any/all possible diagnosis.
School couldn't get funding, he went anyway, there was no problems.
Fast forward he is 16 now, one year to go in high school, top 5% of studends easy, 1% in some subjects, works part time at local engineering consultants, plays multiple musical instruments, taught himself piano to surprising degree, as well as maybe a dozen computer languages, via youtube and kahn academy. A little unusual, but a lovely child.
His sister is 13, for other unrelated reasons recently ended up at the child psych and left with a formal diagnosis of autism. She is the most normal person in the house, yet the only one with a definite diagnosis. She is similar academic status to her brother.
I hate what to think what might have happened if they had both been labelled at a young age, it can be a self fulfilling prophecy.
I am by no means saying everyone just ignore the drs and go your own way, but you spend a lot more time with your child than any medical professional, take what they say and apply common sense and question everything - you have to be careful there are whole industries set up around wanting to diagnose your child, more help isn't always better, but often a little help is.
I grew up in NZ, I live in Australia, when I grew up strange children were just, a little strange. Life went on. These days the "normal" pigeon hole is very narrow and if you don't fit in it is like alarm bells immediately go off everywhere. What might be less than a years difference in developement in one narrow area all of a sudden becomes a big problem.
I wonder if in todays world if someone brilliant like Dirac would not have got shunted off to some institution and never heard from.
It's up to you as a parent to explicitly teach any skills the child doesn't start copying on its own.