Lacelotte

How do people,

We have been thinking of making the move to Australia for a while now and we are trying to work everything out for before we consider committing.

Our main concern is that we have a son who would require additional support from any school he was placed into and we were wondering what the education system both private & state is like in Australia, specificaly the New South Wales/South Australia areas for children with some learning difficulties.

Has anyone else had any experience of this issue or have a better understanding of the Australian education system than I may have from endless googling


Thanks in advance,
Shane

quoll

First question is do you have a visa? A child who has disabilities serious enough to be eligible for disability support in school is likely to encounter difficulties passing the medical for permanent residency.

The states are all different but in very general terms they do provide support for the lowest 5% of the cohort You would need to provide evidence of intellectual, physical, speech/language disorder or pervasive developmental disorders or sensory impairment, all depending on his disability - just having the label is no longer enough, there also has to be evidence of deficits in adaptive behaviour in many states as well.

NSW info here http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/studen...disability.php
SA info here http://web.seru.sa.edu.au/

If a child just has learning difficulties as distinct from a disability then support is usually from within school resources and may involve Reading Recovery or some small group occasional support

When you do come, bring with you the results of all assessments, therapy reports, adaptive behaviour assessments, letters confirming diagnosis etc - dont put them in your container, they will be needed to establish eligibility for any programs.

Jane and Jason

Hi

It will all depend on what difficulties your child has. Our son has mild learning difficulties and we have had notification that he has not met the medical criteria needed for the visa. We were given a 'right of justice' to reply and have appointed an agent to help us fight the decision, but you should be prepared for the fact that you may not get your visa.

Jane

Gems

Hubby is a primary teacher and is shocked by the lack of 100% education assistants in state schools here.

He currently has a child who cant be left alone for a second yet only gets 60% with a education assistant.
Truly bonkers and is not fair on the child or the rest of the class.

Sadly you may not get the amount of education assistant and support your child is used too.

Gems

Katherined0

It's extremely difficult to comment without more detail of your child's specific needs...

However, as a primary teacher I would be far more confident that a child with SEN who had an IEP in the UK would have his needs met under the English system than in the NSW public system (or even the private one)

A good friend of mine has had her son in a language unit out here for a year. Apparantly this has 'cured' his receptive language difficulty and he has been moved back to mainstream with zero support. Luckily he has a great class teacher but it does seem to be a bit of lottery!

That said, I have no experience of secondary schooling so it may be completely different!

Good Luck with your decision!

Lacelotte

Thanks for all the replies.

A little more about our situation..

I am currently re-training as an electrician and the 'Mrs' is busy working to pay off as much of the mortgage as possible to aid any future decisions we make but no, we do not have a visa etc yet as our sons educational needs appear to be a huge factor in our eligibility to move abroad.

Henry has Down's Sydrome and although he is developing extremely well at present he isn't quite two so other than nursery a few days a week he isn't in full time school yet so doesn't have a specific IEP other than us helping him delevelop his speech, walking etc.

Henry also has a heart condition which may need operating on again in years to come.. so we expect that in the very least, our medical premiums would be quite large taking this into consideration.

Up to now Henrys key workers think his developmental progress is very good and he is classed as being the 'lower end' of the Down's Syndrome scale and is set to join mainstream school here with assistance.. does anybody know if the different levels of ability are taken into account or whether the authorities look at this as one disability regardless.

We're very confused about this so any further advice would be great!

Thanks
Shane and Suzzi

comet555

I think given your sons condition and the fact that he has a heart condition that will need an operation in the future you really should be talking to a migration agent who specializes in medical conditions.

There was a case here last year I think where a doctor came over on a temp visa and then applied for PR. He was refused because his son had down's syndrome. He did appeal and with the help of a lot of public outcry he got his visa. But it was a struggle and in my opinion it probably he probably wouldn't have been granted PR in the end had he been applying from overseas and had he not been a doctor.

This is definitely not do it yourself territory.

quoll

Sadly, I dont think it will be his educational needs which you need to worry about, I suspect you will have an uphill battle to get a visa (sorry to be blunt) and you will definitely need to get good advice from an agent (George Lombard is often recommended - no affiliation or personal knowledge)

moneypenny20

I'd go with Peter Bollard on this one, George is without doubt brilliant but with medical stuff of this ilk I'd give Peter the edge. I agree with Quoll Lacelott, expert advice is required, I sadly think a visa could be outside your reach.

The link I've given doesn't work for me at the moment, could be my machine though.

flowerpot101

Hi Lacelotte,

This may not be relevant to your situation but I watched a documentary here on Monday on the ABC channel about parents who had children with severe disabilities, and the special school or respite care home their children were attending was due to close due to lack of funding, it was in Sydney but I can't remember the name of it. One parent had tried to get her daughter into the school but there were no spaces so she looked at the system in the UK and found that most or all of the costs were covered by the NHS, so she moved back to the UK for that reason (she was English but had emigrated to Oz some years ago). Another couple (also originally from England I think)with a disabled child also decided to move back to the UK for the same reason, as the support in the UK is deemed to be better than that in Australia.

Sorry I'm not able to give more detail here, and I don't know a great deal about this but just thought I'd mention the programme and what the findings were. I suppose it's easy for us all to maybe assume everything is better in another country 'grass is greener syndrome', but it was nice to hear something good about the UK for a change, and to see just how much support and help the parents were getting when they moved back.

lapin_windstar

If anyone happens to search for this topic in the future (I was trying to remember the name of the guy and searched for it), Peter Bollard's website seems to have moved to here: http://www.peterbollard.com/

coolshadows

the wife worked with young adults with learning difficulties for years in the uk, and after moving to Oz she now works as an SSO in a school for kids with disabilities (attached to a primary school).

She tells me that they are at least 10 years behind the uk. Support is very lacking and the way they approach situations is very outdated. Improvements are being made but this is very slow.

Whatever your plans are and wherever they take you, I wish you the best of luck and hope you truely land on your feet.

gpkm

Hi I see you have appealed and won after your son failed his meds. If at all possible could you please email me as would like some advice. Thank you