Moving back to the UK from overseas with a SN child

[becs1973]

Hi everyone

Am looking for some advice on the state schooling system in the UK and special needs provision. We are considering a move back to the UK next year after +3 years in Asia. At that point my boys will be just turned 5 (in June), coming up to 3 (in August) and just turned 1 year old.

My eldest has a receptive and expressive language delay, sensory processing issues and possibly ASD (STILL waiting on a diagnosis for this). What would be the process for getting him into state schooling the UK with any assistance he might need? I'm trying to get myself as clued up as possible ahead of our return so I can hit the ground running but it's hard to know where to start. Just fyi we don't have a house in the UK, so no address, GP etc etc Thank you in advance for any pointers or advice you might have.

[becs1973]

Hi. It would be London/commutable from London. He currently attends a nursery school (where he can stay til age 6 which is when the locals start school here), he goes Monday to Friday for 3 hours a morning. It's a small set up - only 40 kids total and only about 15-20 attending at any one time, 1 teacher to 8-10 children.

Our only option here would be private, international schools and a) they are selective and he would not pass any entry assessments and b) if he did go we would need to provide a support teacher (he could not deal with a classroom environment without additional support) for him out of our own pocket which is just not feasible on top of school fees of around 10k gbp per annum. He currently sees a speech therapist and an occupational therapist - all paid for out of our own pocket but maybe not too expensive when compared to private in the UK? I don't know what it would cost to go private in the UK (ST is equivalent of 35gbp per hour, OT is 20gbp per hour).

[becs1973]

we also looked into ABA but the only provider was prohibitively expensive - around 2000gbp per month, we simply cannot afford that. Plus we're not even sure he's on the spectrum - his paed says possibly not, we are hoping for another assessment this month, he's been seeing her since 2.5 years old. The ABA providers also assessed and said severe/moderate. This was at age 2years 10 months and many of his symptoms have lessened since then, for example his social skills have increased slightly as his language has increased, but he is still not naturally inclined to play with other children, which is what makes us not sure if ASD or not, but that's another story entirely.

[Shells]

Marking my place. What would people suggest as a plan of action
GP - Paed - assessment - LEA - look at schools?
Or just skip straight to LEA (we do have a diagnosis on paper.DS is 8).

[becs1973]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the advice, sorry am so slow replying. His language is coming on, at 3 he had a vocab of about 25 words and now it's in the hundreds. His ST thinks more of an issue on the expressive rather than receptive, he tends to repeat alot - ST reckons it's because he knows an answer is expected of him when someone talks to him but he doesn't know what to say so just repeats back what you asked him. Also think some kind of auditory processing issue, often he can reply but it takes a minute or so for him to formulate a reponse/perform an action that's requested of him. He also tends to learn chunks of dialogue and appropriate responses in x/y/z situation and then repeat them back verbatim. He has a great memory though, can recite the entire story of The Gruffalo word for word, even if some of it is quite hard to understand, so now he reads me and his brothers bedtime stories :)

Shells - replying on here I know you asked on my other thread. We are in Malaysia, in KL. Not sure when we will make the final decision on when to move back, it's basically our decision as we wouldn't find an appropriate school for him here without paying $$$$$$ per annum which we can't afford.

[Shells]

Hi Becs. We are in NZ. Have been here for 6 years. Your DS sounds a lot like mine at that age. Its very hard when you're not sure whats happening isn't it. And sounds like moving back very good idea, if only for his sake.

My DS has been coping pretty well in mainstream with a TA for half the day. I would want to replicate that but don't think we need to look special school at this stage. I have heard really good things about Meath though.

[colettemum3]

Sorry but the school that you think is good??? Errr no they weren't to us. One year at an annual review, i asked wherever or not my child had a particular dx. The senior member in the class said no and that my child had flavourings or traits.
Roll on a year, another senior member of the team read out the special needs registrar and what did that member of staff read out as one of my child's dx's??? Yep the one that all the staff said my child didn't have!!!

Honestly you could of heard a pin drop as they all went dead quiet and then they all tried to back peddle (apart from the one holding the registrar) saying it was flavourings etc.
That is what i will always remember and it has been a few years.

[Lougle]

Winchester is good. Hampshire in general really, but the fast train to London is only an hour or so.

It has some great MS primaries, and a brilliant Special Primary (my DD goes there) which caters for all SN, including ASD specific classes (for very severe ASD) and ASD 'friendly' classes (for children with ASD but not very severe, or children who do not have ASD but do have SN which makes highly structured teaching and routine important), PMLD classes, and classes for children with moderate-severe SN.

The Head teacher is simply amazing and the school is passionate about pushing the children to their full potential, whatever their needs. They have SALT and OT on site, too.

You would have to get the ball rolling, though, because the Statement process takes 6 months, and referrals will already be being made for next September (SS) and the application cycle starts in January (MS). Having said that, they can and do place incoming children pending assessment if it its obvious that it its warranted.

The special school I am referring to is Shepherds Down School.

[Lougle]

Shells -straight to LA, then GP while you wait for a reply.

[Shells]

Thanks Lougle. But can LA do anything for me before we have an address?

[Lougle]

Very unlikely. Until you have an address, they have no obligation to educate your child.

[Lougle]

Could you find somewhere to rent, even temporarily?

[Shells]

Oh yes. We're onto that.
So what happens if it takes at least 6 months to statement. Do the LA just bung him in any old school and they just have to cope with him in the meantime?

[Lougle]

If you come mid year, they'll offer you a place where they have a space. The school may put support in place while you apply for a statement.

[Shells]

Do you think I'll be jeopardising things if I home school him while I'm waiting? I don't particularly want to do it, but neither do I want him floundering.
(thanks for being so helpful).