wildbriz

Hi, It might be a long shot but I hope someone can help. My son in the UK has been a drainer for over seven years. He is an Australian citizen and wants to move to Perth. From what I understand the rules are very different here in Perth. He is self employed and needs to find out what is required to get a license as a drainer. Is there a specific licence for a drainer and can he work independently or does he have to work under a fully licensed plumber? If under a plumber cn he advertise and contract his services to plumbers? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Richard

Hi, It was six years ago for us with a child in primary school south of Brisbane. We left Australia and returned to the UK because of the severe lack of support for our son at the time. I think things have improved but based on our UK experience with support levels (we are lucky where we are 20 hours 1 on 1 at high school and getting good grades) I don't think it will be as good as the UK. Might I add that we love Australia and that it is the only reason we are back in the UK. Our experience is limited to Queensland but after speaking to Austism Queensland they told us there was even less support for adults. Sorry this is not a more possitive response, we live in hope that things will keep improving so that we can return to the country where he was born. Good luck, I hope things work out well for your family.

Hi Quoll, Thank you for your reply. You have replied to some of my previous posts and have always been very informative. We are all Australian citizens, my son was born and diagnosed in Brisbane. Since returning to the UK my son has become a lot more able and independent thanks to the great support he has received. The only thing is we still greatly miss Australia and my wife's parents are there. We are taking our time investigating schools and options so all information is welcome.

Hi, Hope someone can help, we are looking at moving to the Duncraig area. Can anyone tell me anything about the Duncraig Education Support Centre? I have a high functioning 14 yo ASD child, very well behaved and easy to get on with, just looking at school options for him. Any information would be greatly appreciated, please feel free to PM me if preferred. Thanks Richard

Hi, Thank you for all the excellent advice, I have been in contact with some high schools with very encouraging results. We are looking at either Freemantle or north Brisbane at this point. We are also looking into support levels at TAFE for him incase he doesn't make it through to years 11 and 12. Lived in Queensland for 15 years but always found it easier to earn money in other States / Territories. With all the hype about mining it seems retail is having a hard time. My wife would run a Bridal shop (WA or Qld) on return but I'm not sure that it's such a good idea for now. I think we will either have to move soon or also wait until after A levels ( if he can achieve that level) although I'm not sure the family could handle the UK climate ( weather and economy) for much longer.

Hi, Sorry if some of these questions have been asked before regarding GCSE's etc. We are currently based in the UK with Australian citizenships, left Oz after 15 years for the UK primary schooling for our high functioning autistic son. He is now 14 and starting his GCSE's. From what we can roughly estimate based on his current performance he is likely to achieve grade 3's in Science, English and Maths possibly with a number of other subjects as well. Does anyone know if his GCSE's could be converted / translated in to Australian equivalents? If so, would these be recognised by potential employers? Would having GCSE's as opposed to the equivalent Australian qualification be a significant disadvantage? Alternatively we could return to Australia and let him complete his schooling in Oz. This is not the easiest of decisions to make because of the difference between the UK and Oz in their support systems but we have come across a few high schools that look promising. In some high schools he would get some shared aide time in mainstream classrooms and access to a support unit continuing through year 11 and 12. We have been told that some special needs students leave after year 10 and go on to TAFE but the subjects they seem to study are more vocational in nature. I guess one of the questions we are trying to find an answer as to is whether Grade 3's in GCSE's would be equivalent to the completion of year 12 and, if so, would they equate to low or medium level passes? If any one has any experience with these conversions and can help we would be very grateful. Thanks wildbriz

Hi, This is probably quite a tall ask but hopefully someone can help. Not sure which heading to place this under in the forum but here goes. We have a son who is 14 years old and an Australian citizen, he has two more years at school in the UK. He is high functioning autistic (diagnosed In Qld) and doing quite well at school.He will have UK GCSE grades (probably B's and C's) which I believe could be converted to Australian ones? He is doing so well at school here we don't want to risk moving him to Australia until he finishes his GCSE's although we would consider paying for 1 on 1 help in Australia if there was a good chance of him maintaining his current success? We would love to hear from anyone from any state of Australia that has experience or knows of people with experience with such children leaving school, obtaining work (supported or otherwise). We would also love to hear about their views on support services for for young people / adults with autism in their area. Any information would be greatly appreciated, thank you.