My son has special needs.

[jhornick]

Our eight year old is high functioning on the autistic scale. He receives many services at school here in the states, both in the classroom and in pull-out sessions. Without these, I think his school experience would be difficult and negative.

I'd like to teach (starting in 2015) at an international high school where my eight year old (who will be nine by then) would be well accommodated. We also have a high-achieving 14 year old (who will be 15). Does anyone have information that will help me think about this?

Thank you.

[fine dude]

These schools in Singapore do a fine job:
http://www.pathlight.org.sg/programme/sec.php
http://www.dovercourt.edu.sg/academic-programmes/dse

More schools can be found at the US State Department site:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/176076.pdf

[jhornick]

Thank you, fine dude. The Singapore schools look lovely and the State Department document gives me a starting point in many places.

[shadowjack]

Be aware that many international schools will have no type of program to support either of your children. Others will. Research carefully and ask questions of the directors and principals before committing. There are definitely more than there were in the past, when special ed kids were not accepted for enrollment by many schools, but there is still a long ways to go. Good luck with your search next year.

[jhornick]

Shadowjack, I appreciate your words of warning. These are waters I will enter very carefully. Thank you. Should I do more than ask questions? Would you suggest that I ask to speak with parents of other special education students that have attended the school or anything along those lines?

[shadowjack]

I wouldn't go that far, but make sure you do your homework on schools. I would advise you to start a spreadsheet now and join Search to get access to their data base. It should allow you to search schools with programs for special needs students. Also, ask on the boards about schools when you aren't sure.

The most important thing is that your son is high functioning. Many schools, though, do NOT do IEPs or IPPs or ILPs (gotta love the acronym jungle out there!). Teachers teach and differentiation is a word, not an approach that is utilized. If you do your homework, though, you can find some great schools out there.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[jhornick]

Thanks again, Shadowjack. What is "Search?" How do I join it?

[Dawson]

jhornick wrote:
> Thanks again, Shadowjack. What is "Search?" How do I join it?

Search Associates. One of the big recruiting agencies on the international circuit. I agree with what Shadowjack said. Just be mindful that the services you are getting in the States will be difficult, but not impossible, to replicate overseas. The West is more current on trends and working with students on the autism scale. I was a special education teacher so I know the early intervention years are key. If he is high functioning he would probably do well, but speech and a lot of other services that come automatically with an IEP in the States won't be found overseas. If you know what works well for him (picture schedule, plan for change in schedule, set routine, etc.) and you can help the school use those strategies he should be fine, but like Shadowjack said there's a lot of schools on the international circuit that won't take kids like that. I would just do your due diligence when recruiting. Be honest about your situation and see if there would be a good fit. It sounds like you are very conscientious and if it turns out he would be better served by staying where you are you can always do that.

[jhornick]

Thank you, Dawson.
Due diligence it is.

[mamava]

As a learning support teacher overseas, I would proceed with caution and very very good due diligence. Even the very best overseas teachers I've worked with often have very little experience with a range of disabilities because they don't see them that often and don't have a lot of strategies to deal with them. Big elite schools will have more resources on paper, but they are very rigorous from the early ages and may not allow curricular modifications. Many won't allow and don't provide aides specifically to work with a student. The overall pace of an international school classroom can be much quicker than in the States. Even in large cities, there may not be services (counseling, OT, PT, speech, etc.) that families relied on at home and those services are not provided by schools. Smaller schools may not have the same levels of staffing on paper, but they may have less rigorous programs, or different structures that allow a student will more needs to be successful--a traditional American curriculum vs. a British vs. PYP may also make a difference.

From experience, the biggest headaches and frustrations and pain are caused by parents who didn't fully disclose just what their child needed because they were worried their child would not be accepted. They were right, their child probably wouldn't have been, and once the child was in the school and really really struggling, it was so hard on everyone--parents, teachers, and child. Then they were often frustrated that the school did not provide the extra services that were mandated in the States. As the parent of a student with mild LD who struggles in school, we left an elite Tier 1 school with a big LS staff because in secondary the pressure and strain of keeping up were just too much. His ability to fit in and be successful were one of our top considerations in our job search, which is why we're now in the Middle East--which would not have been our list if we didn't have his needs to account for. We interviewed but would not sign until they reviewed all of our records and assured us that we could be satisfied at this new school.

Be very upfront and honest about your child's needs. If you end up somewhere that is not a good fit, it can be a nightmare.

