Best school districts for autism? (Seattle, Bellevue: appointed, college, live)

[MomofthreeWI]

I posted on this a few months ago, but I have some more questions. Does anyone have experience with special ed in the Bellevue or NorthShore school districts?
We have 3 kids, our 8 year old is on the autism spectrum.
Also, feel free to weigh in about the private schools that handle learning differences, we are considering them as well.

TIA!!

[Seacove]

We are in Northshore and I went to nsd.org and entered autism.

One of the links was this: ASW

Not sure if that is helpful, maybe others have recommendations.

[shaylahc]

My daughter (15) has high functioning autism. We are in the Northshore schools. She does not have an IEP. I did find that the junior high was very accommodating, and the staff and students were great. She started high school last fall and it did not go well (panic attacks), so she does Northshore Networks instead (it's a homebound learning program through the school system).

If your son requires a lot of extra help, I'm not sure Northshore is your best bet. They seem pretty limited on resources. I am really shocked that with as many autistic kids as we have nowadays, that Northshore doesn't have any programs for this population.

[MomofthreeWI]

Thanks for the input - I agree, everywhere I go, I hear that the rates of autism are rising, yet there are so very few actual supports out there. We were hoping to find a private school for autism, or a charter school, but there are very few of those in Washington. I would think every city should have an autism program where teachers understand it and want to work with our kiddos. Hopefully that will change.

Do you know anything about the Bellevue Schools Cascade Program? Looks promising...

[jjinla]

I can't speak to the Bellevue one, but the self-contained program in Issaquah was poorly viewed by our doctor due to a whole lot of behavior issues and not a lot of learning as a result.

Here's my candid feedback as a mom of a child with severe ADHD, SPD and spectrum-y social skills: WA schools stink for special ed unless their needs are severe and clear-cut (aide, self-contained class, etc.). I don't see most of these kids being prepped for college, though...I'm talking severe needs. Otherwise, you have to navigate a complicated hodge-podge of pull out specialists, EA's, LRC classes mixed with a range of supportive and sometimes not as supportive gen ed teachers. It doesn't help that IEP's are administered school by school and vary widely between principals.

But I don't blame the districts. We are second to last in school funding per pupil. Blame the legislature for not fully funding schools. They are doing the best that they can for the most number of kids. They simply don't have the money for special programs for one very narrow disability (because even on the spectrum, needs vary widely). We did self contained in our old state because it didn't include kids with behavior issues...here they do and that is not good if your kid is a sponge like mine.

So bottom line is, all of the better districts have much of the same stuff I found. If you want a tailored program, you do need private. I believe that there is a decent one on MI and a few in Seattle. Good luck.

[kelly1922]

This is discouraging. My son has SPD, ADHD, and generalized anxiety. He's got an IEP now and the school has been wonderful. He gets pulled out for speech and resource but is otherwise in regular classes. I'm concerned he won't get what he needs. We're moving July 1.

[flyingsaucermom]

I don't have much to compare by. We're in Issaquah. My son is on the spectrum with ADD tendencies. His IEP gives him 60% time outside mainstream classroom. He was only at grade level for half the subjects (all modified too) for the past 1-2 year. Last fall we started a private tutor coming 2x a week. We just got his report card and he is at grade level for all subjects (none modified). I think that is a big improvement. My suggestion is to supplement the services provided by the school.

[jjinla]

I concur with ^. You have to supplement.

My main issue with the district is their one size fits all approach and lack of any innovation whatsoever. Resource room only helps for the 3 R's...my son is a near genius when it comes to science but gets 1's because his gen ed teacher doesn't have the tools to support different learners.

Unstructured times are even worse. Unless they have an aide, they are totally on their own at lunch and recess. The only people around then are EA's, and their only job is to keep the peace. How hard would it be to set up a buddy system or have one EA look out for the kids with special needs? They over stress the kids becoming independent at the expense of their academic and emotional needs. I'm still not sure if it's all a farce due to funding, or they really do have a method to their madness.

I'm not sure that WA is any worse than most average states, but if you ever lived in NY, NJ or even CA, where they have a ton of innovations in their schools for kids with ASD, you wil be disappointed. Here, they even mix kids with and without cognitive issues together in our self contained behavior program.

[shaylahc]

I think WA schools are much better than others. We came from NC where we didn't get anything for my kids (one kid is dyslexic and dysgraphic, one kid with autism). Here the schools are much more willing to be flexible. Northshore was good with "off paper" stuff.. For example my then junior high schooler with autism was constantly feeling sick at school, and needed help from the counselor to talk to teachers, they were always willing to accommodate her. The students seemed to take her under their wing, do little extra nice things for her, which I thought was incredibly sweet. The schools here seem smaller (except the high school) and I think that helps foster a comfortable sense of community, which is really important for kids with autism.

Unfortunately at the high school level, they had nothing to offer. Since my kid is a 4.0 student, she didn't qualify for an IEP. But she was constantly missing school for "stomach aches", was having full blown panic attacks. We tried to set up a system to help her communicate with her teachers, and one of her teachers openly mocked her about it. They just were not nice at all. The principal basically told me they did not have the resources necessary to deal with my kid's problems. She is at Northshore Networks now, not really thriving there either. I think this fall we will do a combo of regular high school, Northshore Networks, and maybe some online college classes.

My dyslexic kid is doing GREAT in school. Leota has this thing called "academic lab" where the kids have 1 hour of what amounts to a special education "study hall." She can do her homework and get help with her classes from a special ed teacher. They tried to talk me into dropping it for next year, I said no way! She is also a 4.0 student, and in all regular ed classes.

So it really depends on what kind of needs your child has. I feel like Northshore can be very accommodating, and that smaller school sizes foster a sense of community (which minimizes bullying issues). But they don't really have any real support networks in place (like social groups, etc) to address the many needs of the autism community.

Overall I have been very happy with Northshore.

[MomofthreeWI]

Thank you everyone for your input. We're in WI now and it sounds very similar. You have to really advocate for your kids and push that you get what you need. What I'd really like (if I could afford it) would be a private school dedicated to kids on the spectrum. I feel like the the spec ed staff understand a bit about every disorder, I'd like a large staff dedicated to autism only. That is my pipe dream though.

Anyway, thanks again - I'll keep all of this in mind as we get closer to our decision.