@crypticvenus
Removing your son from your utility profile increased your marketability.
Now you have the decision to either choose to educate your child in which case if you do you should start looking for home assistance (a TA, housekeeper, Au-pair) or hiring a tutor, etc to provide for your childs education.
Special Needs Options
Re: Special Needs Options
Crypticvenus
I am going to mention something that, since you are new to IT, may not have thought about.
Unless your school has a fair percentage of students who are on IEP's or have special needs, your son, and by extension, you and your husband, could be in for a lonely first tour. International school teachers often form their own circle of friends - read: cliques - and if your son is not able to socialize with his peers, you and your family might find yourselves, while not exactly actively shunned, ignored and left out: no invitations to birthday or other parties, no offers of group trips or outings, no play dates, etc. And, since your school may not have many - or any - special needs students, your son may have difficulties fitting in. This also happens too many times when one teacher has a spouse who does not also teach or work at the school. International schools can be very insular and parochial, which always surprised me given that everyone had the desire and motivation to move from home to a foreign culture.
I would also caution you about believing that your school head can find a good, professional, and experienced person to aid your son since most International schools - and this may not be the case for yours - do not have much experience with, or even enroll, students with even moderate special needs.
Any other IT's have any input on this?
Please take everything I've written with a grain of salt since I do not know where you will be going - your area and school may be able to provide all they state and your colleagues could be fantastic, making my post inapplicable to you at this time.
You stated that you are about to "embark on the journey" to teach internationally which, forgive me, sounds rather naive, and you may only be thinking about the positive aspects of your new post and seeing only joy and happiness. International teaching is just like domestic teaching: in the end it is a job, an important job, but a job nevertheless. I just hope you think about the possible less than positive realities and make sure your school can provide for your son academically and socially.
Have you emailed other teachers at your school, in your departments, to explain your situation and ask about the staff personality, other special needs students in the school, etc? Might be a help.
I sincerely hope that your first appointment is a great experience for you, your husband, and especially your son, and that everything I've just posted turns out to be unnecessary information. Good luck.
Good luck.
I am going to mention something that, since you are new to IT, may not have thought about.
Unless your school has a fair percentage of students who are on IEP's or have special needs, your son, and by extension, you and your husband, could be in for a lonely first tour. International school teachers often form their own circle of friends - read: cliques - and if your son is not able to socialize with his peers, you and your family might find yourselves, while not exactly actively shunned, ignored and left out: no invitations to birthday or other parties, no offers of group trips or outings, no play dates, etc. And, since your school may not have many - or any - special needs students, your son may have difficulties fitting in. This also happens too many times when one teacher has a spouse who does not also teach or work at the school. International schools can be very insular and parochial, which always surprised me given that everyone had the desire and motivation to move from home to a foreign culture.
I would also caution you about believing that your school head can find a good, professional, and experienced person to aid your son since most International schools - and this may not be the case for yours - do not have much experience with, or even enroll, students with even moderate special needs.
Any other IT's have any input on this?
Please take everything I've written with a grain of salt since I do not know where you will be going - your area and school may be able to provide all they state and your colleagues could be fantastic, making my post inapplicable to you at this time.
You stated that you are about to "embark on the journey" to teach internationally which, forgive me, sounds rather naive, and you may only be thinking about the positive aspects of your new post and seeing only joy and happiness. International teaching is just like domestic teaching: in the end it is a job, an important job, but a job nevertheless. I just hope you think about the possible less than positive realities and make sure your school can provide for your son academically and socially.
Have you emailed other teachers at your school, in your departments, to explain your situation and ask about the staff personality, other special needs students in the school, etc? Might be a help.
I sincerely hope that your first appointment is a great experience for you, your husband, and especially your son, and that everything I've just posted turns out to be unnecessary information. Good luck.
Good luck.
Discussion
In regards to @senator; first, ISs have many social groups that form, depending on the IS there is very likely a group that is composed of those with trailing spouses, and outside of work your spouse, you will likely have plenty of opportunities to socialize with your peers if you want to, and make the effort to do so. Depending on your location you may have strong opportunities to socialize with locals or expats from outside your IS community.
