Question
We are seriously considering moving to a place where my autistic 8 year old son will have a tiny bit of support and chance he needs, to attend a school. By that I mean any school, private, concertadas, off the grid kind of school, special needs or adapted in mainstream, that just has the basic know-how about autism.
This kid has potential, and we really struggle to meet the needed requirements. We live in Romania and have done anything possible to fill the gap in the school system. Basically there is zero help, we do it all, we have tried it all, gave everything a chance. Spain is our wish, since the language will be easy for us and the culture more familiar. I speak some very basic Spanish. We all manage well in English, including the kid, but I do not know how we can find schools that transition from En to Es learning.. . Any advice is appreciated!
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“I think the support in Spain varies from place to place, and even school to school. Have you considered Gibraltar? I think the support children receive there is better than the UK, but you have to live and work there, and rental costs are high.”
“You really need to look at Northern Europe for proper support for your child and better use of English in school and society in general. Spain has a low general knowledge of English and teaching English in public schools is very poor. Private internațional schools are not very good, no support for special needs there either. In state schools you may find support occasionally, but it’s definitely not systemic. You need to look at the Netherlands or Sweden for better integration and support including with leaning the language. Jobs are also rather difficult to find in Spain and there is no extra financial support from the state for families with special needs children. It is assumed that you have your own network of support from family and friends. I also heard that there is good support in Ireland, where the language is no longer an issue. Sorry to disappoint you but Spain is not the best in such cases as a general rule.”
“I have found the educational system very difficult to grasp wirh my autistic boy. I’m taking him out of school and moving, I wanted to homeschool him but some areas don’t allow it, which is ridiculous. Try do some short courses online on how to better understand your son and keep reaching out to people. I am happy to help if you want to hear my experience as a mom with an ASD, ADHD child. Good luck”
“When I worked in schools here, autistic kids were put in the same class as everyone else and they were given really bogus assignments and not given any of the special attention they needed. These were concertadas. Upon asking about it, I found that this is the norm in Spain. I would seek advice from a group of people with special needs children who might have experience with the different schools and know the places to go to because really it’s almost as if they don’t believe in autism, etc. and just for me that was really frustrating to see.”
“Sotogrande international school”
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