Checklist for a parents to move to UK who has child in autism spectrum

[AriaGhosh]

Hi Parents,

We are planning to move to London. My son is 6 years old and is in autism spectrum. Wanted to know what are the things/process to follow as a parents while enrolling him to School? Basically wanted to know about the steps regarding enrolling, early interventions process and consultation and counselling.

your inputs will really be valuable to us. Thanks in advance,

You will have to wait until you are here if you are applying for state schools.

Thanks a lot for responding my query. But it would be great if you can explain the process a little bit. I will be carrying all his assessment with me while travelling, but what/how the process goes once i reach there.

I think you contact the education authority in London borough where you'll be, to ask about in-year places & procedures. You can ring them before you arrive to talk thru procedure, if you know what borough.

ok, thanks a lot.

Is there any parents out there who has kid diagnosed with ASD. what are the challenges you guys faced while enrolling /starting the school process. was it a smooth transition, is it a one -on-one teaching or a group teaching and help is given whenever it is needed?

Hi,

I have a 6 year old with asd. Services are generally awful and you have to fight for everything. Sorry but that’s the general experience of most special needs parents.

Visit all the schools you might be interested in applying for. Ask them about their special needs approach, speak to the senco (special needs specialist teacher in charge of special needs help).

It will be a struggle to get any 1 to 1 support without an ehcp. If you google ehcp you’ll find lots of information. Basically it’s a statement of needs done by the council either the school or yourselves can apply for it on behalf of your child. You don’t need the school to do it. If you know which local authority you will be living under I would contact them now to find out how to go about applying for one.

The ehcp sets out how much support your child needs / if they need a specialist placement etc.

Not all children with asd in mainstream need an ehcp, some can manage with some support from the school. An ehcp gives extra support.

Personally I did not feel my son would cope in mainstream as typically it’s 32 ish children to a class and 1 teacher with 1 teaching assistant so I applied for an ehcp for him and fought very hard to get him into an autism specific specialist school - it is 25 miles away though and he travels there everyday with a taxi driver and a specialist escort. He’s very happy there and it was definitely the right place for him.

www.ipsea.org.uk/Pages/Category/get-support

www.autism.org.uk/about/in-education.aspx

Once you have chosen a school, speak to the SENCo about applying for an EHCP. This will give your son extra support in school. One to one support is unlikely but small group work and/or interventions is very possible.

Please don’t think that all our schools are “awful!” We have some brilliant and dedicated teachers and support staff in the UK.

Thanks a lot Fairylea. I know its the same in here too, we are from India. Every decision is taken by parents only...whether its to choose a therapist or the school. Whether it is working in favor of our child or not the decision is upon us.

Right now we are collecting data as many as we can... as it will be a big move for my son emotionally and geographically.

But if anything is finalized i will definitely be in touch with you.

1 more thing...in India there is lot of boards/teaching method like CBSE, ICSE, or Montessori...from where we choose what best is working for a child. How is it in there>

No no not at all. We think very high of the place that's why we are even giving relocation a thought .

But if i don't ask, i may not have any answers. and if everything goes fine then its nothing like that, u cannot ask for more...but you should at least prepared yourself for a worst case scenario .

Are you planning to use (fee-paying) independent schools or (free) state schools?
What is his academic ability? Is his autism what we call "high-functioning" i.e. the impairment is to social and communication skills not to congnitive ability? It is likely a "mainstream" school will be what you're looking for in that case. Or is his autism affecting his cognitive ability, and you'll be looking for a "special" school. (These are the terms we use in England for different schools).
There are some fantastic special schools around, many of which specialise in provision for children with autism... but in order to advise posters need to know which authority you'll be resident in.
There are some really helpful SN (special needs) boards on MN which will also help with recommendations about finding the right school to meet his needs, and the process of getting a place.

Ok, thanks a lot. i will come back once we have all the information about our move and all the information regarding where we will be residing.

Thanks a lot for the info.