How can I find out where to move to in the UK (ASD related)?

[catski]

Some of you might know that I live in Sweden (I'm english, my H is swedish).

For various reasons, I'm not coping and am thinking about moving back to the UK.

My son has autism and I'm trying to look into areas of the country which might have strengths in terms of autism or ASD support services. His condition presents itself very mildly, and I'm not sure that the health system would accept his swedish diagnosis without wanting to assess him themselves first, so obviously I'm thinking about length of waiting lists for diagnoses as well as interim interventions.

Any ideas as to where I could start looking to research this? Any other forums etc which might be a good starting point?

Any ideas are very welcome. I'm stuck.

[jennybensmummy]

well if you want a statement of special needs bear in mind here in nottinghamshire they have the inclusion policy where you really have to fight for a statement, however we did get a diagnosis very quickly but that was a year ago and ben was very obviously autistic if that helps

[catski]

To be honest, I don't really care. My parents are from the north east, but most of my friends are located in the south east (London-ish) and I guess it would be nice to be near good mates (after 5 years of not!), but if the services there are not good then that wouldn't work for me.

[jennybensmummy]

well if you want a statement of special needs bear in mind here in nottinghamshire they have the inclusion policy where you really have to fight for a statement, however we did get a diagnosis very quickly but that was a year ago and ben was very obviously autistic if that helps

[5inthebed]

Catski, I live in the North East, and so far, the services have been ok with regards to my Ds2's autism care. He attends a lovely school specifically for ASD children and I can't praise the care he has had from them enough.

Not sure what specifics you want, but can see what I can answer.

[Frasersmum123]

I agree with Jen - we are in Nottingham too and a friend of mine has had to really fight to get the statement process started with her DS who is now 6, but both her and I have found professionals quite easy to access (we were chatting about it the other day) and the waiting lists are not nightmareish.

[silverfrog]

I used to live in Kent, and didn't have a great experience with that, but that could have been the bit I was in (around tunbridge Wells)

In fact, we moved at the end of last eyar, as it was the only way that we were going to get any help[ for dd1.

We now live in Surrey, and while things are not completely sorted out, there are a whole lot more options here than there were before.

dd1 is at a brilliant (ASD) pre-school, and they are wonderful at helping uot with Statementing etc.

[anonandlikeit]

Hi Catski, we are in Suffolk & the services have been brilliant, ds2 has autism & mild cp & a few other things going on.
He has a brilliant community paed, who goes in to school to observe & make sure he is getting all the support he needs.

He is statemented but TBH his school had all the support in place before his statement was processed. Because its not very densley populated the waiting lists are not too long, SALT hasn't been great but that seems to be getting sorted now.

A fantastic choice of ms primary schools with excellent outreach support from the sn schools.

House prices are good & you can get the boat from Harwich to sweden (I think) or fly from Norwich or Stansted.

[Marne]

Hi, i am in the South West, both my dd's are on the spectrum and so far the services have been great, waiting lists for SALT are not too long but we are having trouble getting dd2 a OT. We have a SN school near us 75% of the children there have ASD and the school has an outreach service to the main stream schools.

[TotalChaos]

not merseyside!

[BONKERZ]

not leicestershire! services here are diabolical and take alot of battling and time to sort.

[Peachy]

Hmm we're in East Wales

A friend came from America with her ASD (to be precise PDD-NOS) child and expected to need a re- DX but no, it was continued after a simple chat with the Paed so dont be too downheartened about that

Here it's OK, I guess. state,memnt achievable but OT seems invisible, SALT seems a matter of luck epending on what policy they are following that week (or so it seems).

Paeds are great.

Someret where we lived before was much worse, though, its true.

[rosie39forever]

Bonkerz where about in leicestershire are you if you dont mind me asking, i'm in north west leics and have had brilliant service for my dd, good salt, quick diagnosis, portage from an early age, full time one to one at a private nusery paid for by local authority, loads of help with statement and DLA and a place at a fab special school where she is thriving and having regular visits from autism outreach who also run loads of useful courses for parents!

[jennybensmummy]

hi frasersmum are you in nottingham itself?? im from bilsthorpe, not far from mansfield. rufford area.

