Transfering schools between year 3 and year 4 with aspergers son?

[Lizzy27]

Hi my son is in year 3 and we are moving house to a different area and obviously to a new school although we don't know if we have a place yet. I know transitions are hard for ASDs but any advice on a smoother change? Trouble is we havnt found a house in the area yet and so can't apply for school yet so don't even know if we will get in !!!??? Anybody help Please ??!!

We moved schools, but not house at the same time , with our ASD son in year 3. In our case he's a bright cookie so we factually involved him in the process (but we made the decision just led him too it in parallel with us). We are moving schools because...In your case its fairly logical different area, too far/ impractical to commute. The new school options are ..... I have chosen this as my option 1 because... This is my second choice because... We let our son write a list of questions that he felt were important in choosing a new school.

I did the initial school visits without him and got the answers to his questions. Once we were firm in our choice and had confirmed a place was available we took him on a visit. He met his teacher and the head teacher, found the practical things like location of toilets, pegs for coats, asked about break times and noise in the canteen (special arrangements were made for him to eat in his classroom).

My son is on school action plus currently going through assessment for statement. We copied all the reports we had on him and made an information pack for the school that we got to them in advance of him starting (It can take a month or more for in-school paperwork to transfer between schools). Things like his old IEP and the fact he'd had 1-1 supervision were then available to the school before he started and they were able to take immediate action to get the same.

If you're UK based most counties have a family information service and within that a SEN guidance person. They can be really helpful with guidance on school choices and the new LEA's policies. They can also help with information on what is available for your child in the new area.

Good luck with it all.