Sorry, I’m typing while working at the moment.
My wife and I are both non-Japanese, I speak Japanese just a bit —enough to have a conversation with the client, etc— while my wife doesn’t speak Japanese at all.
Since last year we’ve been going through head over heels in finding a high school for my daughter, we couldn’t believe the number of documents to digest and school tours to visit. Most of the time we consulted with the class teacher, but we aren’t entirely satisfied with her input/feedback.
Our daughter was diagnosed with [ADHD](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/q76md6/our_daughter_14_may_have_add_were_looking_for_a/) hence picking out the HS needs to be careful. She loves arts/designs so we’ve gone to Joshibi, Tokimawatsu, Geijitsu, etc. and each school have tons of documentation/rules to read.
Does anybody know if there is a service/company whom I can consult with? We live in Tokyo.
5 comments
So、does your daughter speak Japanese? I think this would help us out more.
And where are you? Does she attend juku? And if not, I’m assuming her options will be limited unless she is a genius and highly motivated to study on her own. My older son is 2nd year of HS now (planning for college entrance exams) and my younger son is in 2nd year of junior high and planning for high school entrance exams. Fortunately, my Japanese wife handles most of the planning and applications, etc. There is A LOT to do.
In your situation I’d invest in an interpreter to come with you to the schools you’re interested in and a translator for the rules. It shouldn’t cost more than a few man. It’s what my wife and I did when we lived in a country with a language neither of us was competent in.
there’s a facebook group called “Parents with Kids in Japanese Schools” that might be able to help with leads for this – i know there’s definitely services to help find hoikuen so i imagine someone must be helping for older kids too? i think there’s fb groups for foreign kids doing juken and kids with additional needs too, so def ask in the PwKiJS group for more. hope you find a great place for her.
Have you heard of Litalico junior? They offer juku programs to kids with developmental disabilities. I am not sure if they offer services in English, but perhaps you could try bringing an interpreter to consultation sessions.