[pagwatch]

i found a nursery for ds2 and moved from kent to surrey(epsom) to get access to it - best decision i made in that difficult time. ds2 is now at a fab asd school also local in surrey.
other than that the surrey nas unit is good when generally i think nas are pretty rubbish. i don't need much else as services via the school are great -oh and surrey also has disability challengers for after school clubs etc which is just brilliant.
on the downside surrey is unbelievably expensive....

[catski]

Thanks guys - that's really helpful stuff. Looks like Suffolk, parts of Surrey and the South West seem to get general approval.

Like you say, it is most likely a compromise of finding places which have the knowledge (most likely round the London area) versus areas which aren't over populated and have shorter waiting lists. I'm thinking that there might be more access to private SALTs and things like that around the south east.

I guess the kind of areas I'm looking at would be SALT and some kind of play-based therapy. We've been doing what we can with the Hanen More Than Words progam at home and he seems to have responded well to it, so I'm thinking that a relationship or play based therapy like Floortime might be a better fit for him than a 100% ABA program. Is Floortime commonly used in the UK? Are there any areas that use it? I think MrsT has mentioned on another thread that there is a private floortime specialist in wales who's quite good - that's not THAT far from Suffolk is it? (indicates complete lack of geography).

[WetAugust]

From speaking with other parents over the years: avoid Southampton, Essex, Nottingham, St Annes, Hampshire, Birmingham, Bristol

Good area - Frome. Has good idependant ASD specific schools at all junior, sceondary and a specialist FE College for post 16s. London borough of Hillingdon also seems to have good ASD support and specialist provision.

[Peachy]

Hmmm,Frome good for independents but when we took ds1 to be assessed in Somerset we were told yes probably ASD but its not curable so they cant do anything- discharge

Didnt get a proper dx ntil we moved.

The frome absed educational stuff accepts kids from outside the area

[sickofsocalledexperts]

Treehouse school is very well regarded, but not quite sure what entry policy is and whether you have to live near it? Worth a look at their website though?

[Frasersmum123]

Were in Gedling. I know where Bilsthorpe is

[BONKERZ]

rosie im near hinckley in leicestershire. It took 2 years of fighting to get a DX, 2 years of battling to get statement , we had to fight for these things because in leicestershire they do not have such a thing as a behavioural statement and you do not get any help from autism outreach or specialist services without a diagnosis of autism despite huge detailed lists of the childs needs. without the label of autism you get nothing and CAMHS here dont like to label children!!!!!! Once we had a DX and a statement we realised there were no schools able to cope with our DS and had to fight to get him into a priory education school. All the local specialist schools are for children with servere learning difficulties not for autistic children whoo are G&T!!!!
where re you?

[rosie39forever]

sounds like you've had a terrible time bonkerz, i'm in the loughborough area and have had nothing but help and support even well before a formal diagnosis, we got her statement before diagnosis, and her place at school, which is a special school but almost half of the students have ASD in one form or another so they have loads of experience, we even had a place with autism outreach without diagnosis, its been very surpriseing how easily we have received the services we needed because having read on MN the terrible fight people have had tho go through just to get basic needs met i was ready for fighting for everything!!

[Davros]

Suffolk sounds good and I love it there. But I can't move now that DS's provision is funded by LA, that is one thing to bear in mind. Live where you are as happy as possible because, once you get good services, you won't want to risk moving away.
We are in the London Borough of Camden, which is very diverse with very posh and expensive areas and quite deprived and cheap areas. I think it is very good overall. Like most places, nothing is 100% perfect and I'm sure some people would disagree with me depending on their experience, but we have been in the system here for over 10 years, I meet and know a LOT of other parents and we're all pretty happy. When DS was young there was NO ASD provision which meant that they funded our ABA program for 4 years and he then went to TreeHouse school which is great. TreeHouse, like most voluntary sectory special schools, take children from all boroughs within reason, there are 17 Camden children there now. Camden also has lots of provision and services now and they are very good at being ahead of the game with govt initiatives, developments etc.
I met a Swedish man in the local swimming pool with his autistic son. I noticed the son so I chatted (keeping my vast body underwater of course) and he said he'd had a hell of a time in Sweden and it had been pretty dreadful, I can't remember where exactly he was from, his son was about 12. Mind you, Norway is one of the best places I believe. I don't think you will get Floortime (capital F) funded here or that it is offered as Floortime but you may get some sort of arrangement that includes the principles iyswim. HTH