By Valerie Koo and Karen Lee Mah, School Choice International You’ve just identified the perfect employee to relocate for a key position in Asia-Pacific (APAC). However, midrelocation, you hear that their child is getting rejected from a slew of international schools. It is then revealed that the child has special education needs, and that the schools in Asia feel they cannot accommodate the student. What can you do now, and what could you have done from the start?
According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, close to 20 percent of all U.S. public school students ages 3–21 are receiving special education services or are in programs for gifted students (collectively referred to as special education needs, or SEN). Parents have to invest a great deal of time and effort in arranging the support their children need, and they are therefore very reluctant to leave those arrangements behind to undertake an assignment.
Employers often have no idea that an employee has a special-needs child. Or, like an iceberg that is largely hidden, there might be awareness of an issue, but it is understood to be “mild” or “managed,” so the relocation starts to go into motion. Only later is it realized that the needs are more challenging and that the services the fam- ily is receiving in their home location cannot be replicated in their host location without consider- able effort and intervention.
If the employer’s global mobility team demonstrates that it is aware of the challenges posed by special education needs abroad and is willing to bring the necessary resources to support employees in those situations, the pool of potential assignees within an organization can be expanded considerably. Employees might be more willing to consider assignments they otherwise may have discounted due to their child or children. This could explain why some employees count themselves out of a relocation without even saying why.
Those tasked with managing relocations, whether it be corporate HR or third-party relocation companies, must try to understand the nuances of identifying and dealing with a family with an SEN child. Only then can they bring to bear the consultative resources with the expertise to ensure the relocation is successful for the entire family. Since this takes time, the key to a successful relocation is to start as early as possible.
In many Asian countries, there is a strong desire for children to do better than their parents. Parents expect their children to perform at the top of their class and hope they will eventually be accepted into a highly ranked university. It is the belief that this is how one becomes successful in life, and it can be a huge burden to carry for all generations involved. In this realm, a B+ is otherwise known as an “Asian F.” “Tiger moms” and dads are usually blindsided by a special-needs diagnosis, blaming themselves and feeling it is a negative reflection on their parenting. If there is a problem or issue, a traditional Asian family may try to brush it under the rug and ramp up the tutors instead of confronting it and working it through with therapists and doctors.
Most U.S. families are aware of their child’s differences and rally to give their child what they need so they have the best chance in accessing the education they deserve. In the U.S., there is an understanding of learning differences and an abundance of resources, partly because parents insist on it and government complies. Most Asian countries are less attuned to these situations. Because many parents feel ashamed of having a child with special needs, these children are underreported or go unreported.
U.S. families need to be prepared to adjust their expectations when moving to Asia-Pacific and be warned about long waiting lists for learning support in mainstream schools as well as in special-needs schools. Assisting aides and therapists not sourced by international schools may not speak English, which presents an additional dynamic. Furthermore, certain brands of medication may not be readily available in Asia, so pre-planning may include researching alternatives with doctors and therapists or making arrangements for periodic international deliveries where possible.
In the U.S., parents are accustomed to a fully packaged special education program within the public schools that carry a legal mandate. In APAC, although SEN programs at local schools are also usu- ally government-funded, these may not be realistic options for expats who probably do not speak the local language. Additionally, for an expat on a three to five-year assignment, it may not necessarily make sense to commit their child to the local curriculum only to have to switch back with the next move.
International schools are privately funded and do not receive any financial support from the government. They are not required by law to provide additional resources for SEN students, even though most do on some level. Most international schools can accommodate only students with mild learning differences and do not have a large support team in place. If learning needs escalate and the school is unable to provide the necessary resources, then the student may diplomatically be asked to leave. As mentioned, finding outside support for learning differences in English can be a challenge, and the therapists and centers popular with expats may have long waiting lists as well.
Some parents may be reluctant to check the “special needs” box on a school application. After speaking extensively to friends and colleagues, Lauren Wallace (name changed for privacy), whose son has moderate ADHD, was extremely anxious that his diagnosis would negatively impact his applications at the popular international schools they had applied to in Hong Kong. She deliberately downplayed his issues on the application, saying that he had “mild ADHD.” In addition, prior to his assessments to determine his level of readiness, she hired tutors for intensive coaching in areas of particular weakness. She thought if he “prepped” for the assessment and if he “just tried harder,” he would do well.
The school’s admissions staff eventually discovered that his issues were more serious than Wallace had initially stated, and this worked against them. She ended up in the principal’s office, literally in tears, pleading for another chance while revealing all the learning support her son had received in her home country. Failure to fully disclose relevant information on an application can lead to an automatic rejection, with the family unofficially blacklisted from the school. Working with schools is a partnership, and the family should fully disclose needs so the school can determine whether or not they will be able to accommodate the student.
The most important factor in locating a school with SEN resources is finding staff who are willing to work with the family. As mentioned, the family and the school should be a team to best support the child, and a family should be transparent about their child’s needs so the school can determine whether they can offer appropriate support for the child to thrive.
Some suggested questions:
Assignees with special-needs children can find schools, but the most successful relocations happen when you start early. An education consultant can first set the family’s expectations regarding the differences between cultures and resources and then discuss all of the options for the family. This is a time-consuming process that is worked through with a team liaising with the schools and therapists.
A truly global education consultancy is needed to provide home-host perspectives in terms of curricula and cultural nuances in school.
Every family is different, and each outcome is different, often constituting a mosaic of academics and therapies both on campus and at home. In the end, the weakest link of an international assignment is strengthened so that the employee and family will be able to move with peace of mind, knowing that their children will be happy in school.
Valerie Koo is the Asia-Pacific regional manager for School Choice International in Hong Kong. Karen Lee Mah is the director of special needs for School Choice International in Los Angeles. They can be reached at +1 914 328 3000 (US) or +44 (0)203 488 5497 (UK) or by email via info@schoolchoiceintl.com.
This article is an extract from one originally published in Mobility magazine, with permission from Samantha Davidson, Business Development EMEA, School Choice International (UK based)