education for Aspergers child, adhd??,, luckily have pr visa, Adelaide area pref

[b123]

Hi

Do you think anyone can help pls... Returned to uk nearly 3 yrs ago... Son was 3...

Since then,,, my son is now near a diagnosis for Aspergers believe and Adhd,,, maybe 1/2 other things:(,,,

Pls can someone tell me if they have been in similar situation?,,, Has education and services worked out ok on the whole pls,,,,

Any input at all massively appreciated,,

 

Best wishes,

hope u r having fun:)! xx

[Quoll]

It rather depends on the state you will be going to. In most states the label isn't enough, there has to be a demonstrable need along with the label. Services are generally considered not to be as good as in UK (from those who have tried both) and a child with a label could well find themselves floundering in mainstream with little, if any, support if they have a relatively low level need. Bottom line - it depends on the state and the school.

[b123]

,,, Thank you very much Quoll,, for your mssge... Does anyone have Any experience/know friends that have,,, and is anyone aware of a g good state pls.. Loved Adelaide,, so naturally if possible,, wanted to head that way,,,,, as few friends there still,, but interested in finding out lot more,,, many thanks,,,

[LKC]

We are in Sydney, and our eldest daughter has Asperger's. We paid privately for some sessions with a psychologist for her because she also had ocd, but we haven't had any help at all with her Asperger's. Her school are aware, and there are a couple of things that they put in place to help her (like being able to go to the library at lunchtime if she is feeling overwhelmed), but to be honest it is very mild in her anyway so she doesn't need much help as such. In our case it has been more about how we have worked with her at home with routines, learning social skills, stress management and so on.

[ArrowsEng]

Our son was diagnosed with Aspergers, and our daughter was on the cusp of being diagnosed but was generally too smart to fulfill all the boxes required. As such we were able to access funds for an Occupational Therapist and Teachers aid for our son but not for our daughter. Both our kids go to Vermont Primary school in Melbourne and the Prep teacher was brilliant, understood all the ideas and how to help when our children were feeling a bit overwhelmed by having a break spot in the room with a bean bag that they could go to to chill out and also by letting my son bring a small bear to school that he could use as a fiddle toy to keep him busy when he felt restless. Grades 1 and 2 were a little less successful as the teachers didn't quite understand as well as the Prep teacher did, for both my son and daughter but in Grade 3 my son made a good friend and the teacher was much better at keeping the whole class relaxed and not noisy so that helped in leaps and bounds with social and learning situations. My sons in Grade 4 now and really doing great with friends and class work and playing cricket in summer has helped a lot too as its more controlled and structured than any type of football. My daughters in grade 2 and struggles with friendships at time but we believe that things will get better in grade 3 as the kids mature a little and friendships develop as many of the teachers and teachers aides that have seen many kids with Aspergers come through say this is a typical scenario.

Unfortunately I would have to say that it is very much conditional on the teachers and the effort you put in to work educating the teachers as to your childrens need as to what you will get out from the school. I have had not so good reports from some other parents with children with special needs that went to a catholic and another local state school where there was very little help for the student and so ended up moving schools.

[Johndoe]

I'm in Brisbane so this may not be relevant to you but it will give you an idea of what was available to us. My son was dx'd ASD and received great help in his primary school with a curriculum tailored to his needs/potential.

 

He went here: http://www.mmcp.qld.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx as a senior and was very lucky that on reaching school leaving age, the school employed him as a school officer to help with the other kids with disabilities as he had been mentoring them whilst he was a student (at that time 25% of the school population had learning difficulties which has since increased). The fees at that time around 4 yrs ago were just under $1000 a term.

