Moving to Salem area with a disabled child! (Boston, Lynn: school, restaurants)

[Sarah_85]

A good friend and I are looking to move to Salem from Florida in about three years. She will be moving sans dependents, but I will have my son who has cerebral palsy and our small dog. My son will be about six or seven at the time of the move. My friend will be looking for work as an editor, specifically, but she says any publishing company job will do. I will be licensed in FL as a physical therapy assistant, and I know I'll need a license to practice there. We'd prefer Salem, Peabody, Lynn, or Saugus.

I undertand the winters can be brutal. But Florida doesn't get seasons, so we think it'll be a nice change, nevermind the snow. Are there any services for disabled children in those areas, or should we be looking at bigger cities instead?

[RMP059]

Salem is the best of those towns. I'd really, really avoid Lynn, particularly with a grade-school kid. I find Peabody and Saugus really drab and boring, but different strokes...

Getting into Boston is not that easy from Salem even though its only 15 miles away or so, no direct highway access. Both Peabody and Saugus are easier commutes. You might consider Beverly or Swampscott as well. Swampscott has the same problem with commuting as Salem. Beverly is pretty nice, lots of decent restaurants. Beverly is a fairly big area (by North Shore standards) and the areas run the gamut from very upscale (Beverly Farms) to somewhat sketchy (Rantoul St.).

I would suspect that all those cities would have some services for disabled children, generally medical needs are well-served in the Boston area. But you'd best investigate specifics yourself.

[Sarah_85]

Thank you for the reply. I'll definitely look into those other cities as well. I noticed there's a children's hospital in Salem. I'll have to look into that as well. My son currently sees six specialists at All Children's Hospital in St. Pete, which is among the top children's hospitals in the country, plus three therapists locally. I'll do some more snooping and see what I can find.

Thanks again!
Sarah