International Relocation and School Considerations for Children with Special Needs
International Relocation and School
Moving with children is always difficult, overwhelming parents with guilt. Parents have researched and moved mountains to give their offspring every possible advantage at home. When children have special needs, whether medical or educational, parents worry even more about relocating. Some have devoted their lives to finding the right school placement for their child. Many have abandoned professional careers and replaced them by this as their life’s work. In all locations good educational options are too few and far between.
When a family of a child with special needs learns of a possible international relocation, the rug literally is pulled out from under them. Although research and treatment actually may be more advanced in the destination country, parents need to learn an entirely different system, understand the cultural context, and rethink best practice when considerable time, energy, and effort already have gone into the project. At the same time, waitlist spaces at schools back home will be lost forever, while obtaining a place in a new suitable educational establishment requires getting at the end of the queue again. This time finding the right school must be done in a country where the family lacks contacts or resources. There may be geographical complications and insurance implications. Sometimes, the move takes a family to a country where treatment of the disability is inferior to practices at home. Moving to a society less informed about the child’s circumstances, where schools seem inadequate to meet the needs of the child is devastating. In these cases, home schooling, boarding in the home country, or forging an entirely uncharted path may be the only viable solutions.
Diagnosis Amidst a Move
The most complex cases occur when children actually are diagnosed with special needs in the process of an overseas relocation. Typically this occurs when student experience difficulty in school, but obtain passing grades. Sometimes teachers are aware of a problem which is not recognized at home as long as the child is promoted from one year to the next. If the same child applied to the school s/he attends at his/her current age, s/he may not be admitted, but many moves occur before a learning or other disability causes a complete failure in the current educational placement. Under the circumstances of relocation, such a student is applying for admission to a new school in a weaker position than the one in which s/he entered the educational system several years earlier. However, in the new country, parents typically look for schools of the same caliber as the one their child is leaving. Prospective schools in the destination country may request further assessment information before admitting the child, and a diagnosis is made during an already emotional time.
When this happens, families need to come to terms with their child’s educational problem while finding a home, packing and saying good-bye. Mourning the loss of the image they have had of their child is difficult at any time, but amidst the turmoil of moving it is particularly unbearable. Struggling to learn what they can about their child’s learning issues and the new educational system simultaneously is enough to throw a family already under stress into panic.
How to Approach a Move With a Special Needs Child
To families who have children with special needs, whether or not to move is a decision of greater magnitude than for other families. Since the family faces additional stress, it is wise to keep other aspects of the move simple. Education should be the first priority, allowing the family to figure out this essential aspect of the relocation with as few limitations as possible. Housing decisions should be deferred, if possible, until after schooling, and other necessary therapies are explored.
Sometimes resources in the public sector are superior to those in the private domain. However, for families moving from another location, this may present a chicken and egg situation. In many countries a family cannot register for state schools until a house has been purchased or leased. In addition, the process of obtaining paperwork which allows children to qualify for services, takes significant time anywhere in the world. Families may need an interim and a long-run solution if they plan to use state or public schools.
Navigating educational systems in a new country is daunting. When immersed in the details of a transfer, it is recommended that the family work with an educational advisor or someone qualified to spearhead the effort, pulling together help that may be available from disparate sources. With one point person to steer the effort, sources of useful information include:
- Former school–specialists in one country may be familiar with experts in another;
- Research universities & hospitals;
- Advocacy groups;
- Legal documents, check which schools or systems have faced fewest law suits;
- Parent support networks;
- Newcomer organizations;
- Internet searches.
Conclusion
After all information is gathered, parents should make every effort to be realistic about their child and the alternatives. The best choice for a new school may not mirror the school that their child now attends. If a child currently goes to school in the independent sector, but the new country does a better job with children of similar profiles in the state system, it would be wise to explore both alternatives rather than focusing only on a single possibility.
Moving to a new country may allow a family a fresh, new perspective. Although replicating the services a family had at home may not be possible, considering all available resources may shed new light on a treatment, therapy or approach that may turn out to be the most valuable aspect of a family’s overseas move.
by Liz Perelstein
President
School Choice International
www.SchoolChoiceIntl.com
