I'm not sure whether anyone will be able to give any information on this but I'm interested to know as to what kind of support and help is given to autistic children in the UK.

Our 3 year old son was recently diagnosed as being autistic and we are currently on a waiting list here in Ontario for him to start receiving occupational therapy. He's currently seeing a speech therapist.

It's a learning curve at the moment for us and seeing as I'm not completely settled in Canada and sometimes think about coming home the situation with our little boy will obviously influence future thinking. In Ontario the help given apparently tails off considerably at the age of six although I've yet to research this properly. So I just wondered if anyone can give me any pointers or direction as to what we might expect if we were to return in the next two or three years.

Thanks!

If Ontario is anything like BC, services will lessen. Dbd33 can probably give you an informed analysis of the Ontarian options for your son and family.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=131

The post diagnostic support section is of particular interest when making comparisons between the UK and here. You might also be interested to note that a couple of cases I referred onto CLBC here in the last two years were of children under five. Both returned to the UK with their families post diagnosis. The reasons for doing so were not exclusively to access services that might otherwise not exist for the families down the road, but that certainly factored into their decisions. One little boy was diagnosed here at four years old. That diagnosis has now been reversed in the UK, as they assess autism somewhat differently as I understand it. My knowledge of autism is very limited, I just usually refer on, so try Dbd33. He is really very helpful!

[QUOTE=stepnek;5425410]I'm not sure whether anyone will be able to give any information on this but I'm interested to know as to what kind of support and help is given to autistic children in the UK.

Our 3 year old son was recently diagnosed as being autistic and we are currently on a waiting list here in Ontario for him to start receiving occupational therapy. He's currently seeing a speech therapist.

It's a learning curve at the moment for us and seeing as I'm not completely settled in Canada and sometimes think about coming home the situation with our little boy will obviously influence future thinking. In Ontario the help given apparently tails off considerably at the age of six although I've yet to research this properly. So I just wondered if anyone can give me any pointers or direction as to what we might expect if we were to return in the next two or three years.

My child is not autistic so what I am about to post isn't from personal experience but 2nd/3rd hand but it might offer a tiny bit of help.

My friend's son has Asperger's which I understand to be a milder form of autism. He is now 8 years old and when he was 5 she applied for him to be 'statemented' as it is known as. This took about 8 months to get by going through various assessment panels with the council/school - it is a certificate stating that your child has 'Special Needs' and gives you access to free speech therapy and various other help but can be quite difficult to get in some areas.

He has come on leaps and bounds BUT she has been told that this help will tail off when he gets to around 10. Mainly because he will be attending Senior School and the help for older kids isn't as widely available.

Another child in my daughter's class at Primary school was autistic and he too got alot of help from the local authority and settled in really well but I guess might depend on which area you choose to live in.

Like I said this isn't first hand info but maybe you could look at how the local councils 'statement' children in the area you are considering moving too as a first step.

And looking way ahead - there is a fair amount of provision at post compulsory age.

I should add: post compulsory education, ie 16 plus.

Hi there,

Provision for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in the UK is pretty good. I used to support parents of children with special needs in obtaining a statement of special educational needs, which would open a gateway of support and information from specialist agencies. If a child had a 'label' of A.S.D. funding was more accessible. I know that there are lots of A.S.D. support groups and activities specifically run for AS children too.

Hope this helps.

Hi Stephen
I worked in mainstream schools in the UK with children with Autism for 10yrs before coming to BC 2yrs ago..............just MHO & it could be just this area but provisions were much better in the UK.........when I left they were using the 'matrix points' system, your child would be seen by various people, Ed Physc/Sp Path etc & given points as to the severity of his/her needs then the points are converted to money which = x amount of time for a support person for your child.
Here, because it's all about seniority I don't think you neccessarily (sp) get the right person for the right job & the training IMHO is pretty dated

Also there are plenty of specialist schools at home, the boy I worked with last year will be going to a group home eventually .

Thanyou everyone for taking the time to answer. I really appreciate it and it's given me some info to think about.

You may also be able to glean information from this website (US based but it has messageboards and they highlight on the home page a 'megajournal' - 'ASQ' - a "one-stop, international resource...." ):

http://www.autismnow.com

I noticed that there are a couple of conferences about to take place in Canada....

Hope this helps.

This might be too late to be useful but, ime, the provision for autistic children in Ontario is:

- $850/month from the government until age 18, then $1100/month

- effectively unlimited respite funding, that is, if you can find someone to take the autistic person off your hands for a bit the government will pay that person (minimal amount per hour and must be arm's length)

- option to send the child to a school for the disabled or to have a dedicated worker in a standard classroom (some schools for the disabled are physically integrated with regular schools). Integration usually makes sense but if I were responsible for a very young autistic person now I would be lobbying for a place in the non-integrated school in Etobicoke, Apple-something, they have every facility and every kind of expertise.

As the parents of an autistic person we found that funding was rarely the problem, the money was there if only someone could suggest an effective treatment or training program for the autistic person. In the absence of one, the advantage of North America, imo, is the greater level of acceptance of public lunacy here. I've travelled extensively with an obviously autistic person and we've eaten in hundreds of restaurants despite the autsitic person having no language and being unable to operate a knife and fork. In twenty odd years we've had one unpleasant incident with restaurant staff (The Wave, Queen St E in Toronto and, no, it wasn't me who torched the place). I don't think we could have done the same in the UK.

A caution. The Autism Industry is huge and heartless. It's a good idea to check with www.quackwatch.org before spending any money, subjecting your child to cruelty or joining a quasi-religion.

Thankyou for the added info dbd33.

I've got to say that seems like a large amount of money and I'm not sure that I quite understand. Do you mean it's made as a payment or it's available to pay towards treatment?

We're just starting along the road with this but the hospital arranged for us to meet with a social worker who has taken us through various things such as applying for a grant towards diapers (little boy is not potty trained) an application for respite care (although certainly at this stage we don't feel like we need any respite) and an application to be enrolled to a school or home therapy for forty hours a week.

Next month he is due to start occupational therapy.

Is there anything that you're aware of that's available that we've missed?

http://www.asdfriendly.org/

Seems a nice group, I did some graphics work for them a while ago, anyway, bit general, but they are a group for support and info about autism and aspergers. UK based to, so they might have good info about schools and the like in different areas.

Thanks. Any info gratefully received.

I currently work in primary and secondary pupils with ASD, Aspergers, ADHD as Autism Intervention. I go into schools and provide the school with resources, information, guidance and good practice on how to meet the childs' needs. This is in Oldham. I'm unsure of any other borough that provides this service, but would answer any questions you may have on anything. Will send you a pm.
J x

It's a payment, a cheque each month. Whether or not it's a large amount of money is debateable, it's paid on the assumption that the autistic person is completely disabled, compared to the cost of the state providing residential accomodation with constant active care it's a bargain.

I don't think you've missed anything. Good luck with it all.