colector: [JournalWriting] Re: excellent news (knock on wood)!

Hi Julie,

> Things I hadn't expected, like his receptive language skills... so
> improved... simply because he has someone who knows "ok, autistic
> spectrum child, not "problem" child... so I will use this technique
> rather than "that" technique."
> It just feels so good to see my child happy for a change,
> rather than tortured, like you said.
> PS - What sort of a school is it? Are there decent programs for kids
> on the Autistic Spectrum in your area? I am looking to relocate in
> the next several years... California is not the place (at least not
> where I am) for kids with any sort of special need.)

The quality changes district to district in just about every state
I think.

It's actually a regular ed public school (!). We lucked out
moving here. I've yet to hear of another special ed dept.
that was so good/thorough. His IEP really *is* individual. He's got
two teachers with him at all times (and has a phD coming in
2-3 times a week... whom I lock horns with sometimes but
that's another matter), speech, OT (besides just
learning how to hold a pencil :P, the district recognizes sensory
integration dysfunction and has a fully equipped OT room).
When I made it clear his current program wouldn't work (not
strong enough ABA), they brought in an independent institute
to take over his program. I demanded a functional behavioral
assessment and I got it (and they knew what the heck that was).
There are kids lots less severe
who have their own full time aides, varying degrees of classroom
integration depending completely on what they need. I get daily
reports on how he's doing. If I have further questions, I can
call his teachers any time (and I do LOL).

The school even has
"lunch buddy" programs where "normal" ed kids sit at lunch/
recess with children who need help with socialization
(Alex is too severe at this point for it) and interaction
is facilitated by a speech therapist. It's voluntary... they
sent out a request to parents with neurotypical children to
see if their child wanted to sign up for it. And they do.
The kids here are great. It's totally a parenting thing
but you'd be hard pressed to find a such a child-oriented
community with such great kids. You're *always* finding parents in
the hallways and they stress parent involvement in the classrooms.
I haven't seen one real incident of bullying... it's not at all
tolerated by the teachers and gets nipped in the bud immediately.
There are teachers I've spoken to who lived in other parts of CT/NY
who wish they lived here so their kids could go to school here.

My daughter came in with processing issues. The last district
we lived in
kind of went, "Yeah, there's something there... throw her in
special ed in the afternoons." Sheer luck that her special
ed teacher was awesome (has since quit that district) and Dana
made huge progress in just the one year with her. But they
largely left it to chance. Redding did a full eval... I forget
now how much testing but I thought it would never end... and they
narrowed it down to specifically what her issues
were and her resource help is specifically targeted to address
those. And that's ON her IEP. She's (9 yrs old) doing so well
you can't tell there's anything "off" with her at all anymore.

The reports I get so far from other parents is that the middle
school and highschool are also very, very good. No just
giving special ed kids "busy work" to keep them occupied...
everything really IS geared towards educating/progress.

The only problem... it's expensive to live here. We're renting
a 3 bedroom house at $2500/mo. Though soon as dh gets a steady
job we'll be buying our own... 3 bedroom homes here go for
around (absolute minimum and that's during this buyer's market)
$450k. Ouch.

Fairfield county in CT is one of the best places to live
in the country if you have a special needs child. Redding
is one of the more expensive places but we're
happy here so no plans on moving out of it any time soon.
And, for CT this close to NYC, it is the most "rural" yet
its surrounded by towns with all the amenities and easy
access to major highways. NYC is a 45 min train ride
(express).

Maybe I should go into real estate LOL.

Mary, CT

p.s. I've been a bit awol because Alex has actually been
*very* interactive. Contrary to a typical "autie" personality
he doesn't want to do anything alone... he wants someone
to be playing/interacting with him at all times. So I get
errands, housework done during the day while he's in school
then I'm all his (and his sister) once they get off the bus(es).
I'm only "free" at the moment because he's discovered YouTube.com
and I CAN NOT BELIEVE HOW MANY VIDEOS THERE ARE that come up
when you type "toilet" in the search bar!!!! (Alex is obssessed
with flushing toilets) It's ok... homework and dinner are done.