Second, I strongly concur with the position that your child is very likely to have a very lonely experience. Children and parents can be exceptionally cruel, especially host national families in parts of Asia. For a sever special needs student their isnt going to be much if any activities that his peers will want to socialize with him.
I would have a conversation with your recruiter, about what they can facilitate. Can he participate in the ASP program, can he attend field trips, etc? Whats the leave policy, if you have to stay home a day to work with your child. What professional medical support is available (is your child medication, if any, available).
Third, I have little doubt the IS will be able to assist you with locating assistance for your son, its not difficult for an HR rep to help find "someone". Whats not going to happen is a lot of time put into it, and not at any type of cost. The rep will call a few dispatch agencies and see if anyone is available, and thats going to be about it. You arent going to get concierge assistance, or dedicated support. The issue is going to be what direction you take, finding your son a LS educator is going to be very expensive and somewhat time consuming, if feasible at all. Finding general home/domestic help is going to be more readily available and affordable.
An OSH placement with a child that has severe needs is not just an extended holiday/vacation. You need to have a discussion with your recruiter about the availability of resources and support for the possible events that you may have taken for granted or have not considered.
Second, I strongly concur with the position that your child is very likely to have a very lonely experience. Children and parents can be exceptionally cruel, especially host national families in parts of Asia. For a sever special needs student their isnt going to be much if any activities that his peers will want to socialize with him.
I would have a conversation with your recruiter, about what they can facilitate. Can he participate in the ASP program, can he attend field trips, etc? Whats the leave policy, if you have to stay home a day to work with your child. What professional medical support is available (is your child medication, if any, available).
Third, I have little doubt the IS will be able to assist you with locating assistance for your son, its not difficult for an HR rep to help find "someone". Whats not going to happen is a lot of time put into it, and not at any type of cost. The rep will call a few dispatch agencies and see if anyone is available, and thats going to be about it. You arent going to get concierge assistance, or dedicated support. The issue is going to be what direction you take, finding your son a LS educator is going to be very expensive and somewhat time consuming, if feasible at all. Finding general home/domestic help is going to be more readily available and affordable.
An OSH placement with a child that has severe needs is not just an extended holiday/vacation. You need to have a discussion with your recruiter about the availability of resources and support for the possible events that you may have taken for granted or have not considered.
Re: Special Needs Options
Crypticvenus,
Again, I hope the scenario Psyguy and I laid out does not occur for you. Please get all the ducks in a row with your recruiter and school head. And please email others at your school.
Again, I hope the scenario Psyguy and I laid out does not occur for you. Please get all the ducks in a row with your recruiter and school head. And please email others at your school.
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crypticvenus
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:26 pm
Re: Special Needs Options
Senator,
Very good points that we've considered. We'll be teaching in Nigeria and as African Americans I think we'll have a little more edge in navigating socially with the locals versus say in Asia which is what we plan to do. I'll continue to keep my little guy visible in the community.
The school has offered to utilize their pool of TA applicants for potential candidates and to coordinate Skype interviews between us. This will be a great start for us. This week I'm going to inquire through the little guy's insurance to see what assistance they can provide as well. He's enrolled in the ECHO program through TRICARE and I know that they offer some special education services domestically I'll have to see what options are available overseas since we'll be in a region with no adequate public school options.
Very good points that we've considered. We'll be teaching in Nigeria and as African Americans I think we'll have a little more edge in navigating socially with the locals versus say in Asia which is what we plan to do. I'll continue to keep my little guy visible in the community.
The school has offered to utilize their pool of TA applicants for potential candidates and to coordinate Skype interviews between us. This will be a great start for us. This week I'm going to inquire through the little guy's insurance to see what assistance they can provide as well. He's enrolled in the ECHO program through TRICARE and I know that they offer some special education services domestically I'll have to see what options are available overseas since we'll be in a region with no adequate public school options.
Reply
@crypticvenus
Your ethnic and racial similarities are not going to benefit you in assimilating into local culture. I would strongly discourage you from attempting to go native.
The TA pool is going to be of little use to you outside of general household and childcare assistance. Your not going to find anything resembling an LS aid.
