best area for special needs children

[45nanny]

Hi hope you are all surviving the hols, a question for you all . Now both my teenager daughters have left high school , we can finally look at moving . I have a son with Down's syndrome who is 12.We presently live in bedfordshire ,but would really like to move away from where we are.We havnt a clue where we would like to move to , although ideally i would like to be near the coast,but its isnt something that has to be. My son is in a special need sschool so we have to look for a good one in the area we move to , also would be looking at facilities for the young adults with SN as this hopefully will be our last move . Thanks for all info you can provide

Plymouth (different LA than Devon) is good (imo) with special schools & direct payments. Hopeless with council services and non direct payments respite & SN playschemes- although there is one that young people with DS seem to access reasonably successfully (my ds1 has severe autism and it doesn't really suit him). There are plans to combine 2 SLD/PMLD schools and open an outreach secondary unit on a mainstream site in 3 years though so that might change things (the 2 SLD schools are very different).

Fiveways is an excellent school in Yeovil, Somerset which has great facilities for 16-19 year olds. I saw a large number of very happy, involved young people with DS when I visited. We've only just moved to Somerset ourselves so not sure yet about services, but we saw a paed within 3 months of arriving (DS2 has ASD) who was very good. On waiting list for OT, nothing from SLT as yet, but he starts school in Sept. One of the TA's at DS2's school has a 17 yr old with DS and she's very pleased with the education and extra curricular stuff he's received.

Suffolk is good, (suffolk coastal) but I am still in pre school stage with DS2 (Starts school in Sept).
The sn schools we ahve had links with so far have been great, as has things like physio & OT who are all based at the sn schools, SALT is the only thing we have struggled with.
I have a friend with an 11 yr old with downs syndrome who goes to an sn school & he loves it & seems to be thriving (after struggling in ms)
he also has fortnightly respite
The house prices aren't bad either.

Liverpool is pretty dire for SALT, don't know about for other services appropriate to a young adult.

There is a book which looks at special education provision and special schools around the country. Will see if I can dig out the details or try looking on amazon under Special Schools. It is a version of the Good Schools Guide I think. That might help with education.

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We are near Portsmouth and our SN provision is pretty good. Don't know about social services as haven't had any dealings with them.

Schools seem good (am just starting to make enquiries as DD2 is due to start school next year) and there seems to be a lot of support, especially in terms of holiday schemes, groups, support etc.

Thanks all of you for replying , have started to make some inquries into some of the area you all mention . House prices will be how we decide where we live. I can't believe how much it cost to buy a house in some of areas we like.
I have looked at suffolk before mymatemax and some areas intrested us, but we have to do homework ,ie work, transport etc. Its so difficult to decide what to do, we have out grown our home here and would really like to move away, the older two are at college and hopefully going to uni , but my boy will always be with us ,so this next move is so important, finding somewhere that is right for all of us .

NANNY, let me know if you are interested in any specific areas & I may be able to help.
I'm in Suffolk coastal, near Aldeburgh its lovely but it does mean the nearest sn schools are either Ipswich or Lowestoft, but they are good schools. Woodbridge is lovely (town centre can be pricey)but the surrounding villages less so & access to Ipswich much easier.
LOADS & positive aspects founder lives in Ipswich so I think the Downs syndrome support in the Ipswich & Suffolk area is good & well established.