Where NOT TO MOVE for autism services!!! | Autism PDD

We live in Indiana and have had to fight tooth and nail to get services.Australia...All of it.Allegra you just beat me to it. Definitely no services in Australia worth mentioning.I come from the land down under...
where autism services are ostensible...

hmmm, well i cant remember the song im making fun of, but i think u get the idea, hmmm, seems many on this board are from europe (west), USA, Canada, England or Australia, I wonder where the best places are to go... NYS (where I live) i hear is decent, better then my previous state of NJ, where I received nothing, but these are different times i suppose, and treatment is fairly new from what I understand, in time, i think things will improve, so the next generation will hopefully all receive (those that need it) intervention, something i wish I woulda had access to in the 80's.ALabama - I think they just relized there was a problem. They are trying now, but we will see what happens - to late for mine anyways - I take mine to Florida for private ABA - 2.5 hour both ways - - that how bad it is here!! Kansas - a big NOSo sorry to hear that "the land of plenty" doesn't do right by you when it comes to services. Keep fighting, and keep up those '80's references!

SAY NO TO MARYLAND-you cant get anything and they push your child through the system unless you cash out your retirement, house, etc and pay for it yourself.

*there seems to be a difference if you live in montgomery county or owings mills area of baltimore county, but great luck affording to live in one of those places.

Yes ! Men At Work I come from the land down under where autism services are one big blunder!hahaha, not sure, possible! sorry i was being stupid earler, did not mean to troll on a serious subject...

[QUOTE=woodsman25]I come from the land down under...
where autism services are ostensible...

QUOTE]

? Men at Work?

I also would agree that Florida is a big NO NO. I have lived here all my life and all my children were born and raised here. I do hear of people getting great services here, but I have no idea how they do it !

We refuse the no answer until we get what is needed for Daniel. Ivanhoe, Texas.

Remember school therapies are geared to help with education.

Private therapies are to benefit daily life.

The school is to provide for kids starting at age 3 in the USA!

Eci isn't dr. needed you make the appt your self. ages 0-3 years.

Jennifer where are you in KS? I am in Leawood in SMSD. Have moved to BV too but services are not any better. Overall, KS sucks!I live in Orlando, and feel my son is getting a lot from his school. He
receives PT,OT,SP and we pay privately ABA.

Again it all depends on the classroom teacher, which we are blessed to
have a good one.

No place is perfect, but I feel that there is a lot of support in place
through U.C.F. Card...etc

I am fairly pleased except that the aba could be paid for. Ha Ha!

My son received therapy -speech and pt from the age of 13 mos.
through medicaid part C,up until the school board took over at the age of
3.

He has come a long way- I am so proud of all of his hard work!!

YmaI am not sure what district it was, but it was in Leavenworth County. This was over 3 years ago. I didn't know alot about special education, but I should have and these bozos should have been nailed. You know what they say..hindsight is 20/20. We no longer live in Kansas and our services are o.k.(much better) unfortunately when you live on an Island there are minimal resources, but it is still o.k.

Sorry, but I never pass up an opportunity to bash Kansas! Worst thing that ever happened to my family was being stationed there!!! Ei wasn't terrible because we were on a 1 year wait list for the autism team..at least they cared and we got 2 hours a week without diagnosis. Sp-ed preschool was a joke..no services except the minimal sp-ed preschool 2 days a week for 3 hours each day with an unqualified teacher (no degree). They actually told me that they didn't believe in autism as a diagnosis. They also failed to follow several procedural safeguards and I could have sued the school district, but knew I was moving and didn't bother (although I should have for all the other parents). Apparently at the same time the person in charge sp-ed for the district was being investigated because over 400,000 dollars was missing..hmmmm. Definitely wasn't being spent on services.

EI / 0-3 years old services are worthless in KS. I've had better luck in the school system though. I have some great private services too which is why I hesitate to leave KS.

I live in Volusia County Florida and I pretty much have to drive hours away for services. I plan to change all of this in the next 10 years and I encourage you all to do the same in your area. Someone has to start the ball rolling! [QUOTE=nene]

Were you in USD 259? or a neighboring district. I am curious. One of the people I am dealing with I thought was just a coordinator (and I thought that what he was listed as when I looked at the website last school year), but was refered to as the Director in a conversation this week. I wonder if he just got a promotion? hmmmm. This same person was really appalled at the blockage I got from the building I was dealing with and is really working to make up for lost time since they screwed me so badly last year. (and the two people I was having such a problem with are gone too)

I would consider Long Island along with Montgomery County, but all I've heard of their services involve younger children; as my son is about to turn 14 in November they would not be appropos. I am assuming that the Variety Child Learning Center is also geared toward younger children, is it not?

i would do extensive checking on maryland first! #1, montgomery county is about the most expensive place (or the cheapest poorest place) you could move to in the state. depending on the neighborhood. and while montgomery county is supposed to be at the forefront of schools/education in the state; maryland isnt all that high up on the ladder overall. Furthermore, maryland is not the best place to live, as far as med insurance, benefits, what gets covered, ridiculous taxes, more ridiculous house taxes, overcrowding, and an average of violent crimes that is worse than new york.

most people that live here hate this state. just a little food for thought and a reason to hook up and talk with someone who lives in mont. co first to make sure its what you are expecting.

