jayceee

My 19 year old son has a learning disability. No medical diagnosis but all through school and college he's been treated as if he were on the autistic spectrum.
He attends college and enjoys an active life with regular activities.
I was wondering whether any of you lucky people living in Spain have any experience of the facilities available out there for young adults with special needs?
The reason I ask is we're hoping to buy a property there i a few months time.
Many thanks

chrisjolly

I have never heard of anything but in our village there is the usual range of people. They are all treated equally and with equal respect. For us it's a remarkable display of acceptance that we are all different and can live happily without labels.

Retired in Euskadi

Our eldest son, who is 36, is Down´s sydrome.
There are benefits for him from the Spanish state, as well as in England still, but here the first thing they all ask for in order for your son to qualify is the % of handicap!
This doesn´t exist in Britain, so he had to have various tests, see various specialists and eventually get given this magic %, which in his case is 89%.
As for special needs places for your son, I´m not sure, but I´ll try to find out.
Our son attends daily a work place which also has about 60 others doing various jobs according to their ability. Some seem almost ¨normal¨. The organisation is called Lantegi and is subsidised by the Basque government.
I think these facilities vary from province to province. What Andalucia has to offer I have no idea.
I´ll try to find out more about autistic organisations.

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

tony

Hi jaycee ,

We have been here nearly 11 yrs , my son was 8 when we came over, he was diagnosed with Adhd , in the last 2 years of his high school they put him on a course , with other kids that struggled doing more practical stuff in his case Gardening. ( he is now 18 and goes to college in Alicante )

He has been well accepted by the local kids and has many friends,

Is your son outgoing ? it may be difficult for him to make new friends if he is shy, Also will he cope if you move to an area where there are few English speaking people of his own Age.

Any way good luck with your move , and generally from what I have seen , people with disability and learning difficulty seem to be treated well by the locals and always join in with fiestas etc.

Cheers Tony

bxpuser24710519

Is your son affected by change ? will this be to big a change for him to be happy with ? I know any type of change from daily routine can really upset some people with similar diagnosis.

Neptuno

Jaycee-did you get my PM giving you the email of someone who posted on another forum about this, and may be able to give you info?

jayceee

Thank you all for going to the trouble of replying. And thank you, Neptuno, for the info you PM'd me. I'm much obliged to you all.