what is the Australian school system like for kids with special needs?

[JustCutAndPaste]

hi there, dh and I seriously considering moving to Australia (Melbourne) with our three kids, but ds2 (6 in June) has special needs and we have found the first two years of his schooling quite difficult here in the UK.

He has epilepsy, and while his seizures are controlled by his AEDs (and have been for two years) he does have some quite difficult behaviour. Some of this is definitely a side-effect of the AEDs. However, given that he started them when he was 3 1/2 it's hard to separate out what is the drugs and what is just innate. This may be by-the-by anyway. He has huge problems with listening and concentrating, and although I, the school and the OT have tried very hard to help him in various ways, he finds it really difficult to sit still, follow instructions, write anything and of course this affects his behaviour at school. He can also have patches of being impulsive and aggressive with adults or kids, but this isn't a regular thing at the moment.

His school are just about to start the process of applying for a 'statement', which, if granted, would mean he gets extra help at school, above and beyond that which the school is offering.

Does anyone have experience of having a child like this in the state school system in Australia? How much help would they get? What would be the equivalent of 'statementing'? And would it help if we had been through the process here and ended up with a statement, or would we have to go through all the assessments again once we moved?

thanks, sorry for all the questions. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions about the medical system too, but these ones are foremost in my mind at the moment.

[savoycabbage]

Hi, I am not an expert in this at all but was talking about the while teaching aide thing today with my friends. I live in Melbourne. My dd1 is 6 and is in grade one which is the second year of primary school.

My friend here has a son with autism who is in my dd's class. She is a teacher and she knew her ds was autistic from about age 3 and so she was able to go through all of the channels to get him diagnosed and then apply for funding for an aide.

The system seems to be that the parent, rather than the school applies and then is given a number of hours for funding. Then you go to your school and then the school gets the funding. So my friend has funding for 16 hours I think it is. As far as I am aware though, the school don't have to spend the money on an aide.

The reason we were all talking about it today was that my other friend's sister's son has just started school and she didn't get a diagnosis on her child before he started. He has aspergers. She has now applied for funding but because she didn't do it before he was six years old, she can only get six hours a week. Which I found quite shocking I have to say.

I can find out from my friend how she went about it all if you like, but someone else might know much more than me. I have only been here a year. It's 11pm here so bump this before you go to bed!

[savoycabbage]

might help

[sunnydelight]

We're in Sydney so things may be different, but the consensus amongst people I know is that the provision for children with special needs is really poor in public (state) schools. There is a real "once size fits all" mentality and a lot of primary schools have no learning support staff as such (neither are there TAs in the classrooms, just the class teacher, which is very important if your child has issues with concentrating, following instruction etc.).

I won't bore you with my story, but both my boys are dyslexic and we had a really bad experience with the local high school which resulted in us taking DS1 out after 7 weeks. The level of ignorance displayed by staff about SEN was quite spectacular. Luckily we were advised to not even bother going there with DS2 (primary) as without funding in place BEFORE he arrived at the school (as savoycabbage has said) there would be NO help at all.

All three of mine are now at a private school and are really thriving. However, a lot of private schools just won't take kids with any level of behavioural problems, no matter what the cause so you might end up stuck between a rock and a hard place. I really don't want to discourage you, but I think you need to try and get hold of someone who can give you some proper, evidence based advice about your options in the state you want to live in.

[JustCutAndPaste]

wow certainly food for thought. How shocking that you get less funding if you discover the problem later. In particular, I've heard of many dyslexic children who have only had it noticed in secondary school.

Well, Dp and I had been considering the home-ed route in any case so it seems that a move to Australia may force this upon us. (I have already put a question in the HE forum!)

I haven't had time to look at the DEECD link properly yet, but thanks very much for your answers and it certainly looks like I should look into this very carefully!

[echt]

Sunnydelight is spot on. I haven't posted earlier, as I don't wish to appear critical of the school I teach in, but there's nowhere near the support you'd get in a UK state school though this is down to the funding systems in Victoria, which are bizarre. I cannot fault attitudes or commitment of staff in my school, there's just no money to address it, in terms of specialist training or facilities. And I mean no money.

The private system is not good with behaviour, or underachievement for that matter, and there tends to be bit of clear out when the exam years approach (end of Year 10), as government schools discover, when they are suddenly very popular.

I have noticed an increase in ads for integration aides in the private sector - these are staff who provide in-class support for students who get the funding - so this might mean there's a shift happening in this respect.

[Shells]

Hi justcutandpaste. Not sure if you're committed to Australia - but just to let you know that its not too bad in NZ. My son has SN and has fantastic support in the state system.

It can depend where you are, but we get better support here than we did when we lived in London.

[JustCutAndPaste]

hello again

Australia seems to be where dh has more contacts/is more likely to get a job and therefore sponsorship for a visa. Not that we've definitely excluded NZ, though. Interesting that the support is better for you, Shells, than in London and Victoria.

Regarding the visa, it's not clear-cut but I think it might just come down to whether we have insurance or not. His epilepsy is controlled by the AEDs, after all, and he doesn't have a diagnosis for all the other stuff. And we don't have TB, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis!

Anyway, it's all going to be a long time in the planning, just exploring the possibilities at the moment.

happy Easter

[sunnydelight]

If you're thinking of coming on a 457 (temporary business visa) then having an undertaking from a company that they would cover all health costs (as they are supposed to on a 457 anyway) might get you through if there is an issue with epilepsy. If you're hoping for PR (permanent residency) however you all need full medicals and insurance doesn't come into it as once you have PR you are entitled to the same level of medicare as anyone else.

Have a look on the British Expats forum as there are plenty of people on there who can advise better with regards visas and health issues. It might also be worthwhile having a chat with a migration agent to clarify what the issues may be.

With regards Home Ed (called home schooling here), I home schooled DS2 for six months when we first arrived initially to try and give him a literacy "boost" before re-entering school, then as necessity while waiting for a place to come free in his year in the school his siblings were attending. There is certainly a big, well organised home school community in Sydney so I would think there is bound to be one in Melbourne. Home schooling is really fun here tbh (should I say that?) as the weather means you can be out and about so much more than in the UK and it's exciting exploring a new place and learning different history with an interested child in tow. I was quite sad in some ways when DS2 went to school, though I knew it was the best choice for him. Good luck whatever you decide to do

[madwomanintheattic]

another vote for british expats wrt pr visas and sn.

it can be really tricky - be aware that for some countries the 'medical' approval stage includes all aspects of required support, so the costs incurred for additional support in school (if not heing - you may not be given the option of using this as mitigating evidence) may be taken into account prior to approval. i'm not up on oz, but have a lot of experience of sn and immigration lol. it definitely pays to do lots of research before you apply.

good luck - hope it goes well for you x