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I don't know all the good districts for that, but a neighbor down the street from me has a son who is high functioning autistic and she sends him to Round Rock.
Does anyone have any experience in AISD with Special Ed and Autism? I would be interested to hear from anyone participating in any of the programs at Travis Heights, Zilker, Casis, Highland Park or any other south or Central Austin area (Re: SCORES, ABA programs, Speech, etc)
Also, any experience in Eanes ISD? Moving to Leander or RRISD is not an option so please contain the discussion to AISD and Eanes. I spoke with the AISD Autism director and she was very thorough and knowledgeable. The Eanes Special Ed director was very reserved and did not instill any confidence in me. I know Eanes is an excellent district but that does not mean they are good for special ed....
I am moving to Austin with a son on IEP for Autism in the summer. He will enter 1st grade Fall 2012.
Any advise would be great! Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hj0122
Can anyone tell me which public school district in Austin has the best Autism program? I am moving and am looking in Terry Town, Casis Elementary or Bryker??? Or would Westlake schools be better?? confused, help please... Lakeway?
FWIW, we moved to Austin (RRISD) a year ago. I have two children with special needs. One has apraxia and is preschool aged and the other has ADHD/recently diagnosed also HFA. We moved from far NW Chicagoland.
I volunteered in the PPCD classroom with my younger son. It is not a bad program, but it is not as therapeutic of an environment as I was used to in IL from my older son being in Early Childhood there due to his delays. I also think that their ratios are not very good. There are kids with all types of disabilities in this classroom, some of them very severe, but there are 3 teachers and I want to say....maybe 15ish kids. When one child is having major behavioral issues or meltdowns and one of the teachers has to focus their attention all on that child, it becomes too much for the other two to handle really.
Things are broken down here very differently though. Depending where you live decides which PPCD you are in and they are not at every campus. In IL we had ONE early childhood center for the entire district we were in, so there were multiple classrooms on one campus and all the EC therapists etc were in this one building. In our PPCD here, the therapists aren't with the PPCD kids all the time like they were in IL. They seem to have other responsibilities at the school, maybe with the elementary kids and just other "duties as assigned". I felt like they were stretched maybe a little beyond what they could do as far as keeping up with caseloads and being able to dedicate good quality time to kids. My son has now "graduated" up to their language only program. They have two special programs for children with only language issues (my son also has sensory issues but they are mild and Tx deems them not important enough to affect his education, unlike IL). One for receptive and expressive that meets 2 hrs a day, 5 days a week, and one for expressive only that meets 2 hours a day, I believe 3 days a week. The program is good, and has helped my son alot, especially since language is our primary concern and they are VERY focused on that. But I feel like the 2 hours a day isn't quite enough. There is a SLP in the classroom who co-teaches so that part is great, and she is surprisingly pretty well trained (since my son has a very specialized disorder there aren't alot of therapists who really know how to effectively work with him cause the standard SLP education doesn't really cover it enough). He was denied extended school year, which he was given without question in IL, and of course no OT or PT (although in PPCD they do do group OT for everyone). I have found fantastic private SLP though who has done more for him than anyone ever has, it is almost a miracle how far he has come.
My older son only had a diagnosis of ADHD when we came but has always had some other issues. His school in IL had gotten to know him pretty well and what worked for him, he had a behavior plan, OT, PT and social group as well as lunch bunch group. We had had him evaluated a couple times but first time he was too young and second time he was so borderline they wanted to follow up before giving a diagnosis, and school was doing ok and developmental delay criteria for SPED didn't expire until he turned 9...but I have always suspected Asperger's. RR did not want to look at anything I brought with me, and believe me, I was very thorough about getting documents regarding where he was at and what was working for him etc. This is TX. They want TX information. And they want educational information only. Anything you bring in from a Dr. they take with a grain of salt cause they consider it medical only (even though this is so stupid because OBVIOUSLY medical information is going to impact the whole child). Be prepared to get "that's medical, not educational" thrown at you left and right. They want to do their own tests and decide for themselves even though you have already been through all of this before. They took away his OT and PT and had him in reg class only with some very paltry resource time and a mentor for his social issues. After having him in school 9 weeks, they were singing a different tune. It's so dumb that I had to prove to them what someone else WHO WAS ALSO A SCHOOL DISTRICT already knew. But, now he has OT, two social groups, a mentor, sensory breaks and strategies being using the classroom and behavior plan and significantly increased resource time.
My Preschool child's IEP was drawn up literally 1 month before we moved. And yet, after his first 30 days in the school system, they threw it out. As if something had magically changed for him in the 30 days since he moved to TX. He is doing well, but primarily because of the extra services I have sought out for him. I need to find more for my older son because although he's doing "OK" I feel like we need more behavioral support and help with writing and sensory/OT stuff. He has a private OT now as well because he wasn't getting any from the school for a while, but I think he needs someone who is more intensive and/or will address the core underlying issues that cause his struggles with writing and functioning.
Good luck to you. Texas has been good to us so far and has been a healthier environment for our family all around but it has not been without it's struggles. Considering services only, I would say you probably are not going to get nearly what you have been receiving in NJ unless you look private. I have a friend with a child at Capital and they love it.