Your insurance is going to likely provide nothing in terms of overseas care and support. At most there might be medical evacuation. What your going to want to do is speak with your child health care provider about maintaining a some form of relationship, with possibly a monthly consultation. If your child (and you/spouse) have any prescription needs, securing either a means of getting those prescriptions on a continual basis or obtaining a sufficient supply before you leave to take with you; especially (and this is critical) if you have any type of specialized/esoteric condition.
If there isnt a municipal DS option, I doubt your compensation package is sufficient to hire a DT/IT to provide your childs education. Youre very likely going to have to do it, while handing off household responsibilities to a domestic helper.
One long shot option you might want to experiment with is finding a student teacher through a local university or EPP/ITT program, who would be interested in accompanying you as your childs teacher. Since student teachers are eligible for financial aid, you wouldnt have to pay them, and could offer airfare and possibly housing (a room in your residence) along with the opportunity to travel. Your IS sounds as if they may be able to facilitate a visa on your behalf.
Your ethnic and racial similarities are not going to benefit you in assimilating into local culture. I would strongly discourage you from attempting to go native.
The TA pool is going to be of little use to you outside of general household and childcare assistance. Your not going to find anything resembling an LS aid.
Your insurance is going to likely provide nothing in terms of overseas care and support. At most there might be medical evacuation. What your going to want to do is speak with your child health care provider about maintaining a some form of relationship, with possibly a monthly consultation. If your child (and you/spouse) have any prescription needs, securing either a means of getting those prescriptions on a continual basis or obtaining a sufficient supply before you leave to take with you; especially (and this is critical) if you have any type of specialized/esoteric condition.
If there isnt a municipal DS option, I doubt your compensation package is sufficient to hire a DT/IT to provide your childs education. Youre very likely going to have to do it, while handing off household responsibilities to a domestic helper.
One long shot option you might want to experiment with is finding a student teacher through a local university or EPP/ITT program, who would be interested in accompanying you as your childs teacher. Since student teachers are eligible for financial aid, you wouldnt have to pay them, and could offer airfare and possibly housing (a room in your residence) along with the opportunity to travel. Your IS sounds as if they may be able to facilitate a visa on your behalf.
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wrldtrvlr123
- Posts: 1173
- Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:59 am
- Location: Japan
Re: Special Needs Options
crypticvenus wrote:
> Senator,
>
> Very good points that we've considered. We'll be teaching in Nigeria and as
> African Americans I think we'll have a little more edge in navigating
> socially with the locals versus say in Asia which is what we plan to do.
> I'll continue to keep my little guy visible in the community.
>
> The school has offered to utilize their pool of TA applicants for potential
> candidates and to coordinate Skype interviews between us. This will be a
> great start for us. This week I'm going to inquire through the little guy's
> insurance to see what assistance they can provide as well. He's enrolled in
> the ECHO program through TRICARE and I know that they offer some special
> education services domestically I'll have to see what options are available
> overseas since we'll be in a region with no adequate public school options.
------------------------
Other posters have made some fair points as far preparing for the negative ramifications. As a family that has been through similar circumstances in the states and in several different overseas countries I can vouch that many of those things can and do happen. I can also attest (as you probably can) that many of these feelings of being left out and/or the special needs child feeling lonely can happen anywhere in the world. Ironically for us, being overseas has somehow made us feel less on the outside looking in because of our our child's disability. It has worked well for us as a family and we have made it work for his education.
As far as using local TA candidates to provide a large part of your child's education, again I am personally familiar with this option and it can work. Will it be the same as him being enrolled in special education program in a public school system? Of course not. In some ways it will be worse and in some ways it may be better. As parents of a child with special needs we can attest that education, even in the US, will look very different from school to school, class to class, year to year etc. Some years we felt our son was being well provided for and making progress and other years felt like pointless battles and wasted time and energy.
You have the advantage of being a SPED professional and will be able/will have to design your son's home program. With training from you, a willing local TA type should be more than capable of delivering the content (e.g. academic, life skills etc) that you have selected and provided. If you can supplement that with some type of inclusion time o\at your school for PE and/or Art and/or some type of therapy that may be available in the community and possibly educational trips out into the community then he will likely be just fine. Will he be regressing or not progressing as well as he could be? No can answer that, just as no one could answer that even if you were back in your home country and had access to alleged state of the art services.
