Best city/school district for child with AUTISM (Glendale, Gilbert: real estate, houses)

[sarahrose]

We are still concidering a move, however we wont know alot until sometime next week, but AZ is still in the running.

[amo]

After reading these posts...I would just suggest that you be a bit skeptical and check it all out for yourself. It sounds like great improvements have occurred over the last few years. When we left, school districts were being sued by parents right and left, north and south. I would stay away from Madison... their highly rated program for autistic's was on paper only...my autistic granddaughter had a horrible...horrible 2 years there.

Also I suggest that you find a home with a swimming pool. It makes all the difference during those hot, hot months. Be sure you like the heat.
Folks seem to thrive in it or just wilt. Good Luck

[exlexisnexis]

http://phxautism.org/index.html (broken link)

http://vsan.org/

these websites will tell you all you need to know

Richard

[sugarlips]

Originally Posted by sarahrose

Ive been researching the Dallas/Plano TX area and it sounds a bit more promising than AZ, but i'm still just looking, We are only trying to escape the long frigid winters here, and want to be able to be outside more months of the year. But, we will see what happens..............MN is a good state for kids with disabilities, it's just so damn COLD!!!

Have you considered NJ? I have read that they have very good systems in place for detecting autism and have a very good reputation for providing services and special education. In fact, I believe that many out of state families with autistic children relocate to specific school districts in NJ order to receive these services. There was an article in the NYTimes recently about NJ's high quality services for autistic children.

Before you shake your head and wonder why I would even suggest NJ. I have to defend the state for a moment. NJ as a whole gets a bad rap probably because of some parts of northern NJ but southern NJ can be totally different. It seems that people fly into Newark and then are experts on NJ and label the entire state. Being from MN, you can understand how unfair that is since the area around the airport in Bloomington is not a fair representation of the entire state of MN.

Having lived in both MN and NJ, I can say that there are a lot of similarities between southern NJ and the MSP area of MN. The one difference is that it doesn't get nearly as cold in NJ. You will still have 4 distinct seasons with snow but you can go outside in the winter (frostbite warnings are very uncommon). Summers are probably the same as in MN with the same humidity and amount of bugs.

I know that I am rambling on about NJ but I just wanted to offer the suggestion. I have kids too and their well-being is the most important job.

Also, I would suggest another forum such as autismtalk . net or another similar forum where the parents might be more informed about the special education services in their area.

[Santee20]

There's an excellent private school for high-functioning Autism, Asperger's, PDD-NOS in Scottsdale Arizona. If you are a parent that is knowledgeable special education and the law you may be able to get a placement in a private school-paid for by the district! Most often a special education attorney is used to represent to child during due process. These placements are hard to get and take a lot of effort by the parent/parents.

We moved our son to this private school without a district placement because we did not want him to go through the process of getting the placement...which typically means moving the child around within the district to see if a fit can be made. This can be horrific for the child...because the burden of "success" is placed on him/her, ie "He is not trying hard enough", etc. When this option fails...then a private placement might be considered with a knowledgeable staff of educators. However, this is still the exception rather than the rule...as educators do not have enough training (even some teachers with special-ed certfication) in Autism and Austism Spectrum Disorders. There was a new bill passed called HB 2676 or Arizona Revised Statutes: Article 8. Section 15-891. Arizona Scholarships for Pupils with Disabilities which is a special scholarship for students with disabilities and can be used to pay tuition for a private school. Also, the state of Arizona gives a tax credit for private school donations up to $1000 per school year per household.

Also, the buzz is that Saguaro High School in Scottsdale has begun an Asperger's program. It's self-contained but the kids can mainstream when ready to do so. The other thing I have heard in Arizona is that Paradise Valley School District has a wonderful program for classical autism for elementary aged kids. I'm not sure about middle school and high school for PV, as many of the middle school/high school kids at Gateway are from Paradise Valley. Santee

[Santee20]

Disabled-World.com mentions this:

The chosen states for Autism and related services, awareness and treatment options are as follows, from top to bottom.

1. Wisconsin
2. California
3. New Jersey
4. Ohio
5. Missouri

[sarahrose]

Still have no clue as to what is happening, but thank you for all the replys. I did e-mail the lady from gilbert school, and it sounds promising, but then I heard of a dust storm the other day in Phoenix.............yikes!!! anywhere you go has issues though........even MN.

[shauna smith]

we also have an autistic child he is going to be 6 soon. We live in Surprise in the Dysart school district. Our experience with the district has been very difficult. They refuse to give our son the help he needs. He gets limited speech and Occupational therapy, but that is about it we are constantly writing letters having meetings, expressing our concerns to no avail while our sons educational needs are not being met. My husband and I are considering moving to North Carolina. We understand that the resources and programs there are awesome....

[shauna smith]

Sarah,
I just wanted to add that getting resources for our son has been very difficult here in AZ. We have to put up a fight everywhere we go. We also ended up at Melmed Center in Scottsdale, AZ it was great because they finally diagnosed my son correctly but as for help with school, therapy, etc... we didn't get much from them. I work with a physician who's son is also autistic. I have had multiple discussions with him reguarding North Carolina. He did agree that is the place to be. He has flown his son there to get treatment before.

[syeara]

Hi, Just wanted to warn you before you come to arizona if your looking for good schools for autistic child. I have a 7 year old autistic son who has suffered because of this state. I am tring to find a place to move where I can get services for him. I have noticed if your child is one that has problems with behavior you just get tossed under the carpet. It kills me to see that my son is being left behind. I have tried to get the school in Buckeye AZ. to keep him in school all day but they wont do to his behavior. He has only been able to attend school 2 hours a day and that is only on good day's and their answer to not being staffed here is having the mother do their job. I have been having to go to school to teach my son just so that he can get a some what education. I tried to get the school here to put him in a private school for kids that are out of control where they can control these kind of out burst but they say no that they can handle him but yet he can not be there all day and they can not find anyone to work with him. As for therapy here it is not good either. My son just started speech and like I said he is 7 years old. The only time he has gotten therapy was in school and it is in a group setting. In which I think is not for everyone since all of our kid's have different needs. You know this school has gotten away with so much I can not believe everything they have done to us They even though it was ok to put my son on the bus in 100 or more heat because he was screaming for it. When he got home he was dripping in sweat and beat red. His close were soaked and to top it off they knew that he could not be exsposed to exstreme heat because of his medication for his seizures. I reported it and there was nothing I could do my word against theirs. I also have noticed for some reason my son's behavior has gotten so much worse here. I am devastated in this state it has not help us out in anyway. We have ran into plenty of block walls. I even called the research center here to see if they had any ideas or progams for him and they say no he is to old they only deal with 5 and under when it comes to the behavior interventions well my son did not have major issues back then so because he is 7 they can not help us. There are many schools here though I have heard that peoria AZ has great schools for autistic children and we do have private schools I am tring to get my son in one now and if I can't I will be moving to a state that can offer me and my family alot more help and compassion. I would really research your options before coming here. god bless and good luck