Special Education in Hamilton County School District

[jkmewright]

A little late but I hear from one of my son's teachers that Battle Academy is GREAT with autistic children. She has two who attend there now.

[kellymccrary]

My son is 9 and is nonverbal with developmental disabilities. He went to Siskin Childrens Institute which was great! Problem is, after you leave there you are alone. I highly recommend you check with STEP; Support and Training for Exceptional Parents. They have been the absolute thread that holds me together. In my experience there is not a qualified school that I have found to date in Chattanooga. I talk to my husband on a daily basis about moving away From what i hear unless you want to move to Arizona than it is pretty much that way almost everywhere. Might as well get some training and help join the fight to help move the school systems forward. Good luck and god bless!

[critter01]

Hi, I am a single mother of a 4yr old autistic son. I have been thinkin about moving to the Chattanooga area, but am in need of advice on schools. My son has delayed speech problems as well. I have heard of the Siskin Childrens Inst. and would like to know of other schools. I also have a 3 yr old little girl that I need to put in school. If anyone could offer any help or advice I would greatly apperciate it!!! THANKS

[chattbound]

If looking for public schools - Signal Mountain Nolan Elementary has several students with special needs. They have their own classroom and are integrated where applicable. WONDERFUL SCHOOL! Cannot speak more highly of this school system. SMMHS worked wonders with my son's 504 Plan and Nolan with my daughter's IEP. The cost of the homes are a little elevated, but compared to paying for private for how many years vs public - take the price of private and tack it onto the price of your home - something that doesn't depreciate.
Just my 2 cents.

[gossie]

Hi critter01,

I also have a child on the autism spectrum (will turn 3 in a few months) and just visited a few preschool options with the school district last month. We are deciding to keep our child at Siskin this year, but we were really impressed with Battle Academy. Kim Hays is the teacher in the special education preschool classroom there (they have children ages 3-5 in the same classroom) and she seemed great. She uses an ABA approach and embeds it into her curriculum. All of the children seemed to be doing well...and likely to go into regular ed kindergarten with support. I've also heard good things about the preschool program at Brown Elementary (it is the "sister" program to Battle).

I have a few friends with children on the spectrum who live on Signal Mountain. None have started kindergarten there yet, but most have toured the Nolan special ed classroom and seem happy with it.

Feel free to email me if you want to chat more!