[JasonS]

Hi all,

I just heard from our Visa Officer that because my son needs some speech
therapy, assessment for ORRS funding has to be completed. This will take
another month. She also indicated that once the issue is resolved, we would
go on to the second tier interview.

My son currently receives 30 mins of therapy a week for developmentally delayed speech. Our pathologist has indicated that she could even develop a
home program for him if necessary. I believe he's near the end of his therapy with only the /r/ phoenemes left to complete after he finishes the /l/ and /th/ phoenemes he's working on now (and doing well at it according to the latest report).

I searched here and it seems that lack of ORRS funding may not preclude
us from being approved, but I don't know what type of resolution is expected
from this ORRS review. Does anyone have any insight? Is it possible that our
application could be denied if there is a lack of ORRS funding?

Jason

[JasonS]

I heard back from my VO and she indicated that if we do indeed require ORRS funding that our application could be denied based on the following:


A4.10.5 Assessment of whether an applicant for residence is unlikely to impose significant costs on New Zealand ’s special education services

The requirement that an applicant for residence must be unlikely to impose significant costs on New Zealand’s special education services is not met if the Ministry of Education (MoE) has determined that there is a relatively high probability that the applicant’s physical, intellectual, sensory or behavioural condition or group of conditions would entitle them to Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS) funding.

So, sadly it seems that if we want to move to NZ, then we have to count on the govt NOT being able/willing to fund speech therapy for my son. It's a double edged sword. I'm committed to paying for it myself if we need to and/or using the home therapy option, I just hope the govt believes me if the situation arises.

Jason

[Sam B]

Jason, I am sure you will be fine, as your son's speech difficulty sounds very minor. He would not receive ORRS for the difficulties you describe (I am an SLT by the way). ORRS is similar to a statement of special educational need in the UK, and I am sure there is nowhere in the UK where a child would receive funding for help at school because of difficulties with the 3 sounds you describe. Children only receive ORRS funding here for really significant levels of difficulty or disability, much higher needs than you have described.

In fact, your son sounds so close to the end of his need for SLT (I would never work on 'th' with a child as many children do not use this sound as part of their dialect anyway), it may be better to just accept the home program and inform NZIS that he has finished his SLT anyway so it is not an issue? Unless he has other language or learning difficulties that you have not discussed here?

In short, he is hardly going to be a drain on NZ education funds with the difficulties you describe. You may find that he receives much less SLT in NZ anyway as the school service is very stretched and they usually only see children with higher levels of need. This applies to all children, regardless of whether they are immigrants or not.

Feel free to PM me.

Sam

[incredible hulse]

Jason, We are currently battling for ORRS funding for our child. Unfortunately the pot is pretty pitiful here, and there is a general shortage it appears of SLTs. One thing to consider that we discovered this weekend is that if ORRS funding is denied it is possible to self fund teacher aides - it maybe that this could be put don by yourselves as a waiver

[JasonS]

Thanks Sam and Incredible,

Sam I've PM'd you. Your message was quite relieving...

Incredible Hulse, good luck with your effort. I feel fortunate that we're not in a position of requiring the ORRS funding, whether the government thinks we need it or not. Thanks for letting me know about the private option, because I had hoped to leverage private resources if I found that a home therapy program wasn't going to work. Who knows, at the pace our application has been going, by the time we get down there, my son won't even need SLT.

Thanks again!

Jason

[JasonS]

As Sam B indicated what would probably happen, ORRS funding was declined for our son's speech therapy. As a result, we've moved on to the second tier interview which we completed almost two weeks ago. Unfortunately, our Visa officer went on holiday before she could complete our paperwork. She should be back soon, so hopefully dancing bananas are coming our way. :)

Thanks
Jason

[Sam B]

Crossing fingers that all goes well for you!