I'd have to give a vote against Louisiana for now...but I think things are going to start looking up soon. The closest ABA therapy center is in Monroe. The rural areas really suck, but near the larger cities, things seem to be getting better.Another vote against NC - given my birth to three experience.I live in ct and it seems fine for now .. what do you think about Connecticut .any one ?I'm seriously considering relocating to Montgomery County, MD in the very near future; not interested in returning to NYC and the Board of Ed there if I can help it. I never really thought about Long Island, NY and I guess that's the Manhattanite in me (in that, nothing outside of the five boroughs matters); would be interested to learn more though.

Another vote for Kansas. Services are pathetic here. You can get some decent quality private services, but 1.5 hours/week is about 13.5K/year at one place and nearly that at the other. If it weren't financial aid, ds wouldn't be receiving any services at all.

There aren't any services to speak of between 3 and 5 although the school is supposed to pick up when IE leaves off, it is still a battle to even get the IEP, and I haven't even dealt with the actual IEP team yet. I have heard the EI services are bad too, but we didn't get the dx until after 3, so we never had the opportunity to deal with them.

There is one developmental pediatrician in the state. She seems good, but it can take more than a year to get an appointment with her. I have heard there are others in the KC, MO Children's hospital that serves some Kansas kids, but for most of the state, there is only one option. She isn't just there for autism, she serves all special needs kids in the state.

They are beginning an autism waiver program at the start of 2008, but you can only get it if you are under 5, and of all the applications, only 25 kids are going to be granted the waivers for the whole state.

I'm in Wichita right now. I was in Olathe when he was born and wondered if we should move back there for services. I guess not. :lol

I heard that the services are horrendous in Olathe.

what about Washington state?

We live in Fairfax County, VA.

One of my 9-year-olds(AD/HD) goes to public, and gets a little ST, and lots of time with the Resource Teacher.

My other 9-year-old (Autism) goes to private, paid by the school district b/c there isn't a class appropriate for him in public.

I am, so far, happy with the services my kids get. I have not had to go to war with the schools to get stuff, either. I would like more ST, though, and OT that deals with Sensory Integration Dysfunction issues instead of just dealing with handwriting problems.

i am going to include a link to a local tristate autism group, if they ask where you live indicate you are looking to move to mont. co. the group is a slow mover and alot of people are from pa but you should get some answers.

ive been to newyork, nj. maryland has much more crime, dc and maryland are the top three in the country.....you could compare some parts to trenton 7 years ago. at any rate, i think you are being sucked into alot of hype that md touts about mont co. maryland as a whole, once you get past kindergarten, services deteriorate. quickly. what you will probably find is the same thing all of us find, the school system pushing to mainstream your 5+ year old in normal class with only and hour or two of speech per week. most of the children here are paying to go to the private autism schools in baltimore and owings mills, forbrush, harbor, etc. AND, everyone who is able IS moving. The place in the five state area to be.......... YORK COUNTY, PA!!! cheaper living, small city or big country, and a school system that is worlds above anywhere in Maryland for education. and the state gives more support. in maryland, to get services, you need to get yourself on the autism waiver. one problem. they are full, several years ago.we applied last october, and were over 1700. whats this mean, well, they accept less than 300 per year for waiver services. and since without it the school systems wont give you any services, often even with a paid advocate/lawyer (at least 800 per iep in balto, add at least 500+ im guessin for mont co.) your worlds away from getting services you need. i did see a thread but i cant recall if it was on here that there were some people VERY happy with their county and it was either NC or SC. although i think it was NC. not every county in the sstate is the same.

anyways, heres the yahoo group to join to get some answers

Parents_of_special_needs_kids_DE_MD_PA@yahoogroups.com

much luck to you, and keep trying, there was a senior member on here somewhere that was from mont. co. they moved too. and check out york county pa definately.

[QUOTE=mbrogue]

most people that live here hate this state. just a little food for thought and a reason to hook up and talk with someone who lives in mont. co first to make sure its what you are expecting.

