Hi, schools in australia for autistic spectrum

[wildbriz]

Hi, This is a problem close to our heart.
We lived in Brisbane and have 3 Australian born kids, one of whom is autistic but also high functioning.
We found the level of support for him in mainstreaming (normal classroom situation) was hopeless, only 20 minutes one on one a day. After contacting Qld education and other sate education authorities we found that 20 minutes a day appears to be about the maximum one on one help in most schools and states.
Our experience was not good, in fact we left Australia because of this and returned to the UK where the help has been fantastic....... But having said this we had a particularly bad school in Brisbane when it came to attitudes towards mainstreaming kids. The headmaster was very unco-operative and even refused a free advisory visit (paid for by us) from Autism Queensland, the only school to ever refuse one.

I think one would be extremely lucky to receive a similar level of support available in the UK but most people who we have contacted in Oz have said that, in part because the budget is limited, it is more a case of finding a good school with teachers (especially the head) who express a genuine interest in helping your children.

Many schools in Queensland have Special Educational Units where all the kids with greater learning difficulties go. The ability levels vary tremendously and kids are normally taught in groups so it is difficult to know at what level a child would be taught. The problem is when you have a higher functioning child who could greatly benefit from being in a mainstream classroom the support is not really there.
I have to say the SEUs in many schools are good, some very good, so it might not be a problem for some special needs kids.

Another problem may be in getting someone with personal experience of good schools to tell you about them. If their child is doing well and receiving greater support than other special needs kids in other schools they might not want to advertise the fact that their school is one of the better ones.

We would love to return to Australia as it is a great country, and it does cost the state a lot of money to provide support for them. We'll keep looking for good schools and hope that that things change in Australia for SN kids in mainstreamed classroom education.
I hope you find a wonderful school for your children.