 

I cannot speak highly enough of this school, as individual learning programmes were developed for each child, with the main focus being not on academics, but employabilty, taking into consideration each child's individual potential. On reaching year 10 each child is assigned one day a week to a place for work experience, which is undertaken as part of the curriculum in school time

 

Reading the info at the url I have provided will give you a better idea. "Message from the Principal" of a few paragraphs, precis what the school offers if you don't wish to trawl through the whole site

 

Good luck

Edited June 20, 2015 by Johndoe

[Fairview70]

Our son was diagnosed with Aspergers, and our daughter was on the cusp of being diagnosed but was generally too smart to fulfill all the boxes required. As such we were able to access funds for an Occupational Therapist and Teachers aid for our son but not for our daughter. Both our kids go to Vermont Primary school in Melbourne and the Prep teacher was brilliant, understood all the ideas and how to help when our children were feeling a bit overwhelmed by having a break spot in the room with a bean bag that they could go to to chill out and also by letting my son bring a small bear to school that he could use as a fiddle toy to keep him busy when he felt restless. Grades 1 and 2 were a little less successful as the teachers didn't quite understand as well as the Prep teacher did, for both my son and daughter but in Grade 3 my son made a good friend and the teacher was much better at keeping the whole class relaxed and not noisy so that helped in leaps and bounds with social and learning situations. My sons in Grade 4 now and really doing great with friends and class work and playing cricket in summer has helped a lot too as its more controlled and structured than any type of football. My daughters in grade 2 and struggles with friendships at time but we believe that things will get better in grade 3 as the kids mature a little and friendships develop as many of the teachers and teachers aides that have seen many kids with Aspergers come through say this is a typical scenario.

Unfortunately I would have to say that it is very much conditional on the teachers and the effort you put in to work educating the teachers as to your childrens need as to what you will get out from the school. I have had not so good reports from some other parents with children with special needs that went to a catholic and another local state school where there was very little help for the student and so ended up moving schools.

 

Hi

can't help but comment on your post, You should get another opinion on your daughter. Who told you she didn't have Aspergers because she was too clever? that's the whole point of an Aspergers syndrome diagnosis as opposed to classic/Kanner autism. The children should fulfil the Triad of impairments needed for an autism diagnosis but unlike classic autism where there is often accompanying learning difficulties, children have average or above intelligence. Einstein is an example! I must say I'm only a parent of a child with classic Autism but wanting to learning as much as I could have taken a diploma in it and read practically every book going. A high intelligence level doesn't mean your daughter does or doesn't have Aspergers just the reason for a negative diagnosis isn't her been to intelligence. I would certainly get the point clarified.

[Johndoe]

Hi

can't help but comment on your post, You should get another opinion on your daughter. Who told you she didn't have Aspergers because she was too clever? that's the whole point of an Aspergers syndrome diagnosis as opposed to classic/Kanner autism. The children should fulfil the Triad of impairments needed for an autism diagnosis but unlike classic autism where there is often accompanying learning difficulties, children have average or above intelligence. Einstein is an example! I must say I'm only a parent of a child with classic Autism but wanting to learning as much as I could have taken a diploma in it and read practically every book going. A high intelligence level doesn't mean your daughter does or doesn't have Aspergers just the reason for a negative diagnosis isn't her been to intelligence. I would certainly get the point clarified.

 

I don't think that the poster thinks that their daughter is too "clever" (smart was the word used) to be on the spectrum but that their daughter didn't meet all the criteria for a diagnosis. It's an anomoly here, that fulfilling the criteria should get you asistance but fall one short of the criteria and you don't get any assistance (officialy), despite having 99% of a dx (so to speak)

Edited June 20, 2015 by Johndoe

[NicF]

Hi

Do you think anyone can help pls... Returned to uk nearly 3 yrs ago... Son was 3...

Since then,,, my son is now near a diagnosis for Aspergers believe and Adhd,,, maybe 1/2 other things:(,,,

Pls can someone tell me if they have been in similar situation?,,, Has education and services worked out ok on the whole pls,,,,

Any input at all massively appreciated,,

 

Best wishes,

hope u r having fun:)! xx

 

If you are thinking of moving to Adelaide you might want to try posting on the Poms in Adelaide site. There are far more people in Adelaide over there, some of whom may have first hand experience of services in SA for children with Aspergers.