SallyKay Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Hi all, I just wondered if anyone has emigrated with a high functioning autistic child who was in normal school with one on one help here in the UK. I have read that there is very little one on one aid available in the schools in Australia and that he may need to go into a special class of which many have low and high functioning mixed in together. I'm finding it all a bit upsetting as I would prefer him in normal school but if the aid isn't there I know he won't cope and neither will they as he is very challenging at times. He has his own special needs assistant at his current school and we are being told he is moderately on the spectrum, firm diagnosis is in November. She is amazing with him, however, he is behind with his learning even with this aid and they still find his behaviours difficult to manage at times but i have been assured he doesn't need to go to a special school here in the UK. I would feel better if I knew the special classes in Australia varied on severity as I'm concerned with him being in a mixed class of low and high functioning autism i'm not sure how he will settle and whether his difficult behaviours may get worse if he is with children with more severe autism as i know they learn a lot through observing others as they struggle so much with social rules. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Hi all,I just wondered if anyone has emigrated with a high functioning autistic child who was in normal school with one on one help here in the UK. I have read that there is very little one on one aid available in the schools in Australia and that he may need to go into a special class of which many have low and high functioning mixed in together. I'm finding it all a bit upsetting as I would prefer him in normal school but if the aid isn't there I know he won't cope and neither will they as he is very challenging at times. He has his own special needs assistant at his current school and we are being told he is moderately on the spectrum, firm diagnosis is in November. She is amazing with him, however, he is behind with his learning even with this aid and they still find his behaviours difficult to manage at times but i have been assured he doesn't need to go to a special school here in the UK. I would feel better if I knew the special classes in Australia varied on severity as I'm concerned with him being in a mixed class of low and high functioning autism i'm not sure how he will settle and whether his difficult behaviours may get worse if he is with children with more severe autism as i know they learn a lot through observing others as they struggle so much with social rules. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. First of all, he cannot be forced to attend a 'special' class or school, indeed that is actually against the disability act. Secondly, it is very common for children with Autism to attend a mainstream school. The difficulty is whether he will qualify for an EA (one on one help from a teacher's assistant). Some students with Autism certainly do have their own EA in a mainstream class and school, but there are strict specifications and guidelines. You would only know once you are actually here whether he would have that one on one help. However, it would be very important to arrange an interview with the school and bring as much information as possible about his current/previous schooling and the extra needs he has. What you would have to consider and weigh up would be whether he would receive more help in a Ed Support Unit, many of which are actually attached to main stream schools anyway. You really need to obtain an official diagnosis first and then build upon that. Do you already have a visa? I only ask because the diagnosis will have an impact. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Bit of a catch 22 here - if he is needy enough to require 1:1 in mainstream then your chances of getting a visa are compromised. If he gets a visa the chances are that he isn't going to meet the eligibility for disability support. Best plan of attack us to contact an agent who deals with disabilities as a speciality - Peter Bollard and George Lombard are usually mentioned in this regard. I think in pretty much every state a child would be expected to be independent in a mainstream setting for at least 50% of the time - and that would be the highest level of need. Just having a label isn't enough. If BTW you were planning on coming on a temp visa you may well find that you would be expected to pay for any additional support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyKay Posted October 7, 2013 Author Share Posted October 7, 2013 Thank you both so much, really informative. Actually my husband is an Aussie so both my kids are Aussie citizens which I'm hoping may make a bit of difference with funding for support if needed but I'm not sure obviously. He doesn't have 1:1 constantly during the day it's just with a few areas he struggles in but he can be challenging at times and he is behind with his learning, however, we have just discovered that the school has received an inadequate Ofsted report so I should think the school haven't been doing enough for him hence the fact he is so behind! We are in a real 'what to do' situation now as we would like him to continue in mainstream as he is here but if the support isn't there we feel very strongly that to have him in a special class with children that are low functioning will be very difficult for him and I'm worried it would be such a huge change on top of us emigrating as he is so used to mainstream. Such a dilemma! I assumed support would be the same as here! Never just assume! Lesson learnt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Nope, support is generally less in Aus in comparison. Being citizens or PR won't make any difference to the level of support. This is a starting place http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/studentsupport/programs/disability.php but bring all diagnostic reports including IQ, diagnostic checklists, adaptive behaviour reports, skill levels, speech/language assessments, copies of IEPs with behavioural interventions etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I think in pretty much every state a child would be expected to be independent in a