I know that the idea of taking a special needs child to a part of the world without IDEA and comprehensive SPED services may seem crazy to other people (and possibly it is) but no one can really judge what is right for you and your family but you. Posters have raised some great points to consider and all you can do try to prepare as best as you can and maximize your options as you make decisions.
Good luck!
> Senator,
>
> Very good points that we've considered. We'll be teaching in Nigeria and as
> African Americans I think we'll have a little more edge in navigating
> socially with the locals versus say in Asia which is what we plan to do.
> I'll continue to keep my little guy visible in the community.
>
> The school has offered to utilize their pool of TA applicants for potential
> candidates and to coordinate Skype interviews between us. This will be a
> great start for us. This week I'm going to inquire through the little guy's
> insurance to see what assistance they can provide as well. He's enrolled in
> the ECHO program through TRICARE and I know that they offer some special
> education services domestically I'll have to see what options are available
> overseas since we'll be in a region with no adequate public school options.
------------------------
Other posters have made some fair points as far preparing for the negative ramifications. As a family that has been through similar circumstances in the states and in several different overseas countries I can vouch that many of those things can and do happen. I can also attest (as you probably can) that many of these feelings of being left out and/or the special needs child feeling lonely can happen anywhere in the world. Ironically for us, being overseas has somehow made us feel less on the outside looking in because of our our child's disability. It has worked well for us as a family and we have made it work for his education.
As far as using local TA candidates to provide a large part of your child's education, again I am personally familiar with this option and it can work. Will it be the same as him being enrolled in special education program in a public school system? Of course not. In some ways it will be worse and in some ways it may be better. As parents of a child with special needs we can attest that education, even in the US, will look very different from school to school, class to class, year to year etc. Some years we felt our son was being well provided for and making progress and other years felt like pointless battles and wasted time and energy.
You have the advantage of being a SPED professional and will be able/will have to design your son's home program. With training from you, a willing local TA type should be more than capable of delivering the content (e.g. academic, life skills etc) that you have selected and provided. If you can supplement that with some type of inclusion time o\at your school for PE and/or Art and/or some type of therapy that may be available in the community and possibly educational trips out into the community then he will likely be just fine. Will he be regressing or not progressing as well as he could be? No can answer that, just as no one could answer that even if you were back in your home country and had access to alleged state of the art services.
I know that the idea of taking a special needs child to a part of the world without IDEA and comprehensive SPED services may seem crazy to other people (and possibly it is) but no one can really judge what is right for you and your family but you. Posters have raised some great points to consider and all you can do try to prepare as best as you can and maximize your options as you make decisions.
Good luck!
Reply
I have some serious issues with @WT123s advice. My first is the region, Nigeria, is not the WE, the level of training and education you are going to find in Nigeria is not going to be equivalent to that in western regions. The idea that you can just plan a lesson and give it to a TA and have them implement it is not a process I would endorse.
Second, while outcomes with highly functioning mild needs students are easier to main stream into general education with minor modifications and adaptations, this is a sever needs student that you are traveling with overseas, this is highy advised against, unless there is a local program.
Second, while outcomes with highly functioning mild needs students are easier to main stream into general education with minor modifications and adaptations, this is a sever needs student that you are traveling with overseas, this is highy advised against, unless there is a local program.
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wrldtrvlr123
- Posts: 1173
- Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:59 am
- Location: Japan
Re: Special Needs Options
PsyGuy wrote:
> I have some serious issues with @WT123s advice. My first is the region, Nigeria,
> is not the WE, the level of training and education you are going to find in Nigeria
> is not going to be equivalent to that in western regions. The idea that you can
> just plan a lesson and give it to a TA and have them implement it is not a process
> I would endorse.
> Second, while outcomes with highly functioning mild needs students are easier to
> main stream into general education with minor modifications and adaptations, this
> is a sever needs student that you are traveling with overseas, this is highy advised
> against, unless there is a local program.
