[VJFRN]

We are thinking of relocating further north and would love to move to New England. We are currently in Maryland. We have 2 children ages 9 and 6. Our 6 y.o. old son is autistic. One of our biggest challenges is finding a place to live that will provide good educational services for him.

Would love any input from anyone who lives in CT about what Special Ed is like in your State and also would love suggestions on what towns/cities are good for raising kids.

Thank you so much for your help and input.

VJ

[sun]

Generally, the cities have more programs for children with special needs.
What we have here is a program called "Birth to Three". It's a state program where a private agency case worker comes into home to analyze and diagnose a child's development through the first three years, in order to begin documentation for special services. It's free who people who can financially qualify. For example, with the proper documentation, there are special pre-school programs in my city of New Britain, with special busing services and classrooms for ages 3 until kindergarten where the goal is to mainstream the child. The educators and para-professionals are specially trained, and there might be as many as 8 children in a classroom.
Everything from there really depends on the severity of the autism. I knew a family with a mildly autistic elementary child that had difficulties receiving much more than some extra tutoring services during the day, along with counseling when needed. Other children who have more severe problems may be able to request having their child sent to a special private school program paid for by the city, but usually located out of town. But because of the expense, it's not something that's often readily agreed upon by the school district unless it's more obviously necessary & the need is provable. There is a formal hearing process if there is a challenge to the request. And some larger cities may have 1 or 2 dozen children placed in special learning facilites. It really depends on whether the child can be mainstreamed and what's deemed to be in the best interest of the student based on all of the documentation.
There are other programs for adults with autism run by the State DMR and by local agencies.
These agencies may also be able to help provide you with more information, and are mentioned in this other thread:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/conne...s-special.html

[moorcoffee]

I can only echo what Sun said - CT cities offer more programs than towns, likely because they have a larger and more diverse population.

When our son turned three, we moved to Norwalk, CT at the recommendation of a SLP and developmental pediatrician who were both familiar with the public schools in Southeastern CT. Norwalk offers a strong program for children with autism from 3 to 21; therefore, few children on the spectrum are sent out-of-district for private school education.

The teachers have additional training throughout the year in working with kids on the spectrum, and the therapists are all top-notch.

Higher functioning students that need support services throughout the school day may receive therapy and tutoring in a pull-out program. Co-teaching, where a special ed teacher works in the same classroom with a general ed teacher, is offered at the middle and high schools - I'm not sure about elementary.

Our older son is neurologically typical and has received a great education as well.

Since this is a public forum, I don't want to go too far off-topic; if you'd like to ask me any additional questions, you may send me a private message.

[ctmoves]

In my opinion stay far away from the Fairfield/Southern CT area if your child has moderate to severe autism. It is more often than not be a huge, draining fight with the school district (they have lawyers and attack the parents--it's so mean to attack parents when a child has such a severe disability), and legally an expensive one, and you will pay a lot in private therapy fees, to get the help your child needs like Speech, OT, ABA therapy. It is a very ugly situation here, the shcool programs are sub-par and there is no good parent advocacy groups here, so the school districts have a distinct upper hand --it's a mean vicious fight. Don't be expect them to be nice and sympathetic, not at all! Don't be fooled by a few good reports, where the parents accept ridiculously inadequate programs because they get talked into them, but much of it is really not being implemented, little do the parents know because they are not allowed in everyday or often enough.

It's really bad here, but worse than that is the mentality, like these kids will not improve so why bother! Yikes, like the stone age.