[Flyingpigs]

A lot of it depends on the parents and them knowing what works for their child....for example, here in Canada we have a lot of assistive technologies used in our resource rooms ie "word Q" which is a program that offers text to speech. International schools have to have teachers that know about the assistive programs out there, and have computer access to them.
A fair number of schools/resource departments ( in Int'l schools) dont have Word Q. ( as an example)
If the parent knows about it, and it works for their kid, they can insist the Resource Teacher become familiar with it, and use it--if they DONT, then a great tool will be left unused, and the child will struggle.
Often, even in Canada parents have to fight for their kid, and the School Board has a duty to accommodate. It is mandated by law. For example, in one school I was at- the whole entrance to the school had to be reworked to accommodate a student in a wheelchair--cost thousands of dollars. Will that kind of support be available to you and your child in an International school? The law here goes a long LONG way in seeing that the kids needs are met. Without the inclusion law--I am not sure where a lot of special needs kids would be at.
So--bottom line--knowing what works for your kid stateside, has to be replicated Internationally--which requires parental involvement and savvy--even stateside some resource departments suck, and some are great--that depends on the teacher, administration and school locale. Same for International Schools.

[jhornick]

Mamava & FlyingPigs,
Thank you for your insights. I really appreciate them.
All together, the information I've gathered from posting this question has taught me
-to do my research on schools,
-to know what my son needs and discuss with prospective schools if they can meet those needs, and
-that there are schools out there that could be good fits for both me and my son.
Thank you.

[redrider]

Flyingpigs wrote:
International schools have to have teachers that know about the assistive programs out there, and have computer access to them.

I would disagree with this... international schools don't HAVE to have... anything. They don't even have to deliver whatever they might say on their website. They don't HAVE to adhere to anything. Some don't. They only have to know how to work within the laws of the country they are in (NOT the same as North American laws) OR know how to get away with not working within them. There's a lot of room for differences just from those two facts there.

> So--bottom line--knowing what works for your kid stateside, has to be replicated
> Internationally--which requires parental involvement and savvy--
(This begs the question, if you are trying to replicate what you have in the states... why are you trying to leave?)

Many international schools have selective admissions. When parents are diplomats or CEOs of multinational companies, they want their child's school to have strong academic results. Those results will be brought down by special needs students. (I don't say this because I am against inclusion. I am conveying the viewpoint.) Schools that are not selective often end up with the students who have been expelled from the selective schools in the area for seriously disruptive behavior simply because their parents have paid tuition. Those schools have their own challenges.

If you expect the same assistive services that you have in the US to be as easily found in an international school, you are in for a great deal more disappointment than just regarding this issue. There are A LOT of standards that are taken for granted in North America that simply don't exist elsewhere, not just in terms of assistance for special needs. Sidewalks. They're not everywhere. If you're in a city with horrendous traffic and no sidewalks, guess where you're walking. Breathable air and drinkable water. Not everyone has that either.

I recognize that I am coming across as being harsh, but it is better that you investigate this much more fully than get into a situation in another country where you might not even have the choice (saying you have the savings ready) to pick up and leave if things are horribly wrong. In some countries, you don't keep your own passport, your employer does. In others, you need an exit visa, obtained from your employer, in order to leave. If these two scenarios haven't at least given you pause, please, read more in the archives of this forum.

Having said all of that, it is not impossible for you to find what you are looking for in a school overseas, but it does limit the field considerably.

[Flyingpigs]

Red rider...you seemed to have misread the intent of my post. When I said " international schools have to have..." I was implying that the OP should make sure that the Int'l school has the best things for her son--which, in this case MIGHT be assisstive technologies. Of course I did not mean that THEY MUST HAVE ( meaning a RULE) ....to say that about any International School would be idiocy. In fact, if you read my post further, you would see that I was talking about the Western law of inclusion ( at least in Ontario schools) and how it pertains to schools IN ONTARIO.
I suppose, to be completely correct, I should have said " To be comparable to a school in Ontario, Canada, International schools would have to have teachers that...etc" . I guess its the text/understanding intent conundrum.
In regards replicating and " begging the question, why leave?"
The OP was trying to find out what would work for their kid. The parents want the experience of an International School career--and hope that that desire will have minimal impact on their son. Keeping things the same for their kid in terms of his schooling is the point.
Now that being said....all the negativity that their seems to be on the site for schools that are not run like western schools or countries that dont have the same standards as Western ones, or cultural norms like western ones--also get a bad rap which of course does beg the question 'if you want things replicated, why leave'. However, in this case--the OP was talking about her 8 year old son.