Autism

[Hallfamily]

Has anyone migrated with a child with autism and also gain permanency? My son has very mild autism and is very independant with group support in mainstream school. :unsure:

[Alaska]

Hi there

I haven't any direct experience but I know there has been a few threads on a very similar topic recently.

Have you tried a search on here and see what comes up? x

[Quoll]

Have you spoken to an agent who specializes in medical conditions? A child who has little to no support and is essentially independent stands a much better chance of being accepted for a visa than one who has high support needs but one of the agents would be better placed to give you a good idea of the difficulties you may face - George Lombard and Peter Bollard are the ones usually mentioned in this regard (no affiliation etc etc)

 

Catch 22 of course is that if a child's needs arent significant enough that they prove a barrier to permanent residence then they wont warrant any support in Aus schools where the eligibility is not just on a label but on level of functioning.

[Hallfamily]

Thanks Alaska I will check them out if I can find any.

[Hallfamily]

Hi Quoll thanks for your advice. Have you any idea how much these agents charge for their advice? My son is not that bad and anyone that knows him just thinks he is a normal boy. The support he gets in school is mainly for his reading spelling and writing, which to me most boys fall back on, the rest of the subjects he is fine with. He also does not received anything help outside school i.e. speech and language etc. We change schools for him back in September and he is doing extremley well. To me most autistic children would not cope with change, but he was absolutely fine, no problem at all. We as parents know he would not get support in the schools in oz, but we would be prepared to pay for a teacher outside school to help him not to fall behind with his literacy.

[wendyi]

We havent migrated but have a son with autism and live in SA - state by state what support you will get will vary alot!If you come out to Oz bring any papers you have with when diagnosis occured with reports about what level of functioning etc what assessments you have had .... Disability Services may or may not offer support and school support hours if you are aiming for a public ( here thats a govt school) school it will be worth talking to them first about what thier understanding and what support they can offer ( even if it is what level of supervision in playground). Access to schools here are based on where you live but private schools ( where you pay) are much more affordable than in UK. If you know where you are heading for happy to send you some links specific to that area - Wendy

[Eera]

Can't help with the immigration question but will proffer this - be thoroughly sure of the level of support you child will get in the state you're intending on moving to. My brother has autism and the support he got through his education was crap compared to the UK. He went to a specialist school in Winchester with tutors who understood his needs, in NSW he was shoved into the mainstream school service and expected to cope, as an adult he's given a disability pension but has no access to other disability services.

 

The same schooling type is also done for a friend's son - no support in the mainstream system.

 

There are others here who have had much better experiences but it seems to be very regional.

[roger2shirts]

My boy was recently diagnosed with Aspergers and he is getting a huge amount of resources mad available in Queensland.

Occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychotherapy and an extra assistant for kindy provided.

Once he gets to school they have to set up a care plan for him to help him through mainstream school and may even need to provide a classroom assistant for him.

Can anyone sya they would get this in the UK? We have been impressed.

The school have been brilliant about it. Immanuel Lutherin Collge in Buderim

 

We used Bill Rose he would probably give you an opinion. We used him for our visas and were pleased with the excellence of service he provided.

 

Edit by Ali.

email removed - please pm member to seek details.

[Hallfamily]

We havent migrated but have a son with autism and live in SA - state by state what support you will get will vary alot!If you come out to Oz bring any papers you have with when diagnosis occured with reports about what level of functioning etc what assessments you have had .... Disability Services may or may not offer support and school support hours if you are aiming for a public ( here thats a govt school) school it will be worth talking to them first about what thier understanding and what support they can offer ( even if it is what level of supervision in playground). Access to schools here are based on where you live but private schools ( where you pay) are much more affordable than in UK. If you know where you are heading for happy to send you some links specific to that area - Wendy

 

We were looking into Perth which appeals to us as we have friends there. At the moment my son attends mainstream school as is happy with that, he is 9yrs old and has improved very much over the years, he is very independant and the only subject he struggles with in school is literacy. At the moment he gets 20hrs a week support but that is within a group not one to one. We have had several replies and someone has mentioned having him reaccessed and I think that is a good idea as when he goes for the medical they will need up to date reports. His label is High functional autism if thats any help. Many Thanks.