I think Eanes is probably better that RR. Our private SLP works in that area and I hear alot better things from the parents there. RR is GREAT for encouraging children who are academically gifted, I think, but those that are on the opposite end not as much. I think the schools we are at are probably some of the best in the district as well. Unfortunately the housing there is way out of our price range. Good luck.
Would you mind sharing the name of the SLP that works with your child with apraxia? My almost 3 year old has recently been unofficially diagnosed with apraxia. He has been accepted into the AISD PPCD program and will start services mid January. We plan to supplement his PPCD services with private therapy if needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sully108
FWIW, we moved to Austin (RRISD) a year ago. I have two children with special needs. One has apraxia and is preschool aged and the other has ADHD/recently diagnosed also HFA. We moved from far NW Chicagoland.
I volunteered in the PPCD classroom with my younger son. It is not a bad program, but it is not as therapeutic of an environment as I was used to in IL from my older son being in Early Childhood there due to his delays. I also think that their ratios are not very good. There are kids with all types of disabilities in this classroom, some of them very severe, but there are 3 teachers and I want to say....maybe 15ish kids. When one child is having major behavioral issues or meltdowns and one of the teachers has to focus their attention all on that child, it becomes too much for the other two to handle really.
Things are broken down here very differently though. Depending where you live decides which PPCD you are in and they are not at every campus. In IL we had ONE early childhood center for the entire district we were in, so there were multiple classrooms on one campus and all the EC therapists etc were in this one building. In our PPCD here, the therapists aren't with the PPCD kids all the time like they were in IL. They seem to have other responsibilities at the school, maybe with the elementary kids and just other "duties as assigned". I felt like they were stretched maybe a little beyond what they could do as far as keeping up with caseloads and being able to dedicate good quality time to kids. My son has now "graduated" up to their language only program. They have two special programs for children with only language issues (my son also has sensory issues but they are mild and Tx deems them not important enough to affect his education, unlike IL). One for receptive and expressive that meets 2 hrs a day, 5 days a week, and one for expressive only that meets 2 hours a day, I believe 3 days a week. The program is good, and has helped my son alot, especially since language is our primary concern and they are VERY focused on that. But I feel like the 2 hours a day isn't quite enough. There is a SLP in the classroom who co-teaches so that part is great, and she is surprisingly pretty well trained (since my son has a very specialized disorder there aren't alot of therapists who really know how to effectively work with him cause the standard SLP education doesn't really cover it enough). He was denied extended school year, which he was given without question in IL, and of course no OT or PT (although in PPCD they do do group OT for everyone). I have found fantastic private SLP though who has done more for him than anyone ever has, it is almost a miracle how far he has come.
My older son only had a diagnosis of ADHD when we came but has always had some other issues. His school in IL had gotten to know him pretty well and what worked for him, he had a behavior plan, OT, PT and social group as well as lunch bunch group. We had had him evaluated a couple times but first time he was too young and second time he was so borderline they wanted to follow up before giving a diagnosis, and school was doing ok and developmental delay criteria for SPED didn't expire until he turned 9...but I have always suspected Asperger's. RR did not want to look at anything I brought with me, and believe me, I was very thorough about getting documents regarding where he was at and what was working for him etc. This is TX. They want TX information. And they want educational information only. Anything you bring in from a Dr. they take with a grain of salt cause they consider it medical only (even though this is so stupid because OBVIOUSLY medical information is going to impact the whole child). Be prepared to get "that's medical, not educational" thrown at you left and right. They want to do their own tests and decide for themselves even though you have already been through all of this before. They took away his OT and PT and had him in reg class only with some very paltry resource time and a mentor for his social issues. After having him in school 9 weeks, they were singing a different tune. It's so dumb that I had to prove to them what someone else WHO WAS ALSO A SCHOOL DISTRICT already knew. But, now he has OT, two social groups, a mentor, sensory breaks and strategies being using the classroom and behavior plan and significantly increased resource time.
My Preschool child's IEP was drawn up literally 1 month before we moved. And yet, after his first 30 days in the school system, they threw it out. As if something had magically changed for him in the 30 days since he moved to TX. He is doing well, but primarily because of the extra services I have sought out for him. I need to find more for my older son because although he's doing "OK" I feel like we need more behavioral support and help with writing and sensory/OT stuff. He has a private OT now as well because he wasn't getting any from the school for a while, but I think he needs someone who is more intensive and/or will address the core underlying issues that cause his struggles with writing and functioning.
Good luck to you. Texas has been good to us so far and has been a healthier environment for our family all around but it has not been without it's struggles. Considering services only, I would say you probably are not going to get nearly what you have been receiving in NJ unless you look private. I have a friend with a child at Capital and they love it.
I think Eanes is probably better that RR. Our private SLP works in that area and I hear alot better things from the parents there. RR is GREAT for encouraging children who are academically gifted, I think, but those that are on the opposite end not as much. I think the schools we are at are probably some of the best in the district as well. Unfortunately the housing there is way out of our price range. Good luck.
I think I may have responded to a PM from you, but our private SLP was Marcus Neal from MLee, SLP. They are on Bee Caves Rd near Zilker Park. He is a PROMPT instructor. http://mleeslp.com/
I don't know the best one in RRISD, but one to avoid is Laurel Mountain. Some individualnteachers shine, but as a campus they underserve students on the autism spectrum.
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Austin Texas Autism Programs in Public School
