Special Education in Elementary (Autism) (Murfreesboro: lawyer, home, best school)

[Anony-Momma]

Seems like schools here like to call DCS on families who disagree w school special ed services.

[Yaelle]

Hopping in on this thread because this will be important to us too. So it's mainstreaming to "fail" for a semester or so, and then hiring an attorney to get the private placement? It's kind of like that here too (SoCal).

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by Yaelle

So it's mainstreaming to "fail" for a semester or so, and then hiring an attorney to get the private placement? It's kind of like that here too (SoCal).

No, that is not the standard way to do it at all. Those are the rare cases, and they end up costing you and especially your child in the long run.

[septimus]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

No, that is not the standard way to do it at all. Those are the rare cases, and they end up costing you and especially your child in the long run.

You can't get the private placement though until you prove that the district isn't meeting the child's needs and the district is of course going to fight that.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by septimus

You can't get the private placement though until you prove that the district isn't meeting the child's needs and the district is of course going to fight that.

So you go in assuming the district is not going to meet his needs??

This is only a worst-case scenario.

In my opinion, the OP needs to do serious research with contacts at local school districts, which are readily found by Googling, MEET with them, and then choose whichever system seems like the best fit.

The last study I saw showed TN ranked around 43/50 for addressing special ed needs. If the OP has a choice of where to move, then this should be a serious consideration from the get-go.

[Anony-Momma]

Do some Internet searching on due process cases in each county. Sometimes you find legal info and sometimes parent blot posts. Revealing info.

Also join special ed newsletters. The Wilco one is wcslink.

[Anony-Momma]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...ON03/303070012 opinion piece about Benton Hall

[Anony-Momma]

Search hometown online news sources, too. Franklin Homepage ran a story this school year about turnover in special ed. They can't keep employees.

http://franklinhomepage.com/-special...2#.Uxnn8Va-leY

[tntnv]

These are all really great idea. Thanks again. And I really love the discussion that is going on here. Change is so hard for my son and any information that I can gather here and through other resources will help me make a better transition for him.
We are moving to the Nashville/Murfreesboro area, the choice for us is which school district to choose.

I contacted Autism TN and they gave me a list of all their parent contacts for each county so I can call and talk to each one about their child's experience in school.

In a way I do expect them to fail because after talking with one school district's special ed assistant on what they offer, it doesn't come close to what is offered in our New York school. My son doesn't do well in large classrooms, he's in a very small one, and frequently uses the "quiet room" in his classroom, both of which they don't have in this particular school district, just to name two.

[CountryGirl2b=]

I am not sure this is helpful but there is a section on Autism. I wish you all the best!

Tennessee Kindred Stories of Disability