[mumoffour]

Just to give others some hope?

 

My 6yr son has aspergers and has just had his medical results finalised. I provided his most recent IEP showing that support was reduced from 30 mins per week to none, his original specialist report from 2010, his most recent school report which though showed no progress in speech and literacy over past 12 months showed working 1 year above age in maths and reading.

 

The key here is that aspergers has many degrees of severity and shows in different ways with each child. We're lucky that our son appears settled at school but just comes home and then shows all of himself with all his quirks and tics etc. Though he was USELESS during his medical exam - kept giggling and shifting about nervously and talked ALL the time so the Dr couldn't hear his heart and had to play games on my phone to keep him quiet during the talking part of the examination - he really appeared quite odd (even to me and I'm used to him!)

 

The panel doctor ticked the 'B' box whilst telling me not to worry! How can you not worry? Then again worry levels increased when it turned out I had also been referred (suspect for PND for 6 months 8 years ago!) so actually felt better that I was a 'B' person with him - solidarity iyswim?

 

The simple fact of a diagnosis with aspergers doesn't mean your child won't pass the medical - just a few more hoops to jump through and let's face it - if you have a child with aspergers - you're going to be used to jumping through hoops everyday either because of them, or for them.

[Johndoe]

We emigrated with an autistic child although we didn't know it at the time.

 

Before I go any further, I would warn any parent to avoid the diagnosis of Aspergers.............argue with the diagnostic team if you have to..............the correct diagnosis is Autistic Spectrum Disorder and any multi-disciplinary team offering a dx of Aspergers I would consider to be "out of the loop", for several reasons that would be too lengthy to elucidate here.

 

My son was dx'd at the age of 6. Throughout his schooling he received fantastic support and was allowed to make his own decision as to whether, on any given day, he chose to be in the mainstream class, or in the special ed class. We had an IEP (Individual education plan) which was reviewed every 6 months or earlier if we requested it.

 

For several years he had Pica and would devour pencils, erasers and practically anything that came his way in the classroom (state school). Special dispensation was made for him to chew gum in class with instructions to the rest of the class as to why, and they were also instructed that they should be supportive of him and not jealous of what they may see as preferential treatment. He was also allowed a 'stress ball" to minimise his stimming and allowed to leave the class when he felt that he needed to pace and stim. The school supported his "foibles" in any way they thought possible.

 

On reaching high school age, we sent him to a private school that only had 200 pupils, 25% of whom had learning difficulties or other disbilities. The school focused on vocational skills as opposed to academic and the kids went on work experience once a week from grade 10. On reaching school leaving age, he was offered a job by his school, 3 days a week, as mentor (go between) to the younger children, and his duties include running the tuck shop, accompanying work experience students into the city and seeing that they board trains correctly etc, and library aide. Funding is being reviewed as to whether he can be emplyed full time

 

I could not envisage..................and I'm not saying it wouldn't happen now..................that my child would ever have got to where he is now in the UK education system that I am familiar with (20 yrs ago). Our experiences are just that, and I don't doubt that others' may have reason for not applauding the Qld education system, both state and private, as we do.

 

Despite my acknowledgement of how well he was treated/mentored, it didn't just happen, and many times, it took raised voices to make it happen. You have to advocate strongly for your kids..............they are not "stereotypicals" despite the labels placed on them and not all diagnostic criteria may encompass your child's disabilty. Make the school see your child's "individuality" and don't have them "pigeonholed" by so-called professionals.................advocate..............advocate.................advocate...................make it happen.

 

edited to add: In Qld, there is no (official) support for children diagnosed after reaching high school age. Child development units only deal with primary aged children although they will work with high school children who came "on their books" at primary age. Children of high school age are generally diagnosed at own expense.................all the more reason for early intervention.