Special Needs/Autism/PPCD School District Info That Might Be Helpful (Houston: best school, living in)

[LizzySWW]

I understand Stafford is really wonderful for sp ed services. The city of Stafford doesn't even tax residents because the main UPS location is in Stafford & their taxes more than take care of school needs. So I hear that Stafford ISD has so much money that people sometimes move there for the sp ed programs that are beautifully staffed & funded. The houses out there are very afordable. I hope someone else can give you more info on Stafford, good luck.

[LizzySWW]

Oh, just to help you in looking online for info, it's Stafford ISD and Fort Bend ISD.

[Mom2Feebs]

That's interesting Lizzy! I did not know anything about Stafford so I looked it up. It seems that they are a Municipal School District, which means they are not independent and therefore accountable to the city of Stafford. The history of it is found here: City of Stafford, Texas - The Creation of the Stafford Municipal School District

The Primary and Elementary schools have a TEA Recognized rating, the Intermediate and High schools are Acceptable, but the middle school is Unacceptable. I do dig the way the schools are set up--they're all on the same grounds; they go from Primary (EE-1) to Elementary (2-4) to Intermediate (5-6) to Middle (7-8) to High (9-12). Interesting. Reminds me of parts of S. Florida.

I'd love to hear from any parents who have their kids in Special Ed in Stafford to see what the pros/cons are with the MSD as opposed to an ISD. I can't find anything on their website about Special Ed at all.

[LizzySWW]

Well how about that! I just always assumed it was an ISD, my apologies for the bad information on that one. I don't really know how the schools rate (parents thoughts) for regular ed in Stafford, I've always heard great things about their sp ed programs. If you don't get answers here try meetup.com for a Houston parent of sp need kids group.........

[zhugeliang1]

I understand Stafford is really wonderful for sp ed services.

Well, funding isn't everything in special ed services, what about good administrators in special ed? That's really important to outstanding special ed services. Are there any Houston area school districts with strong special education leadership? I don't know.

[LizzySWW]

The best sp ed program in the city of Houston is Spring Branch ISD. Tons of money, best facilities, and it attracts the best sp ed staff. You don't have to live in one of the expensive Memorial neighborhoods for the best schools, the same services are provided in all schools. PPCD is offered at a seperate campus (Bendwood) but it's optional since all pre-k centers have inclusive & seperate PPCD programs on site. Older kids are offered services in their home school unless they need a more restrictive enviornment in a specialized program. Lots sp ed students get additional home services for life skills & this is not limited to kids with severe disabilities.

You can search old thread for more inforation.

[lisa13]

Can anyone please recommend a good public and/or private school in the Katy area. My son has high functioning austism spectrum disorder. He has a lot of anxiety issues and OCD. Due to moving public schools a few times, (which change is not well accepted by my son) he has fallen into a school that has already called the police in and this frightens my son and I!!. He will be going to junior high next year but we still have to get through this year!!. We have a outside therapists as well as the school district psychologists and is in special ed. He has been placed in isolation a lot because of his agressive behaviors. Please, please let me know of any schools that would deal with this sort of behaviors an not get the police involved.

[fisch]

I am also interested in your developmental pdiatrician.

[Dmichelle007]

Originally Posted by howeloween

Hi, thank you for sharing your search efforts. I have read this thread and the above-quoted post got me interested. I have a daughter currently at The Parish School and I am looking at options for after Parish and a little closer to home--we are in H.I.S.D. Would you mind sharing the name of the school and name of the Special Education District Coordinator you spoke with? Thank you and best wishes to you and your family with your son's new placement.

We're moving to Houston soon and TPS looks like a good fit but our son's in 5th grade now so I'm wondering where TPS kids go after 5th. Thanks!

[shelia222]

Originally Posted by carolineb

mom2feebs - I know what you mean about private therapy - even if insurance covers some of the cost, co-pays can be very expensive.

I'm glad that your child will be getting a good PPCD program in Spring Branch. What does Spring Branch do that other school districts don't do?

Our child will be starting in Katy PPCD on Monday and I hope his program is good here too. We had our ARD meeting this week and they are going to give him OT consult, psych consult and speech consult within 30 days so I'm happy so far.

I have to say though that he did have a good PPCD program in Houston ISD for the 2 months that he was enrolled and for the month of summer school.

I have a nephew that will be starting a PPCD program next Monday. I am attending his ARD tomorrow with my sister. They saw some au indicators in his initial testing and are going to request further assessments. Did you have any trouble getting them to agree in your meeting? They are telling my sister that he cannot eat at school because he cannot go through the line himself. I told her to tell them that eating is a self help skill they need to address and they said they didnt work on that till later. I teach special ed but have never heard of that. I am probably going to throw a wrench in their plans of walking all over a young mother who does not know her rights.