schools for autistic children

[unioncountyresident]

[quote=autimom4ever;581429]Hi there!!

I am moving to the Charlotte area from Maryland.
Maryland has wonderful services for children with autism so my only concern about the move was schools/services for autism.
So I started to really do research.
I researched 4 counties in which I wanted to look for houses.
Mecklenburg - City of Charlotte and surrounding
Union - S. Charlotte
York - Northern SC
Lancaster - Northern SC

What I found (and heard from others) was the following:

Union has great services/schools but I never talked with anyone in this county...


If you're coming from a state where you have teachers (special ed and regular ed) who understand autism, and are well-trained and 'up' on the latest educational practices than, in my experience, you'll likely be very dissapointed with many things in Union County. In fact, we came from California, we've been working with UCPS for almost three years and we're looking at moving back JUST to get our son what he needs and deserves
.
We had a good teacher here last year but that's because she was new from another progressive state - but even she's dismayed this year. My son is now at another school this year and it's been atrocious. I had to take him out of school in the fall because he was regressing badly. We were asked to come back cause high up administrators said they would train the autism teacher and Reg. Ed teacher. They offered the psychologist to come in and do a functional behavior assessment and we said okay we'll come back and try things for six weeks.
Still my son was loving the reg. ed class but not wanting to go to the contained classroom. The 'best' autism psychologist union county had to offer performed a functional behavior assessment for six weeks - but then she passed in onto the untrained teachers to perform. When we had her assessment examined by an independent psychologist the assessment was not legal or credible in the least! (Keep in mind, my son has been extremely unhappy this whole time and we kept asking him to be patient and let the psychologist do the work.)
The psychologist, when questioned after the six week period said something to the effect of: Gee, I guess I could have used the official and scientific Union County Functional Behavior Assessment forms - but why, they didn't have 'fun' smiley faces on them like the one's she designed! So, six months into this school again, my son hates school for the first time in his life and the data that was supposed to help find out why turned up nothing and was essentially useless. And, without the date, the school refuses to let him spend more time in the regular ed. class because the teacher's not comfortable.
Teachers, in general, very very young, under-trained and therefore scared.
Specialists, this was Union County's Head Psychologist for Autism!
Administration, nice until you realize your child needs something not on the 'fast-food' menu. Then, they can be extremely manipulative in trying to make sure your child 'fits' where they need him or her to fit.

When it comes down to it, the people who have not experienced anything different will tell you everything is fine here. But if you're son or daughter has had good, knowledgeable attention before, you'll be very, very disappointed and sad.

[joanchris2000]

Originally Posted by autimom4ever

the school refuses to let him spend more time in the regular ed. class because the teacher's not comfortable.
Teachers, in general, very very young, under-trained and therefore scared.
Specialists, this was Union County's Head Psychologist for Autism!
Administration, nice until you realize your child needs something not on the 'fast-food' menu. Then, they can be extremely manipulative in trying to make sure your child 'fits' where they need him or her to fit.

When it comes down to it, the people who have not experienced anything different will tell you everything is fine here. But if you're son or daughter has had good, knowledgeable attention before, you'll be very, very disappointed and sad.

This is similar to what I have encountered (my dd is multiply disabled, not autism). They seem to be somewhat "stuck" and not at all progressive. Mind you this is NOT a NC thing, as we were in Cumberland County, NC last school year and were VERY happy with her services and ed. program there. It appears to simply be a Union County thing, and not sure about other surrounding counties.

[wmspeep]

[quote=unioncountyresident;2973189]

Originally Posted by autimom4ever

Hi there!!
Teachers, in general, very very young, under-trained and therefore scared.
Specialists, this was Union County's Head Psychologist for Autism!
Administration, nice until you realize your child needs something not on the 'fast-food' menu. Then, they can be extremely manipulative in trying to make sure your child 'fits' where they need him or her to fit.

When it comes down to it, the people who have not experienced anything different will tell you everything is fine here. But if you're son or daughter has had good, knowledgeable attention before, you'll be very, very disappointed and sad.

This is a great summation of our experience as well. This county is not at all progressive as far as special needs (all special needs, not just autism) and the teachers are not well trained at all in this area. You will hit or miss on good teachers but its very hit or miss. And the administration is embarrassingly poorly trained.

[Tracy Harrington]

Originally Posted by tancam2000

hi my husband and i would love to move to the charlotte area but my son is autistic. we are wondering how the school are for children with developmental disabilities. i would love
to get some input from someone who lives in the area or if any one knows where i can go to get some more info i would really appreciate it. we would love to get out of new york but only if the schools are comparable . thanks

Hi, I just found your post from 2 yrs ago and am wondering how things are working out for your family in NC.

Thanks,
Tracy