[/QUOTE]

From what I have been able to uncover, Montgomery County has decent services for autistic children, which is my utmost concern at this point. As for being expensive and crime ridden, I've lived in Manhattan all of my life before relocating to NC, so I am used to an area that is both expensive and has crime. My only concern with regard to MD is Montgomery County and its services, all else I can live with as long as my son is stable and receiving appropriate, effective services and supports. However, I cant get much info since I dont know anyone in the area, which is why I attempted to garner some from the participants of this site, to no avail. I will just keep researching what I can until I can relocate, reasoning that if it is 1/10th better than NC, I will be at peace with that.

I never really considered PA to be a viable source for autism services for some reason, especially from what I have heard from its residents. Still, the main factors I consider for a possible relocation area are: how is its mental health system constructed, how is autism defined under that system and how that definition relates to the distribution of services; is the school system willing to be compliant to special education law and policies, and most importantly, what types of services and supports are available within the community. One thing I dont rely on is the school system providing everything that is needed; that's a nice utopia that I have never witnessed. My first question is always what is available within the community. What I have found is that the smaller the community, the less services that are available; couple that with a retarded mental health system and what you will get will resemble what is in effect throughout NC. As soon as you said that York County, PA is a "small city" and "cheaper" the hairs raised on the back of my neck because that was the selling point I was given about NC, and it is a collection of small cities/towns that are cheap to live in (small areas that are adamant about keeping their taxes and cost of living low tend to skimp on services and education, at least from what I have seen, and it is much too suburban for our tastes...as former NY'ers we are used to walking around on a nice invention called sidewalks, something they have very few of in small towns).

At any rate, I greatly appreciate your input and information; this whole thing has been extremely frustrating, to say the least. It's a damn shame that in order to find adequate services for autistic children one is reduced to examining each state with a magnifying glass...nice country we live in eh.

We are researching the Austin Texas area for the best schools and support for our have a 4 year old daughter. She Autistic high functioning. Any informaion would be helpful.

[QUOTE=ginajull13]I live in ct and it seems fine for now .. what do you think about Connecticut .any one ?[/QUOTE]

Hi Curious as to what part of CT you are in? We are in New Haven county and services were virtually non-existent in my son's Pre-K. He had 15 min of speech per week. No behavioral programming (though he is at times aggressive with teachers and peers) and no real ESY (2 1/2 days of little more than art & crafts and that was initially refused). I have heard both good and not so good districts here.

Sheri

[QUOTE=pat27265]I would consider Long Island along with Montgomery County, but all I've heard of their services involve younger children; as my son is about to turn 14 in November they would not be appropos. I am assuming that the Variety Child Learning Center is also geared toward younger children, is it not?[/QUOTE]

Yes it is, I was just stating that I am in a school outside of my town that my district covers it.

The districts here have so many good programs for children with these issues, however I don't know about jr. highschool children, I can only assume because each district here has a seperate program for children with special needs, although I haven't researched it and I'm not at that point yet.
JakeysMom39310.3047569444

Both of my kids go to Variety too. (Although my son will start kindergarten this year back home in district.) I can't say enough about Variety! Great school with very caring, compassionate, well educated people (mostly women) running it.

Unfortunately, the school only goes up to 2nd grade, I believe. And, as it was explained to me, a child would have to have serious behavioral or emotional problems to stay at Variety beyond kindergarten. (I got my son out of there before entering kindergarten, because I felt that the classroom wasn't appropriate for him.)

My little girl will remain at Variety. She will be attending a full day program this year, and I'm very happy about it. I would recommend Variety as a special ed preschool to anyone.

Patty

Stay away from CO!!!! We have not received good services from Indiana school systems. I know many people who are dissatisfied with Indiana.

Okay, just to be different -

I would say NO WAY NO HOW to Florida, Texas, Indiana......what other places should we all NOT move to ? Where are Autism Services, school services and respite services, cruddy?

A friend of mine i met on another autism/aspringer site who happened to grow up in the same state I spent my first 8 years of my life living in says NJ is not great for services.

All i can attest to is that during betwen kindergarden-second grade, I spent in special ed, not receiving any other treatment, i switched schools 3 times during those 3 years b4 moving to NY, where I still only got special ed but by then i was improving, did not require anything else.

My buddy on the other hand lived in NJ his entire life, and did not elaborate on if he received any special treatment or special ed, but did say in high school they treated him poorly, did not elaborate yet tho.

I feel i would have gotton more assistence had i spent my whole life in NY, since i was in NJ during the first years of education, i did not think they had anything avalible during 1986-1990 for autism, aside for special ed, and he ashures me it never got better.Actually Indiana is supposed to be a good state for services. There is a mandate there that requires insurance to cover ABA. I would say no to Virginia though. Services here really suck.

