[mmbb77]

My family is moving to Connecticut this summer. We have a kid entering kindergarten with high functioning autism. We are wondering which school district will be better for her: Madison or Guilford? How do the districts differ in meeting child's needs? And which specific elementary schools in the two districts should we consider? Thank you all.

[Guilfordian1]

Sorry no one replied to this in two months. I hope it's not to late.

I'm a Guilford resident with a child who has high functioning autism as well. She's been through Guilford Public Schools since Kindergarten and I have never had any trouble with the schools' support of her needs. I should note that she has never needed an IEP, but does have a 504 Plan.
Sometimes I need to contact teachers (especially support teachers) to remind them on an individual basis what accommodations are expected through her 504, but I've never felt that Guilford lacked support.

Also, it should be noted that this coming year (2013/2014) will be the first for a new head of Special Education at the administrative level. I'm not sure what changes will occur due to the new position.

Guilford has four elementary schools: AW Cox, Calvin Leete, Guilford Lakes, and Melissa Jones. They're all wonderful and I would recommend any of them. I'm not as familiar with the elementary schools in Madison, but I do know that there are three of them, and two of them are part of larger campuses - Ryerson is teamed with Brown Middle School, and Jeffrey is part of the Polson Middle and Hand High campus. Island Ave is all by itself. I'd probably suggest the former two over the latter, if you decided to move to Madison.

I also have a close friend who is a teacher in Madison and, from what I can tell, they have similar support systems in place in their district. I've never heard my friend complain that they lack support at all.

Sorry I don't have a better answer! Best of luck to you; I'm sure whichever town you choose, you'll find good schools for your child.

[whattodowhattodo]

I have a 3 year old with a speech and language impairment. When we were moving to CT, we did a ton of research on school systems and chose Madison. Guilford was our other top choice, it just didn't have the housing options we wanted that the time of our move. I've been extraordinarily impressed by the school district's responsiveness and willingness to help. The speech therapist really went out of her way to make sure that our son got the help he needed. It helped that he adored her from the get go. Sadly, she retired last month, but we already know the name of the speech therapist who is assigned to work with our son as soon as school starts back up.

Since moving here, we've talked to various people about the differences between Guilford and Madison. From what I can tell, there really isn't a lot of differences in the school systems. Everyone tells me how happy they are with both.