Can you give me any help

[Macdon]

Is there anyone that can give me any help.We have been living overseas for 6 years and during this time my 14 year old was diagnosed with ADD (inattentive type) and takes Ritalin.He has been in a remedial school up until 18 months ago and then started main stream school.He has struggled in main stream schooling even with the Ritalin.

We are now returning to live in the UK next month and there is only one local secondary school in the place we are moving to, The school does seem to do very well with Special educational needs but the school is full.(I enquired to whether there was any places at the school but did not give any further information)

Can any one help me with the process that I should start with as I am starting blind here.

From reading on the internet it seems like I should apply for Statement but as my son does not yet have a school I don't know where to start.

Any help would be much appreciated.Thank you

You need to be contacting the LA (local authority) in which you are planning to live. They are required to find a place for your DS, but this may not be close by if they are full. You could try posting in the secondary ed boards as well as there are some experienced posters there who may be able to help on the admissions side of things.

Are there any special schools local to where you are moving to? The LA will be able to give you this information. I'm not sure you can apply for statutory assessment until you are resident in the area, and I have no experience of moving in from outside the UK.

Apply for a statement as soon as you have a UK address (IPSEA website will guide you). Otherwise everyone will 'wait and see' and he'll have keft school before anything actually gets done. ADD isn't really acknowledged by educationalists here. They barely understand classical ADHD, tbh. Only acknowledge it if you chuck chairs

'Remedial school' is worth getting a report from even though its 18m ago. And onefrom current school too. Any progress data, any professional assessments etc. Am thinking that if you can show he made better progress there than in mainstream, help in the UK might be easier to get.

If you have good medical insurance, I would suggest seeing if the ADD can be reclassified as ADHD (inattentive subtype) and making any other issues official eg dyspraxia, dyslexia, specific language impairment, intellectual disability, autistic spectrum condition.

You'll need a CAMHS (child-and-adolescent-mental-health) referral off the GP to rubber-stamp the Ritalin anyway.

I was a bit harsh. In fairness, some schools do understand ADD / ADHD. Small minority, sadly.

Thanks so much for your help and information

When you register with your GP here in the UK you can ask for a CAMHS referral for your child GP will access records and medical history. Everything should fall into place easy, system is quite good here though not perfect. You can Google NHS CAMHS Referral Forms.