Chapin, Lexington or Blythewood for special needs child? (Columbia, Charleston: teaching jobs, neighborhoods) - Columbia - Lexington - Irmo - City-Data Forum

rattlesnakeman · 12-22-2010, 11:09 AM

I just got offerred a job and my family and I will be relocating from Charleston to Columbia. As this will be the 14th move for my wife and I, we have done our homework. We've been researching the Columbia area for about 4 months now and have our potential living areas narrowed down to Lexington, Chapin or Blythewood. I'll be working in the Harbison area, but a 30-45 minute commute is not a big deal to me. My wife and I want to pick the best schools and community to live in, and I'm really leaning towards Chapin based on the school/community ratings and where I'll be working. We have a child with dyslexia, so the middle school and high school are our #1 motivating factors. Could anyone with a dyslexic or special needs child offer any advice on the aforementioned areas (i.e., Lexington, Chapin or Blythewood)? Potential neighborhoods in these areas would be much appreciated too! Don't bother mentioning Lake Carolina in Blythewood though, as that type of neighborhood is not for us. We are a middle 30's couple and want to find a laid-back (not uptight) neighborhood with younger families and plenty of activities for the kids. Just from what I've seen online, Timberlake or The Oaks in Chapin are contenders for Chapin, Longcreek Plantation in Blythewood appears to be our speed, and Corley Woods in Lexington looks nice. Any first-hand knowledge or thoughts would be great!

gamecoxfan1 · 12-22-2010, 11:39 AM

Lexington would be best for a special needs child. The school system is probably the best in the state when it comes to special needs education. Also, Lexington is a wonderful place to raise a family since it has access to Columbia with in reason.Most neighborhoods in Lexington are great places. Also Harbison is very easy to get to in the morning. Hope everything goes great!

Brandon Hoffman · 12-22-2010, 04:16 PM

I don't know how the schools rate against each other but I have a friend with a special needs child and she's said good things about Chapin where she lives. Chapin or Lexington would be more convenient to Harbison. Blythewood is going to be 30+ minute commute during rush hour. If you need any area info let me know.

rattlesnakeman · 12-23-2010, 09:27 AM

Great thanks for the replies! I've heard wonderful things about Chapin and Lexington, especially the schools. Is the traffic bumper to bumper going from Lexington to the Harbison area in the mornings?

Brandon Hoffman · 12-23-2010, 11:31 AM

No it's not. There are several routes you could take depending on where you move to in Lexington. You could go I-20 to Bush River, I-20 to I-26 Harbison, 378 to Corley Mill, or come N.Lake across the dam to Lake Murray Blvd. None of them should be too bad so it's a matter of which is the easiest route for you.

elizabethcameron · 01-01-2011, 03:00 PM

Lexington/richland district five has pretty good program for special need kids. One of my relatives has a special need boy. And the school really has special program for him to learn in the way he can understand.

itsasmallworld · 05-12-2011, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rattlesnakeman

I just got offerred a job and my family and I will be relocating from Charleston to Columbia. As this will be the 14th move for my wife and I, we have done our homework. We've been researching the Columbia area for about 4 months now and have our potential living areas narrowed down to Lexington, Chapin or Blythewood. I'll be working in the Harbison area, but a 30-45 minute commute is not a big deal to me. My wife and I want to pick the best schools and community to live in, and I'm really leaning towards Chapin based on the school/community ratings and where I'll be working. We have a child with dyslexia, so the middle school and high school are our #1 motivating factors. Could anyone with a dyslexic or special needs child offer any advice on the aforementioned areas (i.e., Lexington, Chapin or Blythewood)? Potential neighborhoods in these areas would be much appreciated too! Don't bother mentioning Lake Carolina in Blythewood though, as that type of neighborhood is not for us. We are a middle 30's couple and want to find a laid-back (not uptight) neighborhood with younger families and plenty of activities for the kids. Just from what I've seen online, Timberlake or The Oaks in Chapin are contenders for Chapin, Longcreek Plantation in Blythewood appears to be our speed, and Corley Woods in Lexington looks nice. Any first-hand knowledge or thoughts would be great!

Hi, I wanted to comment on the special needs aspect of your post more so than the neighborhood part of the question. Dyslexia can often be misunderstood. People might be sending you to schools for students with special needs but that don't have anyone who specializes in remediating dyslexia. That said, I would suggest contacting the International Dyslexia Association and the Orton Academy to get a list of trained practitioners. Most of the practitioners teach at schools during the day and some maybe even got trained specifically for their teaching jobs. If you want to do private school, I happen to know that Sandhills is great for learning disabilities, including dyslexia. Glen Forest is good for dyslexic students also but they have a larger class size.

I work with dyslexic students in private practice and I can tell you that the average teacher education curriculum does NOT train teachers to work with dyslexic students; they almost always have to seek training from outside sources.

Best to you and your family!

rattlesnakeman · 06-03-2011, 11:37 PM

Thanks for the info lucylp! You would not believe the issues that we've had with schools in SC when it comes to dyslexia! They just don't understand how a dyslexic child learns. We've had our child receive private Orton Gillingham instruction, and it was a tremendous help. Unfortunately, we just can't afford the tuition for a school like Sandhills. That being said, we're going to have to deal with the public school system. I would love to find out if there are any specific public schools in the Columbia area that might stand out when it comes to specialized education for a dyslexic child. We've narrowed our to the Chapin and Dutch Fork areas, but if an area like Blythewood offered a bettter opportunity for our child, then we would focus in that area. Any ideas? We'll definitely check with IDA and Orton Academy. I can't believe that we haven't done that yet! Thanks!