Seeking a very good middle and high school in Suffolk County for Aspergers (Islip: homes)

[GypsySoul22]

If we stay here, I need to enroll my son somewhere fast.
I am looking for a good school that can handle mild AS and some physical issues and has a sympathetic special ed staff.

My son does pretty well otherwise and love science and is college bound. He has social issues (feeling at ease with peers) but he is a nice kid.

I personally love the Babylon area but we will not be able to handle the cost of rents. I wonder how Lindenhurst is for middle and high school. (and special ed)

I lived Islip before I moved out of state and I was not impressed with their special ed. at all.

Any feedback would be great and if there is a center for AS/autistic kids in Suffolk, could you let me know?

[LIMan]

I am not too sure, but I am PRETTY sure that Half Hollow Hills has great resources for that. I teach there and I remember in one of the superintendent conferences that it is considered a model school for NY state in terms of how they approach special needs students. Like I said, I don't have much more information than that, but it is worth investigating.

[akitasun]

One of my sons receives spe services in Lindenhurst. He is still in elementary school and services once we all agreed on the iep is good. Some cases you may need to fight but for me if i requested something that made sense we got it.

Teachers for the most part are good and will hear you out when you have suggestions. I had only 1 small problem with a teacher but it was resolved once the iep meeting was called. Some teachers are lazy and do not like to deviate from what they are use to.

From what I hear the elementary schools in Lindy are good, regarding services. I'm assuming thats true for the middle school but from what I hear the over all quality of the middle school is lower than the elementary schools. Parents tell me that regardless if a kid has an iep or not middle school is a harder transition and you need to stay on top of them.

The high school is good and I have heard for the most part services are good as well. In my opionion the high school as a whole should be better in comparison to what we pay in taxes.

Lindy I think is more affrodable that Bablyon but I could be wrong. If you can swing it, I would suggest you check out Plainview and Syosett, both districts have a great reputation regarding services. if i were to move I would go there.

Good luck

[I_Love_LI_but]

Half Hollow Hills and Three Village are supposed to be the creme de la creme when it comes to programs for autistic students on LI.

As for a Center in Suffolk County:

The Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at Stony Brook University

http://www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org/codycenter/

[majortom1981]

Happague is decent for aspergers. My wifes cousin has aspergers and graduated fro happaugue high school 2 years ago and is now in suffolk community. He even won the principals award at the senior awards.

[krewat]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

I personally love the Babylon area but we will not be able to handle the cost of rents. I wonder how Lindenhurst is for middle and high school. (and special ed)

I speak from experience. My son is now 16 years old, and has always been "different" if you know what I mean. And if you have a kid with Asperger's, you do

He was never diagnosed with it, per-se, but he fits the symptoms list.

He had speech problems as a toddler, which developed a few months after one of his vaccinations, he just pretty much stopped talking and wouldn't look you in the eye. Much like autism, but not nearly as severe. I personally don't think the vaccination had anything to do with it, and do NOT want to get into that here.

Some further background, I was the exact same way as a child. Not looking people in the eye, disaffected, speech issues, etc. Even got speech therapy in 1969 in kindergarten in Half Hollow Hills, so you can imagine how "special" I was

Anyway, my wife inquired about speech therapy from the school, and even before kindergarten, at the age of only 4 years old, the school was willing to send someone into the home to work with my son. She was GREAT. June was her first name. She did more than speech therapy though, there was a lot of social-behavior-modification type stuff.

He continued to receive speech therapy through the first few years of school, AND was also given physical therapy because he was uncoordinated in walking, using his hand strength, that sort of thing. I think it lasted up through 5th grade.

Lindenhurst continually checked his progress, calling us in to the admin building a few times a year to review his progress, meet with his special-ed teachers, the school psychologist, and everything. One time, my wife was sick and I couldn't make it because of work, and they teleconferenced her in on the phone so they could hold the meeting.

Professional, there for us at every turn, you name it. I can't say one bad thing about Lindenhurst in terms of the treatment they gave us, the teachers, everything, even for someone like my son who was not diagnosed with anything, but was obviously in need of some extra help and got it.

[2girlsmi]

I have to agree that Lindenhurst is well worth looking into. The homes here are priced lower than most other areas and the schools are very good. SEPTA (special ed PTA) parents are terrific. The teachers all work together and the children are their top priority, especially in the Middle and High Schools.