Seeking good elementary school in Boston North Shore area for HFA / Asperger child (Beverly: company, autism)

[ECPCVC]

But if your child is hf/aspergers they will most likely be mainstreamed in your home district so collaboratives will not play a role. Stay away from Arlington.

[CREGO]

Thanks sparklingforest. We went up this weekend and drove past a number of houses for sale in Beverly, Manchester and Hamilton/Wenham. We're leaning towards Beverly or Essex at this point as yours are another set of comments echoing the same thing about Beverly (positive) and Hamilton/Wenham (negative). The only negative we've heard so far about Beverly is that as a city school, once you get to the high school level, things change. That might be too far off to worry about at this time. My thought is that getting our foot in the door in MA and a solid elementary school experience should be the priority.

[CREGO]

Originally Posted by robr2

You may want to consider the LABBB program. The towns of Lexington, Arlington, Burlington, Bedford, and Belmont have a collaborative for special needs and early intervention for their five towns:

LABBB Collaborative

@robr2 - thanks for that info. Sounds like a good option in that area.

[CREGO]

Originally Posted by ECPCVC

But if your child is hf/aspergers they will most likely be mainstreamed in your home district so collaboratives will not play a role. Stay away from Arlington.

We're probably not looking in that area at this point but out of curiosity, why no to Arlington?

[gf2020]

Lynnfield would be a great north of Boston choice, and only 30 minutes to Gloucester, but $450K won't go very far. For the most part, the town does what it can to keep students in the district but I do know of students who are placed out of district and participate in the LABBB Collaborative mentioned above.

[ECPCVC]

Rather than badmouth every suggestion people make, I will suggest you join commonbonds. It is a Yahoo group for parents of kids on the spectrum in MA. I have found it to be more helpful for these types of questions. Not that city data isn't a wealth of information I've been researching this stuff for about a year and it's best to directly ask parents who have children with similar profile/level of functioning/co-morbid issues, and who have first hand current knowledge of a school district. They will let you join if you are in the process of moving. Good luck!

[CREGO]

Originally Posted by ECPCVC

Rather than badmouth every suggestion people make, I will suggest you join commonbonds. It is a Yahoo group for parents of kids on the spectrum in MA. I have found it to be more helpful for these types of questions. Not that city data isn't a wealth of information I've been researching this stuff for about a year and it's best to directly ask parents who have children with similar profile/level of functioning/co-morbid issues, and who have first hand current knowledge of a school district. They will let you join if you are in the process of moving. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll look into that, sounds promising.

[CREGO]

Originally Posted by ECPCVC

A lot of towns here do TK, which stands for transitional kindergarten. It's great for kids who need that extra year. I don't know much about the north shore as far as schools, but if you end up there, there is a great therapy center/school called Futures. I've heard amazing things about their social skills groups and camp.

Regarding Futures - I found two in Beverly, "Futures Behavior Therapy" and "Futures Clinic", both seemingly providing special needs services. Do you happen to know which is the one you heard about?

[ECPCVC]

They're probably both the same overall company. If you Google futures camp or futures social skills groups it should take you to the right site.

[CREGO]

Thanks, that's what I had done and how I found the two I mentioned. I thought they might be one and the same but they have different addresses and phone numbers.