Troubled kid from outside of UK - what to do?

[TatianaTV]

Hello. My name is Tatiana, I'm journalist from Latvia, and my 9-year-old son has speech problems. I really hope that someone on this site could help me with advice, because I'm depaired and have no idea what to do...
My family is going to the UK very soon, to Plymouth. And as a mother I'm first of all worried about my kid. He used to attend Special school here in Latvia and I need to find the similar school for him in England. He is really kind and frendly little person, but a bit retarded. So in his 9 he acts and thinks actually like 7-year-old kid. He's great in mathematics, and even was a Champion in checkers in his previous "normal" school. But it is hard for him to make complex sentences and to understand them. He usually says to that: "Too many words, I don't get you."
He realises that somehow he is different from other kids - he understood that while he was in ordinary school, where "normal" kids were very cruel to him. So he bends all his efforts to learn more every day.
Now the question is, how do I find the right school for my son in Pymouth? And if our Latvian SEN concluson is valid in UK? Shoud I certify it at notary to make it valid? Or should I go to some place in UK to make local SEN conclusion?
I would appreciate any advice. Thank you so much even for readig that.

You mustn't use the word retarded in the UK. I'm American and we use it without extreme prejudice, but in British English it's considered quite a horrid word.

Say "delayed" instead.

Sorry I can't help you with the other issues, but I'm sure others will be along to help. There are MN "local" pages for Plymouth you could look for.

Tatiana, i cannot help you very much, but please repost your message on the "primary Education" board here as it is a lot busier.

In the UK there are a lot of "NORMAL" schools that would cater extremely well for your son's needs.

Also there are now many schools here with a large proportion of non-English speaking children, so he would not be as behind as he would have been in Latvia (my local school is 25% eastern European).

In the UK you do not get too much choice about where to send your child to school, it will usually depend upon where you live and whether or not there is space for him.

If you havent chosen an address yet I would look on the Plymouth Local Authroity website and also Google for all the schools in the area and then find out what they are all like and what people say about them so maybe you could live near a school that would suit your son.

agree with previous posters that a child with this level of SEN would not usually attend special school in the UK, but would be accommodated in mainstream

you might well want to have him assessed again when you get to the UK and you would then need to liaise with the school's SENCO (special needs coordinator) about the kind of extra provision he would need

but before you decide on a school it is a good idea to visit them and talk to them about what help they would be able to offer him

all schools should have an anti-bullying policy which means they are committed to make sure that other children are not cruel to anyone; if it happens, you can demand that the school does something about it

I would say on the whole, children in the UK are far more tolerant of SN than they used to be: because so many children with SN are in mainstream schools, the other children are used to the idea and don't find it strange