Moving to UK for the Education of ASD boy 6 yrs

[mom2sid]

Hi All,
This is my first post and a very important one for my family. We are in Rep of Ireland. We have only 1 child, With Diagnosis of ASD,SPD and moderate learning disability. He is 6 yrs, with very poor fine motor skills, has speech but wont communicate functionally. Still on pulls-ups, extreme sensory issues like physical and vocal stimming. etc etc. He is currently out of school which is an ASD unit with 3:1 student-tutor ratio,as his school gave up on him saying he needs 1-1. All places where I can get 1-1 have 3-4 years waiting lists. I have been granted Home tuition since there is no school placement but i cant find a qualified and experienced tutor.

Am out of all options and hence looking to relocate to UK. I and my husband will find decent paying IT Jobs, not an issue. I did bit of research and finalized on Surrey as a place to move.

My questions are how do I go about getting my boy placement in any of the ASD school using ABA. What are waiting lists like? I only have less than year old assessments on DSM V criteria. will they accept in UK. what else do I need that schools will be looking for. Is there something I should do from here now itself before moving to UK inorder to save time?

Please please advice and point me to right direction, i dont have anyone i know in UK. :(

Am only beginning now to start applying for Jobs.

Much appreciate any advice. TIAXX

which area are you looking at?

Your best bet is to contact the local council and ask to speak to their education team, they should be able to help and put you in touch with anyone else you need to talk to!

Why Surrey? There are relatively few Sen schools and high demand for places. Agree speak to LA but chances are it could be a lengthy process to get assessments and EHCP in place before they will look at a placement.

Thank you Adriftonmemorybliss and lizs for your response. Surrey is not really my choice, i dont know any better which place has less waiting lists and good schools for ASD and related service. Am open to suggestions. I came to know about surrey from a Mumsnet forum thread on whats the best place to live in with a child on the spectrum hence chose that.
What do you think is the best place? Since i will be moving from Ireland for me any place which is secure, availability of more ASD and related services, low rentals access to public transport etc would be priorities
.

Ealing has a school called Springhallow. There is a large Irish community in Ealing dating back from 70's or earlier. Good transport links etc.

I have no personal experience of that school, but I know two people whose children with autism/learning difficulties have had a happy experience there.

Google Ealing Local Offer for more information perhaps? ESCAN is another organisation to google. ISAID is the independent body which advises parents in Ealing.

As far as I know you need an EHCP to be in most special schools.

Thank you Knittingwithnettles. I looked up Ealing and surrounding areas, seems like a nice place, will surely consider.

Reading's Thames Valley school caters for autistic children www.autism.org.uk/services/nas-schools/thames-valley.aspx. I don't have any personal experience of the school but I do know that Reading has an extensive IT industry locally and very good transport links to London, half an hour on train, so might be good work wise. It's also near Heathrow with regular Aer Lingus flights to Dublin, Cork and Shannon so handy for trips home or if you will have relatives visiting. Best of luck OP.

If you like ABA, south west London isn't a bad choice as you have Rainbow school which people rave about. There's another ABA school in north west London - Treetops.

London might be good, as there are so many options. What will be most important is getting an EHC plan with the school you want named in it. This means contacting the local authority of where you are moving as soon as possible, and getting the ball rolling. It might take some time, so you may find that you don't immediately get the school you want.

The thing that is different in the UK to Ireland, is we have the SEN Code of Practice that outlines how kids with SEN are to be offered support. The system is far from perfect, but you can fight decisions in tribunals to ensure your child gets what they need (of course you need evidence stating this is the support they require). However, I get the impression in Ireland, you have few paths to recourse if you do not agree with what is offered, or, for example, are stuck as there are wait lists.

You would certainly be better off moving to somewhere that has a school that does ABA, like Rainbow or Treetops. A lot of councils are quite resistant to ABA so it can be a major struggle.