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Old 05-04-2015, 08:36 AM
 
16 posts, read 25,905 times
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Hello. I am a stay at home mom of two beautiful boys. My oldest is 4 1/2 and my youngest is 3. My oldest son is high-functioning autistic. We currently live in Knoxville, TN. My husband is considering a job opportunity in McLean VA. Neither of us are very familiar with the area, but are looking for a single family home in a nice, safe neighborhood. I am curious where the best place might be for us that will not be a terrible commute for my husband and still have great schools for my sons. For my oldest, I think we would prefer a private autism school. We are considering Chantilly, (which doesn't seem to be too far from the Auburn School in Herndon), and Leesburg, (which has the Aurora School). I am hoping someone can offer some advice on where the best place might be for us based on this info. Does anyone have any experience with either of these schools or opinions you could share? Are these good areas to look in? Are there others we should be considering? Anything at all you could tell me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
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Old 05-04-2015, 10:59 AM
 
16 posts, read 25,905 times
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Any info would be greatly appreciated as things are moving rather quickly so we are trying to make a decision on location soon. Thank you so much!!!
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Old 05-04-2015, 11:10 AM
 
529 posts, read 750,837 times
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What is your budget?

Fairfax county public school has good programs for special needs kids.

Fairfax County Public Schools: Special Education Instruction

In addition to the schools you referred, you may want to check county school.
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Old 05-04-2015, 11:40 AM
 
2,189 posts, read 3,316,912 times
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You must provide a budget for people to help. Either of those would be a manageable commute to Tysons Corner, provided you take tollroads. Leesburg is much further out so you'll end up paying a lot more in tolls(probably about $8-9 each way vs $2-3 each way in Chantilly). There's a particular stretch of tollroad running from Leesburg to Dulles airport that is very expensive. Public schools in both places are good, and the neighborhoods are very safe.

One thing that may sway you(or may not) is that Loudoun County kindergartens are 1/2 day, which is the county Leesburg is in. Parts of Chantilly are in that county, but there are also parts in the adjacent county Fairfax which has full day kindergarten. Since you are a SAHM you may not care either way but some people do.
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Old 05-04-2015, 11:58 AM
 
16 posts, read 25,905 times
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Thank you so much and thanks for letting me know about the toll roads! I guess Leesburg might not work as well as I thought. As far as the house goes, we are looking for a single family home under 800k. Does anyone have any experience with the Auburn School in Herndon? That is a short distance from Chantilly, isn't it? It seems great online, but I'm curious if anyone has any firsthand experience with it. I think that is the one I'm leaning toward for my oldest son at this point. I will check out The Fairfax county special ed system as well, but I think I would prefer private for him. Fairfax county real estate seems much more expensive. The school systems in both Fairfax and Loudoun counties seem amazing, much better than where we live now. I feel confident that I'll find a great school for my youngest son. Would love to find a great montessori school. Herndon seems a bit pricey, but I thought if we could find a place in Chantilly, the commute to Herndon would be rather easy for me and also for my husband who will be commuting, of course, to McLean. Any insight or advice is greatly appreciated!
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Old 05-04-2015, 12:09 PM
 
2,189 posts, read 3,316,912 times
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If your budget is up to 800k Leesburg could still work for you if you liked that area a lot. You could get a SFH for much less than that, and easily afford the tolls. Herndon is much more expensive because it's much closer to the city but 700-800 is still a healthy budget for that area. Chantilly would work too. I don't have any insight on the private schools but I grew up in Chantilly and the public schools were good.
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Old 05-04-2015, 01:58 PM
 
529 posts, read 750,837 times
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You may want to ask the question about 'Auburn school' in the following forum, specifically about special need kids:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/36.page

But please note that this is a different type of anonymous forum where you can't see people's reputation or member id etc.
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Old 05-04-2015, 01:59 PM
 
Location: Reston, VA
2,090 posts, read 4,247,503 times
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There are some very nice options in Reston in your price range. Reston would give you easy access to Herndon for school for your older child and much closer access to work for your husband. Additionally there is a great Montessori -- Sunset Hills Montessori School also check out Sunrise Valley Elementary -- Sunrise Valley Elementary School - Reston, Virginia - VA - School overview

Here are a few property options in Reston in your price range.
11011 BIRDFOOT CT, RESTON, VA | MLS FX8561429 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
1818 CRANBERRY LN, RESTON, VA | MLS FX8597876 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
11924 FAWN RIDGE LN, RESTON, VA | MLS FX8624065 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
1565 OLD EATON LN, RESTON, VA | MLS FX8556414 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
1517 STUART RD, RESTON, VA | MLS FX8612473 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
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Old 05-04-2015, 03:17 PM
 
Location: D.C.
2,867 posts, read 3,557,786 times
Reputation: 4770
OP, I have sent you a message. I vote for Leesburg, and with your budget, you could afford an amazing home!
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Old 05-04-2015, 03:29 PM
 
948 posts, read 3,356,646 times
Reputation: 693
Default Spec. ed. svcs in the entire state are poor

Well, the Auburn school is a fairly new school. It's made some changes at the top after parents complained about how things were being run. The school has been somewhat responsive to parent concerns, but I'm not current on what parents would say about it now.

Fairfax is a very large county and there are pockets of problems in their schools relative to special education teachers/training. To say that services are, "good" is a fools choice of words from a previous poster. How do you measure what exactly their version of "good" means? Honestly, to get a decent program here, you're going to have to take on your child's first few years here as a full time job. Making sure the IEP is being followed, doing your own observations, monitoring progress on an ongoing if not daily basis. Virginia sets the bar pretty low for special education services. The state does not demand high or even mid-line standards from the state of virginia, so parents are often left deferring to teachers who want to do **maybe** the bare minimum for their child in spite of that child making no progress.

I made a post a while back on spec. ed svcs in the state with an attached state report(JLARC) to back up my post on how awful services are here.
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