britmummybites

May be moving to NY from the UK. At the moment the HR department of the american company that my husband works for is looking in to the relocating details as they have never done a transalantic transfer before.

I have got 3 children all with speech and language difficulties who will be needing support in school's. The eldest will need a specialist school.

I have no idea which is a good area to move to in regards to getting the right educational support for them. No idea how the system works in getting them the support but wondering if it's like the uk and the uk "statements".
But i am hoping that it's easier to get support in NY then the postcode lottery over here.

So if anyone can help me, and point me in the right area/district, i would be forever thankful.

Col

Bob

do a search through the wiki and posts made by englishmum as she has posted a host of great information numerous times, but it really is a case of exactly where you live as to where you can go to school, and as for special needs, wouldn't have a clue, some parts would be superb, some others shite.

welcome to BE though.

Ben

I've PM'd you

Bob

poster needs to have posted 5 posts before being able to get pm's...

Ben

Ah, thanks for the heads up

britmummybites

Thank's Bob and Ben got your email.
We have surposed "inclusion" here but over here it hardly works. As over here "inclusion" means that the LEA give's a set amount of money to a school and it's up to the school on how they dish the money out support wise.

My eldest 2 have got statements, and the middle one is mainstreamed with hers. This bit of paper means that she gets up to 20hrs support, and a couple of years ago had speech therapy once a week with a speech therapist it's now once every 2 weeks.
And i been told by professionals and parents that, that is really good.

Without that bit of paper, she would had to rely on "inclusion" and would be lucky to get 1 hr support a week and to see a speech therapist maybe once a term if she's lucky. (I did a questionnaire to a few schools to find out what was avialable to her without a statement).

I have heard from another friend that it is better over in the states and i really hope that it's true as i just don't want to stay in the UK as education wise it has seriously gone down hill.

I even got to the point that i was looking at private school's for the middle one as the LEA had mentioned last year that they were going to take the support away from her when she reaches secondary.
Despite all her specific problems she has got a IQ of 109. It be a lot higher if she didn't have certain difficulties bringing her score down.

The eldest is going to need a signing environment as she relies on visual cues. The school that she is presentally at has class sizes of 10-12 children, there's a speech therapist in each class. They use sign language and symbols.
Non verbal tests have come out that she's brighter then her peers (goes to karate and is one of the best in her class) but anything relating to language she just can't seem to grasp it. Plus "unoffically" she's on the spectrum somewhere.
Have had a few docs say that she is on the spectrum but will not write it down on black and white. Give the pathetic excuse that she may get kicked out of her present school.

My nearly 4 yr old boy needs speech therapy and he's not getting it. So far since the beginning of this year he has had one lot of 6 sessions of group therapy lasting 45 minutes. His expressive language is up to 18mths behind. His receptive is mild-moderate.
His speech therapist who i detest says he doesn't need a statement. His educational psychologist says that he does.
Personnally i go with the EP as without support he is going to get to very angry and lash out.

Sorry for the essay but i though it might help to give background on my 3.

It's just constant fighting to get support over here. My eldest is year 5 and this year i need to start looking at suitable school's for year 7. I know the school that i want for her if we have to stay in this country but i can see it will be an expensive battle. My friend has spent at least £10000 on solicitor and barrister, private speech therapy reports, psycharist reports, EP reports.
The LEA tried to adjourn the special needs trubunial and then 3 days before the trubunial informed the trubunial that they weren't going. So my friend still had to go in with all her witnessess that she had to pay for to present her case.

She Won it by the way and her daughter starts her new school next week.

britmummybites

Hubby is in NY at the moment, is there for another week so really hoping that he will get an answer from the HR department. He thinks that he should hear back soon as his VP has got the managing director of HR on it.

Fingers and toes crossed that it's a yes. I just want to get out of the UK, as it's just tax after tax and yet education and the NHS has gone down hill. My health authority is about £60m in debt.

Ben

Once you hear that you are moving and you need any information, let me know and I will see what I can find out for you.

Is your husband's work in the city?

I hope you get the news you are hoping for

Bob

Well if he can get the L1 transfer, that'll be great because the H1B visa is a steaming pile, but the thing to look out for, there's loads of taxes in NY and medical insurance is rather expensive, especially for a family with any pre-existing conditions.

britmummybites

Not sure where exactly the american office is but know it's a few minutes walk from the marriott financial center.

But over in the UK he works in London.

So when we move to the State, (when not if) commute time up to an hour.

Bob

be state, city and county taxes to look out for, so search through the wiki as it has links on schooling and what the counties are like....as least if he gets the L1, you'll be able to get the L2 which would allow you to work, unlike the H4 off of the H1B visa.

britmummybites

Thanks for the tip on wiki got another school website to look at

dinosaur

I'm really not at all able to comment on special needs etc, but if your husband is going to work in the city, and makes a good salary, then the Connecticut Gold Coast towns (Greenwich, New Canaan, Wilton, Redding, Weston etc) might be good options since they (reputedly) have excellent education systems. They're not cheap to live in though...I'm poorer and live in a good, but not exceptional, school district, but where commuting into the city is not a practicable option.
Would guess there's good districts in Westchester Co and parts of NJ too, but be aware schooling is very much a zip code lottery here too...

lapin_windstar

BMB, I'm going to PM you in a minute with some info.

Rete

Bob

There are many "private" tutition schools in New York City proper and the outlying 'burbs. If the handicapped children need special schooling most probably this is the way they need to go.

Her husband should present the cost of tutition for three children in a specialized school to this employer and make adjustments to his salary so that the high cost of schooling will not bankrupt them. I would think that the tutition would be between 5 and 15 thousand per child.