Hi all! I have been reviewing some of the previous posts and have found the information quite informative, much thanks. I am a Canadian Expatriate who works in Mongolia (on a Fly In/Fly Out job), and we are looking to move out of Canada (for the second time, we lived in the United States for a couple years) for a couple of reasons (primarily tax, weather, and to see some different cultures). After a few months of searching I have seen that the perminant residnce scheme (while a clever name, it is not one that enstills a lot of confidence when one is looking for an overseas home) appears to be an excellent "low cost" (while compared to the capital required to move to places like Panama or Malaysia) option, in particular since you are able to keep and spend the money that you remit (while maintianing perminant residence based on self-sufficency as I will have a steady income but it will be generated overseas) to Malta. There are a few (and at least one is as serious as I am) more people that I work with that are considering moving to Malta
Having said all that I would be moving myself, my wife, and our two children (currently 3 years and 7 weeks respectively). This would all be happening no sooner than twelve months from now. I plan on a trip to Malta within the year to explore the area and get a feel for the country. I understand and am farily comfortable with the perminant residnece program but have a few questions (that may or may not have been brought up in previous threads).
My primary concern is my 3 year old son has autism, albeit not severe, however he will be attending school soon and I want to put him in a school that has experience in children with autism. Does anyone here have any experience with a school's special education programs, or how they deal with children with autism. We are not looking to have him squirreled away in a seperate classroom, we know that he would do better in a regular class with help as required.
Secondly, how easy (in general terms) is it to get around (of course based on where we would decide to settle down) without a car, I would expect that for the first little while we would not purchase a car (I don't think I would bring mine from Canada), so we would have to rent one on occasion (major grocery runs etc.), but for the most part would have to walk for the "day to day" things. So in general are shops and what not close enough to where one might live that they could survive without a car, or is that an unreasonable idea?
I am sure that I will have more questions, but I think that this should be good for now, I have to go read some more forum posts.
Cheers.
Autism in Malta
Hi Dave,
Welcome to the forum.
I will discus the autism issue with one of our Maltese friends. She is a teacher at a private school but also knows the whole school system very well.So look for more info here as soon as I get it.
In general a lot of the shopping is done local,often just around the corner,at so-called 'mini-markets', or from a vegetable hawker of your choice.They are on nearly every corner.Their prices and quality are often better than at larger supermarkets,which also exist.
The larger supermarkets might be around 10 % cheaper than the local small shops, some even deliver if you spend enough.
Owning or renting a car depends on your personal circumstances.With a family it might just be more convienient to get around with a car.In general rental prices depend on the car size,season and length of rental time. If you rent for just one day you will be paying a much higher rate.
Regards
Ricky
Hi Dave,
I just talked to our teacher friend about your 3 y
She advised against state schools for autistic kids as they can't really cope and foreign kids can have problems anyway.
She teaches at the private school San Andrea which she says caters for mixed ability kids and have quite some experience with autism.Each case needs to be discussed and might mean having a trained assistant to help out . It depends on the circumstances.
She said it is very good that your son is not yet in a school system and should adapt better to the Maltese school system if he starts school here.
Each child would have an individual education program.
Feel free to ask further questions or to contact the San Andrea School headteacher by e-mail or phone.
Ricky
My advice would be to make direct contact with families and organizations in Malta who have experience of autism, such as autismparentsassociation.com/
Not to disrespect Ricky or his friend, but we have encountered a lot of misinformation regarding the State vs Independent schools debate and so would advise to seek as much information as you can get and from as many people, from both ends of the spectrum.
One thing is for sure, if your child does enter the State School system rather than an Independent school, you will have saved several thousand Euros that you could spend on improving your childs life by your own discretionary spending.
Tim
ricky wrote:The larger supermarkets might be around 10 % cheaper than the local small shops
my experience is the reverse
Thanks for the feedback. I had seen the autism group before, but haven't contacted them yet. Perhaps I will today. For "baseline planning" we were thinking that we would be putting my son into private school, but would investigate the pros and cons of both before making a final decision.
Schools - I believe there is a natural bias on expat websites towards Private schools - exactly a year ago we found it very difficult to find out any information at all on Public vs Private schools (one reson I post so much about schools and some other stuff on here) and what I did find was mostly pro-Private schools from either expat parents or people who work in Private Schools. Now having experienced one Private school for almost a year, and have met a greater cross-section of Maltese society including several parents who send their kids to Public school (including some expats), we are somewhat reconsidering our decision...only further disruption to our kids lives is stopping us.
Of course, this is all our (my wife and I) opinion and other people's experiences may differ.
Tim
Dave,
I'm interested in almost exactly the same issue. Could you please share your experience, did you go on with San Andrea school?
Dennis Bee, this thread is 5 years old!!
Five years it is. I still get the notification. Sorry I can't pass on any information, I never did make it to Malta, and likely will not, as it looked like the permanent resident scheme changed (which was one of the drawing factors). Sorry I don't have any information. I hope thing a work out for you.
thanks anyway. We have just arrived for a short stay to browse around
@Dennis Bee now its your turn to tell about those same situations. Can you please share your experience
@Dennis Bee now its your turn to tell about those same situations. Can you please share your experience
@Dennis Bee now its your turn to tell about those same situations. Can you please share your experience
-@niirmaldhakal
You are responding to an inactive post. Please start a new post.. you will get a better reply.
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