tinkerbell13 Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Our 3 year old son maybe autistic and we r waiting for an appt from hospital. The thing is we have our pr visas but not sure how supportive schools r. We r thinking Sydney would be a good place. I am a school teacher so I know the process of getting a statement etc but don't have a clue about schools in oz. we are wanting to activate visas next summer to find out more but just want to know if someone has had experience of special needs education what the process is and whether we r wasting our time in pursuing our oz dream. We don't want to jeopardise our sons education if it's going to be better here. Although so far Nhs has not been great as we r paying £50 a week for speech therapy. Any advice would be great. Many thanks tinkerbell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I don't have any personal experience, but I have read that the support in Australia is not as good as in UK. There is apparently a bit of a catch 22 that if the child is able to pass a medical to get a PR visa, then they could not be considered to be in sufficient need to require much specialist assistance. I have an autistic nephew, he couldn't / wouldn't talk when he was 3, he will be 6 in January and chatters away happily now. I think some autistic children just learn to speak much later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1spark Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 if your taking your child into a state school then you can apply to the dept of education for funding (Aid in classroom) if your successful then that's reviewed on a yearly basic, if don't get funding then he or she would be in main stream education. Arthur in Melbourne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Education in Australia is mainly administered by the various state governments so there is not one standard practice throughout the country. My 6 year old "foster grandson" (his mother came to live with me when she was 10) was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when he was about 3 and has had a part time teacher aide in his kindergarten year (part time) and prep (first full time year) in a state school. He has also had free speech and occupational therapy assistance. His social and gross motor skills are below average for his age group but in other areas such as reading and fine motor skills he is 3 years ahead of his age group. However that is in Tasmania and I don't know whether the NSW Education Department provides the same assistance. The other complication is that there is general belt tightening in many areas and assistance which may have been offered in the past may be discontinued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildbriz Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Our 3 year old son maybe autistic and we r waiting for an appt from hospital. The thing is we have our pr visas but not sure how supportive schools r. We r thinking Sydney would be a good place. I am a school teacher so I know the process of getting a statement etc but don't have a clue about schools in oz. we are wanting to activate visas next summer to find out more but just want to know if someone has had experience of special needs education what the process is and whether we r wasting our time in pursuing our oz dream. We don't want to jeopardise our sons education if it's going to be better here. Although so far Nhs has not been great as we r paying £50 a week for speech therapy. Any advice would be great. Many thanks tinkerbell 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 NSW generally not that generous with support for autism (or any other disability really). Just having the label isnt enough, the disability has to be causing a significant impairment to the child in managing the educational environment. There are a few Autism Association schools but places are hard fought for. The states are all different in the support that they give but in general the disability funding pot is finite and the number of people wanting to access it is increasing so support for individuals is hard to get and is not guaranteed. Some states have therapies integrated into the educational setting but others have a family based model. To get the same level of actual therapist intervention in Australia you are likely to be paying $80 - $100 ph and that wouldnt be refundable from private health because it is a pre-existing condition and there would be a waiting period at the very least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest smileykylie Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Therapy is very expensive in NSW however you may be eligible for the helping children with autism package which is $12000 over two years to help pay for therapy (need to be applied for before age 6 and spent before 7). Look here for further information http://www.facs.gov.au/sa/disability/progserv/people/HelpingChildrenWithAutism/Pages/default.aspx you need to be a permanent resident to be eligible. The other thing in NSW is the department of education have early intervention classes for children with disabilities in the year prior to school which can be an excellent way for the department to get to know your son and ensure he gets the right support. It is a very complicated and disjointed system here (i worked for 7 yrs in the UK) and it is also very different. Depending on his level of need there are also support classes within public schools that support children with Autism, like most places in the world it depends on where you live. I work in supporting families who have just had a diagnosis of a disability (mostly Autism) here in sydney so if you want to PM me feel free and I can give you some more info. It is good you got PR before the diagnosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2tigers Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 My friend in Melbourne has an autistic son, he was diagnosed at 3. Fortunately for them they had the finances to explore every avenue of support. She was able to claim back a very small amount towards the costs, but majority they paid for privately. I remember he had 1-1 speech therapy, Indian head massage, mud baths and other various interventions. His diet was changed and he also attended a playgroup/pre-school once/twice a week for children with autism. He is now coming up to 6 in April and attends mainstream school without any difficulties. He is at the far end of the spectrum, being highly intelligent and I know this makes a difference with regards if 1-1 support is still required. When he was young he had the common autistic difficulties of speech, emotion, communication, routines etc. With the above interventions taking place whilst he was very young, my friend, her family and the specialists believe that they have assisted his development. She will never know for sure though, he could have progressed the same without these interventions. But like I said, their disposable income was never in question. So, long story - I know in Melbourne there is lots of avenues to explore if you have the money. But you would not be able to claim back the whole amounts. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrianbooth Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Hi, we emigrated from OZ 3 years ago and now live south of sydney in Helensburgh. We lived in Melbourne for 6 months a couple of years ago but our autism experiences started about a year and a half ago when our son (now 4.5) was diagnosed. Because we live in Helensburgh which just comes outside of sydney boundaries we got great support from northcot who are based down south. There is also a school run ny ASPECT in corrimal. I am told that if in sydney getting into ASPECT school is like winning the lottery however we applied to Corrimal last november and got in this Feb so a bit of comparison. Postcode lotteries and numbers come to mind like some things in UK. Im not sure what support there is in Melbourne but I'm a member of a Facebook forum which has members in that are so they would be able to help. RCN is the name of the forum so I could refer. We find costs here extremely expensive to the point that I'm looking at jobs back in the UK. Reality is that our house here is twice the cost of where we were in UK so mortgage is silly. Of course I get paid double but it only costs up i think if you are younger. For me we moved later in life and so have little time to make up so may consider going back. Things like medicals are 4* that of uk and private health only seems to cover inpatient services. Its been an eye opener this 3 years what you normally expect in UK and what the equivalent is here. Thats not to say I don't like it here but expect to pay much more. Melbourne is cheaper in the outer suburbs than sydney of course. SPeech therapy here costs around $120/hr as does OT and although we get FACHCI (the 12k until they are 7) you cannot use it to pay towards school fees at ASPECT for some reason. We were offered a transition year for our son at DET which was great but only 2 half days per week and for chris because he was born in August would go to normal school next Jan. In uk he would have started last September at 4years 1month. That would have been way way to early for him so in his case , at the moment, he is better here i think I am trying to find out if there are schools like the ASPECT ones here in NSW but havnt found any yet. Does anyone know if they exist? Regards Adrian My friend in Melbourne has an autistic son, he was diagnosed at 3. Fortunately for them they had the finances to explore every avenue of support. She was able to claim back a very small amount towards the costs, but majority they paid for privately. I remember he had 1-1 speech therapy, Indian head massage, mud baths and other various interventions. His diet was changed and he also attended a playgroup/pre-school once/twice a week for children with autism. He is now coming up to 6 in April and attends mainstream school without any difficulties. He is at the far end of the spectrum, being highly intelligent and I know this makes a difference with regards if 1-1 support is still required. When he was young he had the common autistic difficulties of speech, emotion, communication, routines etc. With the above interventions taking place whilst he was very young, my friend, her family and the specialists believe that they have assisted his development. She will never know for sure though, he could have progressed the same without these interventions. But like I said, their disposable income was never in question. So, long story - I know in Melbourne there is lots of avenues to explore if you have the money. But you would not be able to claim back the whole amounts. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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