mainstream setting for at least 50% of the time - and that would be the highest level of need. Not correct. A student does not need to be 50% independent to be in a mainstream school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 It is difficult to respond because school education is a state responsibility in Australia so, in theory, each state can have different policies and practices. Do you know where you will be living? FWIW, my 7 year old grandson is high functioning autism and has been in a mainstream public school since age 4, when he started kindergarten. He had extra one on one (part time) special needs assistance through the 3 years of kinder, prep and Grade 1 but is now coping very well without it in Grade 2. All his (mainstream) teachers have had special training in the subject and have been excellent with him. His general learning hasn't suffered at all - in fact it's very advanced in some areas, up to 3 years ahead of his peers. For you, so much will depend on the individual school and staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 OUr youngest was born here and has high functioning autism. He was diagnosed as having ADHD before he started school but had not then been diagnosed with autism. The only problem we had when he first started was with one teacher who didn't like him and he didn't like her. She wanted him out of the class but my wife had a meeting with the School principal who got the school Psych in. They were really helpful and the teacher, Principal my wife and son were all invited along to a meeting where his needs and problems discussed and the teacher was basically told to get on with it and cope. He had help, not full time but was assessed regularly, from early on. There was another child in the same class with worse autism than my son and they used to share the aid between them. After the first year all the teachers were very supportive and helpful. We got him enrolled in a private school for his secondary education as they had a "special stream" for kids with difficulties. Not a separate class, he was in a class where kids of all abilities were mixed but then split into streams for subjects depending on ability. He loved school after that first year. Never had a problem getting him there and he was very proud of his uniform and school. Used to say to people "private school you know". More to do with his autism than bragging though, just proud. His brother went to the local state school which I have nothing against, his brother did fine there, just didn't have a dedicated program. All up we've been pretty happy with the help he's had. They never treated him any different and I think he maybe got a couple of awards that he wouldn't have got if he'd been "normal". Went on school camp in Margaret River with him as a parent helper and had a great week. The staff were great, kids were good. The kids with "problems" seemed to hang around together but I never saw any bullying or picking on them from the other kids. A lot of the kids that hung around with my son were actually very clever. Was a bit of an eye opener really. The group my son obviously felt most comfortable with and they with him ranged from very clever types who were usually top of the class to kids with learning difficulties. A lot of the very clever kids obviously had problems with socialising and they felt at home with kids like my son and others, who were really social to everyone. Was great to see how they all got on but a very strange mix. They didn't keep them together but made sure the kids were made to mix with people they probably wouldn't hang around with at school. They had something organised for them every day, abseiling, long bush walks carrying their packs, pot holing, rock climbing, setting up camp in a different place every day, fishing, kayaking. I think it did all the kids good, gave them lots of confidence and he made friends with some people who he might not have mixed with. Well worth getting him to see your doctor when you get here and he will probably refer him to someone who can diagnose what he has and to what level. We had a lot of follow up from the Child Health clinic in Perth too. He had to go there for an interview and chat about 3 times a year. I think a lot of that was to check on his mental health and how he felt himself. They used to interview him with me out of the room so if he had something to say about me or his Mum he wouldn't feel self conscious. We also got referred to a geneticist who did a lot of tests and examinations on him, me and his Mum and brother. We all had to go for blood tests and in the end it was found that our son also has a genetic abnormality that has probably caused all his other problems. Not hereditary as no-one else has it, just one of those things that can't be explained. Judging by some of the photos the doctor showed us that the abnormality can cause we counted ourselves very lucky, could have been a lot worse. He has epilepsy too, which he has medication for and is under control. Good luck, we've been pretty happy with the help and support here but we've nothing to compare it with to the UK. He might have got the same support there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Not correct. A student does not need to be 50% independent to be in a mainstream school. No, of course there are highly dependent kids who get more support but, in general, the Max a high needs kid would expect to get in a mainstream setting is 50% - if they can't cope with that then there would be serious discussions about the suitability of the placement. Most kids with any of the PDDs would be on less than 50% especially if they didn't have physical and self care needs. For all that the law says that mainstream is a right, it really isn't tenable for some kids and sometimes the economies of scale of smaller specialized units offer the kids a better option and parents do appreciate that once they've seen the support that their kids can get. In NSW the Autism Association operates some schools and there is a high demand for places in them with kids across a range of ability - if challenging behaviour is an issue, one of them may be a good stepping stone into establishing skills that are transferable into a mainstream setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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