Ask HN: Best country to educate and raise Neurodivergent kids
I am in India now and my son is on spectrum - I would love to know experiences from different countries where education, health care and happiness for neuro-divergent kids on autism spectrum is better supported. In the United States public school system, a student with special needs is given an Individualized Education Program (IEP) which is required by law. This entitles them to additional support and resources through the public school system. They are usually kept with their classmates but may be given assistance in some classes or pulled out occasionally to work with a specialist. The quality varies by school system, but it's one of the better aspects of American education. What do "neuro-divergent kids" mean? Germany is the best. In Germany your son would be considered normal. Hmm, not sure if I would put it that simply. It's definitely not treated as an "exceptional" case, and there multiple different options on how it can be handled, depending on the level of special care required by the kid and their academic capability (and disruptiveness to classmates). E.g. On the one hand there are non/low-communicative autistic children that attend "Gymnasium" (our highest "tier" in the school system) with the help of a dedicated care person. On the other hand it can also happen that an autistic child will attend a "special needs" school, where the day-to-day can look far less "normal", and it will likely be hard to attain a normal job as an adult.