--------------------------------
Well, you are welcome to your opinions of course but possibly you will concede that I have more actual experience and expertise in this area (although I realize that this may be a longshot). I have been a small school administrator of two special needs international schools (neither in Western Europe) and have extensive experience in interviewing and training local teaching assistants, collaborating with TAs, OTs, PTs, SLPs and parents to set up home programs for children/students with disabilities ranging from mild to profound.
I also helped a family who was returning to their home country (in Africa) and we were able to set up an effective program using mainly local assistants supplemented by some of the options I previously mentioned.
I'm not saying that it would be easy or would turn out to be an ideal situation but it can be a viable option for families that do not want to let their child's disability destroy their dreams of living and teaching overseas.
I have heard people say that these families should just stay home (and some have actually included my family in this comment) and those people are also welcome to their opinions.
> I have some serious issues with @WT123s advice. My first is the region, Nigeria,
> is not the WE, the level of training and education you are going to find in Nigeria
> is not going to be equivalent to that in western regions. The idea that you can
> just plan a lesson and give it to a TA and have them implement it is not a process
> I would endorse.
> Second, while outcomes with highly functioning mild needs students are easier to
> main stream into general education with minor modifications and adaptations, this
> is a sever needs student that you are traveling with overseas, this is highy advised
> against, unless there is a local program.
--------------------------------
Well, you are welcome to your opinions of course but possibly you will concede that I have more actual experience and expertise in this area (although I realize that this may be a longshot). I have been a small school administrator of two special needs international schools (neither in Western Europe) and have extensive experience in interviewing and training local teaching assistants, collaborating with TAs, OTs, PTs, SLPs and parents to set up home programs for children/students with disabilities ranging from mild to profound.
I also helped a family who was returning to their home country (in Africa) and we were able to set up an effective program using mainly local assistants supplemented by some of the options I previously mentioned.
I'm not saying that it would be easy or would turn out to be an ideal situation but it can be a viable option for families that do not want to let their child's disability destroy their dreams of living and teaching overseas.
I have heard people say that these families should just stay home (and some have actually included my family in this comment) and those people are also welcome to their opinions.
Reply
@WT123
I have and continue to defer to your expertise in these matters (please see my first response in this very thread), It is well warranted on this forum your expertise in this area is unparalleled.
My concern is your singular sided presentation and approach to the our readership. I realize as a Unicorn your reflexive disposition is to be the herald of light and joy, and not the harbinger of darkness and sorrow. Permit if you will an observation; Your expertise as offered has been to date one sided, you have addressed nothing in the way of hardships, difficulties, adverse effects and actions or challenges, as befitting an expert who seeks to convey an entire world view.
Specifically as detailed in your previously aforementioned post:
1) Your experience as an administrator and educator in two SEN ISs is not directly extrapolatable from my perspective. The IS in question has no SEN/LS program from which to draw resources and expertise. The parental IT has themselves only to rely on?
2) Your considerable expertise and experience is not and will not be present for the parental IT to draw on, what success you have brought in previous experiences can not be called upon in this scenario. While you can do it, I fail to see how you can fiat that others, even professional can accomplish the same as yourself. Perhaps they can, but the data to date is not sufficient in my view to merit such findings?
3) All regions of Africa are not alike, and have vastly differing resources and support appropriate background. S.Africa and cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town are highly unlikely to have support offerings and resources available. As cited by the LW, at the location the IS has no LS department or resources and there is no municipal option for the student. My conclusion from such statements are that resources are likely to be sparse or unavailable, or at least, are unknown and it would be potentially unwarranted perhaps to venture forth under such unknown conditions?
4) As a professional I am sure you are comfortable discussing and examining all possible and viable positions, including the option that delaying or forgoing travel may upon reflection be the potentially best choice?
I have and continue to defer to your expertise in these matters (please see my first response in this very thread), It is well warranted on this forum your expertise in this area is unparalleled.
My concern is your singular sided presentation and approach to the our readership. I realize as a Unicorn your reflexive disposition is to be the herald of light and joy, and not the harbinger of darkness and sorrow. Permit if you will an observation; Your expertise as offered has been to date one sided, you have addressed nothing in the way of hardships, difficulties, adverse effects and actions or challenges, as befitting an expert who seeks to convey an entire world view.
