Hello everyone!

[szaky]

Hello Everyone,

 

I've already posted into the Education section, but I felt I should write a few sentences about us.

Currently I live in Budapest (Hungary) with my 2 sons (almost 4.5 and 6), the bigger one has Asperger Syndrome (diagnosed in October 2011) and my husband works in England. We are planning to follow him and together we could move to Scotland (around Edinburgh).

 

Our son with ASD is still in kindergarten (in Hungary every child stays here until the age 6.5-7), so they don't have lessons and compulsory things, it is just free playing all day. So here we don't have any problem, our son communicates well, he is high functioning, he has excellent skills (he learnt reading and writing by himself). The biggest problem is that he is really infelxible in some areas. Like when he thinks about playing e.g. with a toy, it is impossible to let him understand that it is not time for that because we have to leave in time to somewhere. And he can't listen well to the speach, if there are no pictures, he is not able to listen carefully after some minutes, so he doesn't understand important things he is told to.

 

I'm curious about what kind of developmental treats are available in the UK for kids with ASD? Now he attends to a school preparing class, it is held in a place only for children with ASD. But he will attend to normal school, it is just a good practice for him to let him prepare to sit still for an hour and maybe he could learn how to listen more than a few minutes to someone who is speaking (he could listen to films for hours, he understands those).

 

Now I have to find good schools around Edinburgh and it seems impossible now...I don't know how things are going in the UK with the AS children in school. In January I will spend some days in Edinburgh with my husband to visit the preselected schools (so I have to have some ideas till then) and to find a house to rent there, so it is very exciting period in our life.

I'm afraid of the language, because my son (none of them) doesn't speak English at all and he laughs on English speach, he thinks it's a good joke. (the 4.5 years old son is NT and he understands that English is another language like Hungarian, he started to use some words after watching an English film).

 

Now I will look around here and read back as much as I can to know others here!

[Lyndalou]

Hi Szaky

 

When I've got a chance I plan to reply to your other thread. However, 'Hi' and with regards to your move to Scotland I am wondering if one of the first steps would be for your sons to learn some English because language barriers in themselves would present difficulties for them to be able to integrate into school.

 

In Scotland, children start school at the age of 4.5 to 5 yrs old. My son started school in August and he turns 5 at the end of December. As part of his education he has already started doing early number, reading/writing and group work alongside structured play-based activities. He has High Functioning Autism and has a speech disorder and attends a Special Needs school. If he had not had this option then I would have had to apply to defer him from entering Primary School for a year so this would have meant him starting at the age of 5.5 yrs instead. This would have involved reports from professionals to 'prove' that it was in his best interests to start school at a later age. If you could demonstrate that your son needed to do this it may mean that he could start school in a lower primary class (possibly Primary 2?).

 

There are those who teach English to children in Edinburgh but it appears that it might be quite expensive. A friend of mine has taught English as a Foreign Language to adults for a number of years now and is based in Glasgow. I could try to find out if she knows about courses tailored to children in Edinburgh if you'd like.

 

Lynda

[szaky]

Dear Linda,

 

I'm so greatful for your answer!

My plan is that my son could start school only in september (2013) and till then he (and his brother) could learn English only. But I need to know as soon as possible which school we will choose, because we have to rent our flat/house in that district (we plan to move to Scotland in March).

 

But this is another urging problem that you pointed out, learning English... I know that in the USA there are language classes for foreigners even in schools, and I know a family who moved to Germany with a 3 years old kid and that kid got a language help even in the kindergarten. So if I understand right, there is no chance for a language class like this in Scotland. Only the private, expensive version? I try to get some good English teacher here in Hungary till March, but I know it's not easy for a child with ASD to learn another language (my son doesn't have now language problems, but he had when he was smaller and he doesn't understand that e.g. English is also a language like Hungarian, he just laughs on English words). That's why I thought it would be better to learn it in the UK, because it is always easier in the native enviroment.

 

Thank you for answer again, you helped me a lot!

szaky

[Lyndalou]

Hi Szaky

 

Since I wrote before I've looked up a couple of things.

 

I think your first step may be to contact Edinburgh City Council - the website is www.edinburgh.gov.uk - to find out what they offer by way of schools which provide the type of assistance your sons would need, in particular your eldest.

 

I wouldn't like to speculate what the best approach is to introduce a foreign language to your eldest although I know that there is a widely used system called Rosetta Stone which I believe is quite a good way to learn languages. There is also a children's BBC language course - Muzzy? -which might be worth looking into although I don't know if it would offer Hungarian to English.

 

It looks like Edinburgh have 'English as an Additional Language' teachers who work in schools across the city (I don't know about outside Edinburgh in the Lothians in general). If you go on the website you will get a general overview of what they offer but it actually looks like a very inclusive approach to ensure children who don't have English as a first language get proper support.

 

I also stumbled a thread on Mumsnet where a mum was looking for schools in Edinburgh for her child with ASD as they were moving to the city this past April. The responses to her query were very positive with one respondee naming a number of schools which had a good reputation for providing support to children with ASD's. Again, this is something you would have to ask the council and probably ask as soon as possible because the schools with the best reputations and best resources will be requested the most!

 

As well as Mumsnet, there is also a website called NetMums with Special Needs boards where you can ask advice.

 

A mum I know locally does not have the option of her child going to the Special Needs school my son attends even though he is non-verbal. She is currently looking at mainstream schools with Special Needs units (4 in total so not that much to choose from) with a view to her child starting school next August (2013) and one she ruled out before she even went there as it has a poor reputation. The school she is interested in tends to be oversubscribed so 10 months in advance she is trying to get backing from the educational psychologist (among others) to argue that her son's needs are best at this particular school. However, I am in a different area in Scotland and the situation seems to be a bit different here to Edinburgh!

 

Lynda

[darkshine]

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