Request feedback around special education and services.. (San Jose, Fremont: rental, insurance)

[sweetlime]

Hello everyone,

We currently live in Atlanta, GA and are thinking of relocating to the Bay Area. We are a family of four. I have a 11yr old and a 6yr old. My older child is in 5th grade and non-verbal. She has an IEP and attends an Autism class here. She is not Autistic, but learns with structure and repetition. She has a device to communicate and I would consider her in between mild and moderate Intellectual disability. She goes to public school out of our school zone and the bus transports her. We are in late 30’s, lived in GA for over 12yrs. Move like this is pretty scary esp when you have a disabled child.

Currently, my daughter gets services thru school and privately as well. Speech & OT around 60min a week & PT 30 min a week(school) and 60 min each of those at home from private therapists. Services seem fine, as we live in a good school district. I have heard services would reduce once she hits middle & high school. Apart from this, she has Georgia Medicaid which is not income based and covers these services after the insurance coverage and a Georgia waiver that covers extra curricular. We have been pretty happy so far. My sister lives in the Bay. We want to be closer to them and our kids to grow up together, hence the thought of relocating.

I would really appreciate if any special needs parents who live in the Bay Area or have moved from out of state can share their experience. Was it worth it? Are services on par or even better? Does CA have waivers that are not income based? What about schools and services? I have read so far that Cupertino Union School District and Fremont Unified School District have decent services, does that include middle and high as well? Any specific schools in these? We would initially rent and eventually buy, so these districts are pretty unaffordable to buy right away. Any other districts that are good? She is going to start middle school this fall, so we want to make sure it’s the right decision. And if the services aren’t great, we will not even consider moving.

My son is 6 and is typical. I would like a good school for him as well. I want something that focuses on academics and extracurricular and is not a pressure cooker school. Is there a school district that can serve both my kids needs? Which areas do you recommend we focus on? I hope nobody feels we are asking too much.

I will really appreciate if ppl here can share your thoughts..sorry for the long post.

Thanks so much in Advance!!

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by sweetlime

...she has Georgia Medicaid which is not income based

Note: In California Medicaid (called Medi-Cal) IS income-based. So you would need to either self-pay or have employer insurance (but if you are indeed looking to live in Cupertino, I suppose income would not be a problem for you).

[sweetlime]

Oh wow. I don’t know if I can afford to live in Cupertino to begin with. So there is no Medicaid that covers these services that is not income based? That’s scary coz all the therapy costs are very expensive.

[sweetlime]

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

Note: In California Medicaid (called Medi-Cal) IS income-based. So you would need to either self-pay or have employer insurance (but if you are indeed looking to live in Cupertino, I suppose income would not be a problem for you).

Thank you for your reply btw. Appreciate it. I was expecting more ppl to respond, but glad you did.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by sweetlime

I would really appreciate if any special needs parents who live in the Bay Area or have moved from out of state can share their experience. Was it worth it? Are services on par or even better? Does CA have waivers that are not income based? What about schools and services? I have read so far that Cupertino Union School District and Fremont Unified School District have decent services, does that include middle and high as well? Any specific schools in these? We would initially rent and eventually buy, so these districts are pretty unaffordable to buy right away. Any other districts that are good? She is going to start middle school this fall, so we want to make sure it’s the right decision. And if the services aren’t great, we will not even consider moving.

Note: Cupertino Union School District is a K-8 district.

The high schools that serve Cupertino are in the Fremont Union High School District, which include Fremont (mostly Sunnyvale), Homestead, Monta Vista, Lynbrook, and Cupertino High Schools.

Fremont Unified School District is totally different, it is a K-12 district serving the city of Fremont, CA, which does not abut Cupertino, but is about 16 miles to the northeast, or 25 miles by road.

[sweetlime]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Note: Cupertino Union School District is a K-8 district.

The high schools that serve Cupertino are in the Fremont Union High School District, which include Fremont (mostly Sunnyvale), Homestead, Monta Vista, Lynbrook, and Cupertino High Schools.

Fremont Unified School District is totally different, it is a K-12 district serving the city of Fremont, CA, which does not abut Cupertino, but is about 16 miles to the northeast, or 25 miles by road.

Oh that’s good to know. I honestly don’t know anything about these as I searched online about these two districts supporting special education better than others.

So CA doesn’t have any medicaid waivers that is not income based? Do you know?

[damba]

Full List - Kids' Waivers

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

This is the resource you want. They can answer all of your questions and give you lots of resources.

https://www.altaregional.org/

[sweetlime]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

This is the resource you want. They can answer all of your questions and give you lots of resources.

https://www.altaregional.org/

Thank you so much!!

[chocoful]

Originally Posted by sweetlime

Hello everyone,

We currently live in Atlanta, GA and are thinking of relocating to the Bay Area. We are a family of four. I have a 11yr old and a 6yr old. My older child is in 5th grade and non-verbal. She has an IEP and attends an Autism class here. She is not Autistic, but learns with structure and repetition. She has a device to communicate and I would consider her in between mild and moderate Intellectual disability. She goes to public school out of our school zone and the bus transports her. We are in late 30’s, lived in GA for over 12yrs. Move like this is pretty scary esp when you have a disabled child.

Currently, my daughter gets services thru school and privately as well. Speech & OT around 60min a week & PT 30 min a week(school) and 60 min each of those at home from private therapists. Services seem fine, as we live in a good school district. I have heard services would reduce once she hits middle & high school. Apart from this, she has Georgia Medicaid which is not income based and covers these services after the insurance coverage and a Georgia waiver that covers extra curricular. We have been pretty happy so far. My sister lives in the Bay. We want to be closer to them and our kids to grow up together, hence the thought of relocating.

I would really appreciate if any special needs parents who live in the Bay Area or have moved from out of state can share their experience. Was it worth it? Are services on par or even better? Does CA have waivers that are not income based? What about schools and services? I have read so far that Cupertino Union School District and Fremont Unified School District have decent services, does that include middle and high as well? Any specific schools in these? We would initially rent and eventually buy, so these districts are pretty unaffordable to buy right away. Any other districts that are good? She is going to start middle school this fall, so we want to make sure it’s the right decision. And if the services aren’t great, we will not even consider moving.

My son is 6 and is typical. I would like a good school for him as well. I want something that focuses on academics and extracurricular and is not a pressure cooker school. Is there a school district that can serve both my kids needs? Which areas do you recommend we focus on? I hope nobody feels we are asking too much.

I will really appreciate if ppl here can share your thoughts..sorry for the long post.

Thanks so much in Advance!!

Hi Sweetlime, I was actually planning to post my rental ad here but happened to read your post. Hope I am not too late to reply. I recently started working at the school district as a Sub ParaEducator in the Special Need classes. Our school district (Berryessa Union School District) is located at the North San Jose area, there are different Special Need classes around the public Elementary and Middle schools. And there is also Special Need classes in East Side Union School District (High School district). Not everyone are aware of the special need programs around the schools, only those that are involved in the program are able to give you a better idea. I didn't know that too in the past until I started working as a ParaEdu. there is also program offer by the Santa Clara County education office too.

Compare to Fremont and Cupertino district, BUSD (North San Jose) is slightly more affordable at the housing and less competitive in the school.

If you need more info that I can't provide, I will ask the school district or the teacher at the Special Ed class, just email me at [email]soopink@outlook.com[/email].