Specifically as detailed in your previously aforementioned post:
1) Your experience as an administrator and educator in two SEN ISs is not directly extrapolatable from my perspective. The IS in question has no SEN/LS program from which to draw resources and expertise. The parental IT has themselves only to rely on?
2) Your considerable expertise and experience is not and will not be present for the parental IT to draw on, what success you have brought in previous experiences can not be called upon in this scenario. While you can do it, I fail to see how you can fiat that others, even professional can accomplish the same as yourself. Perhaps they can, but the data to date is not sufficient in my view to merit such findings?
3) All regions of Africa are not alike, and have vastly differing resources and support appropriate background. S.Africa and cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town are highly unlikely to have support offerings and resources available. As cited by the LW, at the location the IS has no LS department or resources and there is no municipal option for the student. My conclusion from such statements are that resources are likely to be sparse or unavailable, or at least, are unknown and it would be potentially unwarranted perhaps to venture forth under such unknown conditions?
4) As a professional I am sure you are comfortable discussing and examining all possible and viable positions, including the option that delaying or forgoing travel may upon reflection be the potentially best choice?
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wrldtrvlr123
- Posts: 1173
- Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:59 am
- Location: Japan
Re: Special Needs Options
I didn't say you shouldn't express your advice or opinions (i.e. stay home). I said other posters had made fair points and then I expressed my opinion/advice based on the successes I have seen/been a part of. You were the one who expressed (serious) issues with MY advice, by name.
I won't try and convince you that my experience is applicable to the OPs situation other than to say I have worked with many families who could not afford the programs that I have been running or were moving on to locations that did not have established programs. We were able to design viable programs that were mainly implemented by local staff without SPED/therapy degrees. Obviously all local staff are not equal in all locations in the world but the fact remains that viable options are possible.
Of course we are all spit balling here because we don't know all of the details of the OPs actual circumstances and the OP is receiving the range of advice that you so value. I did specifically state that there would/could be challenges. Why should I list all of the potential pitfalls since you seem to have that covered (strangely I didn't really feel that you were offering a well balanced outlook in your posts even thought you seem to expect it of mine)?
Feel free to be discouraging or realistic, depending on your PoV. I will feel free to be encouraging while stipulating that there will be challenges, as there are for all parents of special needs children, wherever they are in the world.
I won't try and convince you that my experience is applicable to the OPs situation other than to say I have worked with many families who could not afford the programs that I have been running or were moving on to locations that did not have established programs. We were able to design viable programs that were mainly implemented by local staff without SPED/therapy degrees. Obviously all local staff are not equal in all locations in the world but the fact remains that viable options are possible.
Of course we are all spit balling here because we don't know all of the details of the OPs actual circumstances and the OP is receiving the range of advice that you so value. I did specifically state that there would/could be challenges. Why should I list all of the potential pitfalls since you seem to have that covered (strangely I didn't really feel that you were offering a well balanced outlook in your posts even thought you seem to expect it of mine)?
Feel free to be discouraging or realistic, depending on your PoV. I will feel free to be encouraging while stipulating that there will be challenges, as there are for all parents of special needs children, wherever they are in the world.
Reply
@WT123
I expressed my concerns directed at you by name since it was your response I had issues with. Again, your not there to make it work for the LW, perhaps the locust of success vs. failure is contingent on your participation. Those plans worked because you created and implemented them.
I didnt observe any discussion from you about the negatives or challenges? My response was very one sided, as that is the side I have experience with, I dont have a positive side to share in this scenario. My position was that you would be able to discus in depth both positive advantages and negative disadvantages?
Thank you for the confirmation that I had adequately covered the negatives, I was not aware I had.
I expressed my concerns directed at you by name since it was your response I had issues with. Again, your not there to make it work for the LW, perhaps the locust of success vs. failure is contingent on your participation. Those plans worked because you created and implemented them.
I didnt observe any discussion from you about the negatives or challenges? My response was very one sided, as that is the side I have experience with, I dont have a positive side to share in this scenario. My position was that you would be able to discus in depth both positive advantages and negative disadvantages?
Thank you for the confirmation that I had adequately covered the negatives, I was not aware I had.