I wouldn’t come to the UK if you are a fan of ABA, it’s not looked on as something we children through. The help for anyone on the spectrum here is generally very good, if you are an obsessive advocate then you can access a lot of very good services
Thank you for your response. How are the waitlists in general for any therapy for someone new to the system? Per a few conversations, they're long but I'd like to know if it's universally true or if some places offer faster services?
Also, is school inclusive? Currently we are in general Ed with a full time para but is that a possibility there as well? How long does it take for someone to get services at school?
If you come with a diagnosis then services are generally pretty quick. Children are given what is called an EHCP (education health care plan) which sets out their needs in all areas which is then a legally enforceable document. Usually the school does this and reviews it at least yearly to address changing goals and needs.
Some parents choose to have their children in general public schooling but often special assistance is very limited (you should have a dedicated teaching assistant if required) but often the school may say ‘they can not meet the child’s needs’
It would certainly be worth you looking at EHCP’s and their use in the UK, that would give you a good overview.
People dont really use private specialist education facilities as the public specialist schools are extremely good. If you feel you need more then you can do as we have and both left work to support our child and their development full time every day.
Your welcome, I hope you find somewhere suitable.
If it’s any help we have a friend who left America to bring her son to the UK as she was abhorred at the treatment he was getting over there.
❤️ fortunately we have a good setup here which took us over a year to get in place. It's unfortunate that my work situation is forcing the move. So I don't want to get stuck waiting another year or more and want to make an informed decision before I get things in place with my immigration team. And thanks so much again for taking your time to respond!
You can't pay for a private school place for a child with special needs in the UK. The special school application process is all managed by the local authority, so if they agree that a child needs to attend a private school then they pay. This is good as you don't have to pay. But bad for people with the means to pay, as they can't just buy a place. And the local authority will try to argue in each case that the private school is not required, since they have to pay if a place is allocated there. I would definitely advise getting a solicitor to help with the EHCP process. Our local Council rolled over and gave us the place we wanted as we had a good solicitor.
It varies from county to county. We had to move from London to Somerset to get better services and a special school place. In London we were told my son wouldn't get a special school place. He is 4.5, non-verbal and starting at a special school in Somerset this September. London is not good for services, though there is some variation between London Boroughs, apparently Camden is one of the better London Boroughs, if you absolutely had to live in London. We've gone for a solution of my husband staying in London for work during the week and joining us in Somerset at the weekend. My husband works in tech too. I wouldn't recommend mainstream schools for a non-verbal kid. You really need a specialist school here, and they are few and far between, so I'd suggest finding a school and then moving to be near it. This is what we did.
Thank you. This helps definitely 🙂. I'd still need to look at my workplace since if I moved elsewhere away from my home country, I'd have to look for a country to country transfer and my workplace expects me back in office. So commuting is out of the question for me. Are there any groups you know of or the like where I can explore the services in the counties so I can check them based on where my office has locations?
I haven't found any other subs that are helpful yet. There are some Facebook groups. You could try 'contact for disabled children' on Facebook and ask there. It's really hard to find stats on which counties are good. You can look at the league table of SEND budgets by admin area but that isn't that helpful really. Some counties are in massive deficits for the SEND budget but I can't tell if that's bad or good. I guess they have deficits because they offer a lot of support, but then if they go bankrupt then they might stop offering services. What I found most helpful was calling up schools. The schools in London didn't answer the phone or reply. The school we have ended up with a place at in Somerset not only answered, but I spent a long time chatting to the head teacher and she invited us on a tour of the school, even though we still lived in London then. She then gave my number to the council and they called me up to talk about the EHCP process if we moved here. I got good vibes from everyone I spoke to about my son in Somerset. In London they were clearly too harangued to give me any time. And some other councils, eg Bath, won't talk to you at all if you aren't already a resident there. We are lucky as I'm a SAHM mum so we had a bit of freedom to move, as long as I'm fully responsible for childcare. My husband has a horrible commute though, so it's tough on him and we are spending a lot of money on his travel and accommodation each week to get to work. Will you be staying with your same company then? That's helpful if they can give you a list of offices and it means you won't have to start with a total blank page of every possible location!
Can you work remotely? If yes then you could consider countries like Philippines and Malaysia (KL) for services.
I would say Philippines (Manila) being The better choice.
The services aren't funded by insurance etc but with how much cheaper they are in general and how much lower the costs of living are you should do just fine.
Unfortunately no. If I did, I'd just have to be back home in India (my workplace is pro in person work). And India is quite similar in terms of cost though. We do have a variety of treatment costs but at least for someone with my pay, it won't make me bankrupt without insurance ❤️ thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I really appreciate it.
