New and moving to UK, questions!!??

[kimberleydg]

Hello everyone! I am Kim. I have a 3 year old son that was recently diagnosed with mild autism. We live in the US and in june we are moving to the UK. I have been trying to find out what kind of services and help I can get for my son while we are there (4 years) but I have been unsuccessful. If anyone can tell me about any schools, therapies, resources available it would be great.

thank you!

[lisann]

Hi Kim and welcome to the forum we are a lovely bunch.I think it depends on where you will be living different parts of the contry seam to have different degrees of help, therapy,schooling,services etc....

 

 

Where are you going to be living???

 

Lisa x

[kimberleydg]

Thanks for replying. We will be living 70 miles from London. I believe it is called Suffolk... RAF Lakenheath. Right now my son goes to special education preschool, occupational therapy, speech therapy and we were about to start ABA therapy but there just isnt enough time.

Thank you for your help!

[LKS]

Hi Kimberley, sorry not much of an expert. I'm wondering will you be registered with the Raf doctor when you come over. Maybe you would be able to forward some paperwork regarding your son before you arrive. I'm not sure whether to access any services you will still have to go through diagnosis here. I think annie may be able to help with that one . It does take a long time to 'get the ball rolling' here. Best of Luck

[Elouise]

Okay I have a few personnal gripes with NAS but it might be a god idea to contact them and get an overview of whats available

 

Please also read the Governments information for alien residents in the UK to ensure you have the right health insurance to cover your son in the UK.

You will NOT fall under the UK NHS services unless you are a British National.

 

Is this being sponsered by a company/military secondment for a few years or are you seeking British Citizenship?

The former you would have extremely limited access to UK services the latter would give you some rights.

[kimberleydg]

"Is this being sponsered by a company/military secondment for a few years or are you seeking British Citizenship?"

 

We will be sponsered by the military... my husband is in the Air Force here in the states and we have our own form of insurance here that covers just about anything, but I dont know how it will work over there. I guess I am probably just going to have to wait and see.

 

Thanks again

[annie]

Hi Kimberley,

 

Welcome to the forum .

 

We lived in Australia for 7 years where our son was diagnosed with Asperger's. When we decided to return to the UK, we made sure that we brought letters from specialists and schools addressed 'to whom it may concern' detailing our son's history . We also brought his diagnosis report. Basically any relevent paperwork that would help when we arrived.

 

Is there anybody in the RAF where you are at the moment, that could give you any advice as to where you are moving to and nearby schools?

 

Another idea would be to find out from the Local Council's website, the school's that will be local to you. If you can find a telephone number for the Council's Special Educational Needs Department, it would also be worth giving them a call and asking them lots of questions in advance.

 

Annie

xx

[phasmid]

Hi Kimberely and welcome to the forum.

[nellie]

Welcome to the forum Kimberley,

 

 

A couple of links to the NAS which have useful information. The first site gives information on services, the second link gives lists of schools, support groups etc.

 

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=121

 

NAS Public Autism Resource & Information Service.

http://www.info.autism.org.uk/Pages/Index.aspx

 

This is the link to Suffolk County Council - http://www.suffolk.gov.uk

[Kazzen161]

If there is an NAS branch in Suffolk, it would be good to contact them (they may have a web-site or e-mail contact), as they will be able to tell you about how their LEA (Local Education Authority) works, and what sort of schools they have.

 

Karen

[Elouise]

We will be sponsered by the military... my husband is in the Air Force here in the states and we have our own form of insurance here that covers just about anything, but I dont know how it will work over there. I guess I am probably just going to have to wait and see.

 

Thanks again.

 

First off get your husband (the insurance is made out under his name and for his dependants I THINK) to contact your countries air force personal support services.

Find out if the bases kids attend the local UK schools or if there is a school provided on the base itself.

 

If your a non UK citizen and need to use spcecialist schools or your son needs specialised support in school this may well need to be paid for by the military. Its NOT cheap providing specialist education in the UK if you are not a UK citizen. This is something to enquire about before you arrive here.

It IS possible to homeschool in the UK through education otherwise and there are resources available for parents who homeschool special needs if you struggle to find suitable schooling. You can find details of this in the education folder on this forum.

 

Check if the US disability benefits apply to your son whilst your husband serves outside of the US with his family. You will NOT be entitles to the UK ones so find out if you are for the US ones.

 

Contact NAS for details of whats available locally to where you will be so you can give details to whoever deals with familiy difficulties on the base so they can liase on your behalf.

Your medical stuff should be covered by the bases doctors BUT you may also need to have details of specilaists in the Uk that can be bought in i.e. speech therapists, child psychologists, educational psychologists and so on.

 

Voluntary support groups welcome anyone so its worth contacting those; it is accessing statutory services in the Uk that will be like re-inventing the wheel!

Mind you if you live in the Uk as a British citizen accessing stat services can be like reinventing the wheel too.

[elaine1]

different areas have differnet policies, and different ways of implementing them. hope youre are good though. welcome to the uk. <'>

[Ian Jordan]

There are a number of areas that you may wish to address

 

health, education, social services, alternative and complementary therapies

Each of these can be provided either by the state or privately They vary wildly in success on an individual, partly due to the disparate nature of the spectrum, partly due the limited knowledge there is at present, partly due to finances.

 

In health you can address

 

diet

allergies

sensitivities

heavy metals

vision

visual percepetion

auditory

auditory perception

speech and language

proprioception

kinesthetics

synesthesia

coding

sensory integration

smell touch taste difficulties

biofeedback

cranial osteopathy

chiropractors

++++++

 

In education there are possiblilties with specialist teachers in the mainstream through to specialist schools

 

Social services may help with childcare, respite etc

 

But where do you start?

 

Each child is different and you need advice from mentors and friends - good luck

[lil_me]

There is an NAS supported group in Suffolk.

 

No idea what to advise as I haven't had to go through it before myself, but I wish you the best of luck with the move etc.

Edited April 27, 2006 by lil_me