Moving To The Uk

F

fayth

Registered User
My Husband and I are moving to the UK in the next few months. Our son is Autistic and has been treated here in HKG with great success. But, looking ahead we think our son may require better services for his Education than what is provided here in HKG. UK provides services for children with Autism and has an interest to push them into the main stream as they get better.
We do have some friends in the UK to help us settle in;
but we need more information from all of you out there; for what to look out for.
My son and husband are full Brit Citizens; but it'll be their first time living in the UK;
Can you please let us know what are the best ways to enroll into the services provided by the Govt in the UK & what services we can use to help us keep afloat financially while we look for work.
Your prompt advice is greatly appreciated.
:thanks
 
hey there
i dont have a huge amount of direct experience of autism but i am a primary school teacher in london and we have a lot of autistic children (of varying levels) in the school.
how old is your son? is he able to be in mainstream education? lots of the autistic children are given one on one support in my school to help them get the most of the curriculum and they seem to enjoy being there. in my last class, we had a downs syndrome girl also who made it all the way through primary with us upto aged 11.
i guess the first thing you'd do is get your son assessed by a doc/specialist in the uk and then apply for appropriate care or schools from there. i dont think you'd be able to do a great deal from HK on this. i am sure you will be able to get support, but whether this is any better than in Hk i dont know.
financially, you will have to apply to the job centres for job seekers allowance, child benefit and perhaps rental assistance. i am not sure what you'd be entitled to.
good luck
 
Moving to UK for long term education needs of our Autistic son

Hi Onesarah,

Our son is 2 and half years old. He's made tremendous progress with the private therapy in Hong Kong. The schools here don't have a good program to manage kids with autism in that there isn't an agreed upon comprehensive program which exists in the school system but which exists as private enterprises that treat the children as compared with the UK. Hong Kong schools do not have a one to one program with autistic children.

Thank you so much for letting us know what allowances there are to look for. My husband is flying ahead to get settled and then me and my son will follow a little later. We are doing this move primarily for our son so that in the long term he can be taught and hopefully moved to the mainstream in the later years as he learns to fit in.

Which school are you in Onesarah?
:thanks
 
hi there
i am at a school in hackney but will only be there for another 4 weeks, as then we will be moving to HK!
schools in london and i am sure across the uk are pretty much geared up to involving all children in mainstream education and i am sure you will have no problems finding the right school for you.
children can go enrol in 'nursery class' from 3 1/2, they then go into reception class and year 1 by the time they are 5. nursery and reception are optional, but alot of parents do reception to ensure their child gets a place in the school. when you are settled where you are going to live, you will need to get your son on the school waiting list as the best schools are obviously very popular and first choice goes to those children with siblings already there. this may be less the case outside of london, but here i know parents often struggle to get the school of their choice.
sarah x
 
Thanks so much for your replies OneSarah. The information is very useful to me and my husband.

I hope your move to HK goes well and that you find it as exciting as we have even though we have lived here our entire lives. Hong Kong is a city that will grow on you fast and leave a deep impression. Although it is a modern city, there is much culture and history here even before the colonial days. I can tell you that if we did have a choice, we would stay here but family needs have to come first and the UK seems to be the next step for us.

I hope we can stay in touch and give each other a heads up when questions arise.

:thanks
 
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