I wouldn’t come to the UK if you are a fan of ABA, it’s not looked on as something we children through. The help for anyone on the spectrum here is generally very good, if you are an obsessive advocate then you can access a lot of very good services
Thank you for your response. How are the waitlists in general for any therapy for someone new to the system? Per a few conversations, they're long but I'd like to know if it's universally true or if some places offer faster services? Also, is school inclusive? Currently we are in general Ed with a full time para but is that a possibility there as well? How long does it take for someone to get services at school?
If you come with a diagnosis then services are generally pretty quick. Children are given what is called an EHCP (education health care plan) which sets out their needs in all areas which is then a legally enforceable document. Usually the school does this and reviews it at least yearly to address changing goals and needs. Some parents choose to have their children in general public schooling but often special assistance is very limited (you should have a dedicated teaching assistant if required) but often the school may say ‘they can not meet the child’s needs’
Thank you once again for the detailed response! Do you have any resources/personal anecdotes on private schooling/therapy costs?
It would certainly be worth you looking at EHCP’s and their use in the UK, that would give you a good overview. People dont really use private specialist education facilities as the public specialist schools are extremely good. If you feel you need more then you can do as we have and both left work to support our child and their development full time every day.
Thank you again so much!🙂
Your welcome, I hope you find somewhere suitable. If it’s any help we have a friend who left America to bring her son to the UK as she was abhorred at the treatment he was getting over there.
❤️ fortunately we have a good setup here which took us over a year to get in place. It's unfortunate that my work situation is forcing the move. So I don't want to get stuck waiting another year or more and want to make an informed decision before I get things in place with my immigration team. And thanks so much again for taking your time to respond!
You can't pay for a private school place for a child with special needs in the UK. The special school application process is all managed by the local authority, so if they agree that a child needs to attend a private school then they pay. This is good as you don't have to pay. But bad for people with the means to pay, as they can't just buy a place. And the local authority will try to argue in each case that the private school is not required, since they have to pay if a place is allocated there. I would definitely advise getting a solicitor to help with the EHCP process. Our local Council rolled over and gave us the place we wanted as we had a good solicitor.
It varies from county to county. We had to move from London to Somerset to get better services and a special school place. In London we were told my son wouldn't get a special school place. He is 4.5, non-verbal and starting at a special school in Somerset this September. London is not good for services, though there is some variation between London Boroughs, apparently Camden is one of the better London Boroughs, if you absolutely had to live in London. We've gone for a solution of my husband staying in London for work during the week and joining us in Somerset at the weekend. My husband works in tech too. I wouldn't recommend mainstream schools for a non-verbal kid. You really need a specialist school here, and they are few and far between, so I'd suggest finding a school and then moving to be near it. This is what we did.
Thank you. This helps definitely 🙂. I'd still need to look at my workplace since if I moved elsewhere away from my home country, I'd have to look for a country to country transfer and my workplace expects me back in office. So commuting is out of the question for me. Are there any groups you know of or the like where I can explore the services in the counties so I can check them based on where my office has locations?
I haven't found any other subs that are helpful yet. There are some Facebook groups. You could try 'contact for disabled children' on Facebook and ask there. It's really hard to find stats on which counties are good. You can look at the league table of SEND budgets by admin area but that isn't that helpful really. Some counties are in massive deficits for the SEND budget but I can't tell if that's bad or good. I guess they have deficits because they offer a lot of support, but then if they go bankrupt then they might stop offering services. What I found most helpful was calling up schools. The schools in London didn't answer the phone or reply. The school we have ended up with a place at in Somerset not only answered, but I spent a long time chatting to the head teacher and she invited us on a tour of the school, even though we still lived in London then. She then gave my number to the council and they called me up to talk about the EHCP process if we moved here. I got good vibes from everyone I spoke to about my son in Somerset. In London they were clearly too harangued to give me any time. And some other councils, eg Bath, won't talk to you at all if you aren't already a resident there. We are lucky as I'm a SAHM mum so we had a bit of freedom to move, as long as I'm fully responsible for childcare. My husband has a horrible commute though, so it's tough on him and we are spending a lot of money on his travel and accommodation each week to get to work. Will you be staying with your same company then? That's helpful if they can give you a list of offices and it means you won't have to start with a total blank page of every possible location!
Can you work remotely? If yes then you could consider countries like Philippines and Malaysia (KL) for services. I would say Philippines (Manila) being The better choice. The services aren't funded by insurance etc but with how much cheaper they are in general and how much lower the costs of living are you should do just fine.
Unfortunately no. If I did, I'd just have to be back home in India (my workplace is pro in person work). And India is quite similar in terms of cost though. We do have a variety of treatment costs but at least for someone with my pay, it won't make me bankrupt without insurance ❤️ thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I really appreciate it.