Texas has just past a law that goes into effect in August that kids under age 5 will recieve referred services like OT/PT, speech and ABA and insurance has to pay for it..this is huge as we had to pay out of pocket for our dd..I am not sure if this law trickles down into the schools but it I am hopeful..not for our dd since she will be 7 but for new kids:)

We moved to Indiana a year-and-a-half ago, and we are now getting good services for my son through our school corporation, but it has taken a HUGE amount of fighting on my part.

sswbrn39291.753912037I live in FL which is supposed to be bad but I also live in Broward which is supposed to be one of the best counties (in FL) for services.

We'll see...

I found your post interesting since I am considering a move to Montgomery County, MD to get better services.

At any rate, If anyone has a child with autism, PLEASE DO NOT MOVE TO NORTH CAROLINA NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU ARE BRIBED, BULLIED OR LAMBASTED TO DO SO!! I moved here from NYC three years ago and my son has regressed due to the lack of services here. The school system is atrocious -there is one school in the entire county (Guilford County) where they warehouse all of the children classified as having a severe to profound disability (it doesnt matter which one as long as they see the catch words "severe to profound"). There is no structure within any of the classrooms and they dont even have any PECS system within the entire building! They played the radio all day long and let the kids wander about until lunch time, after which they took them to the playground until the end of the day while they sat on benches and gossipped (are there two Ps in that word? Whatever, I'm on a roll.). And, dont get me started on IEPs because they have a computer program that spits them out for them. All they do is type in a diagnosis and out comes some overly broad goals and benchmarks, then they slap on the students name and DOB and voila...instant IEP. My son had a goal on his IEP that stated, "T. will behave appropriately in gym;" I had to pick up my eyeball and reinsert it back into its socket after reading that. When I politely tried to show them how goals are supposed to be written, I got a table full of people who were suddenly obsessed with the cuticles of their fingernails. After I stopped speaking, one member of the IEP team explained to me that since they were the "experts," I should just defer to their expertise with "artistic children;"...I think my mouth was actually hanging open after that one. Finally, I decided to home school him because he was regressing so much and his maladaptive behaviors were escalating rapidly. The "experts" didnt like that idea at all, so they decided to have me investigated. AFter viewing his classroom (the attic-like room on the top floor of my home, my lesson plans, teaching materials and my IEP, they slinked away and left me alone. Still, I have to get out of this state before I run into any more "experts."

pat2726539295.9114236111

Hi DisneyMommy,

where in so cal are you. i am in the silicon valley, san francisco bay area. EI here was great but the school district is disgusting. Autism is on the rise and the districts are on the run. The very rich can probably take them on but the middle class doesnot stand a chance and they know it. we were thinking of moving to So Cal so i would really like to know more about what the autism interventions there are. Thanks.

I think it might be a mistake to take this thread too seriously. The services in different districts in the same State are quite varied. For example, the op said NJ services are poor. I know first hand that services in Westfield, NJ are excellent.

Certain areas of Virginia seem to be pretty good. I guess its all about how informed we are as parents and what our childrens rights are. I have been fortunate to run across many teachers and providers who have steered me through a many IEP meetings. I have two boys who will be in the public school system this fall. There are 2 or 3 families in the Richmond area that took the school board to court, it took a couple of years, but they won, the judge oredered the county where they reside to pay for the tuition for their children to attend private schools because the public schools were not meeting the needs of their children. So far I cant complain.

Spectrummom

i guess it depends on what part of VA you live in. In Rustburg its not so easy we drive over 65-75 miles just to see doctors. And the schools if they have anything dealing with autism its hard to get in. The school my daughter is in just started an autism class this past year. She was already in a special ed prek so they said she couldnt be in class because she was already in a class and new kids would get first chance. Now she is starting Kindergarden and they want her in mainstream after being in special ed for 2 1/2 years.

I dont understand why. But just found out there are to many autistic children in the one school we have so they brought in one more and still not enough space. So i feel anyones pain that is having problems with school systems

[QUOTE=twinzrock]what about Washington state?[/QUOTE]

Both my sons were dx while we lived in WA (near Seattle). The services in King County are about the best you'll get in the entire state (I've heard they're not that great though). Sadly we lived in Snohomish County and their services were horrid! The Medicare waivers were frozen a couple of years before my sons were put on the wait list. They were added to the wait list in 2002 where they sat until 2005 when we were informed that they were changing the guidelines and making it a "need based" waiver. So we sat on the wait list forever for nothing! Our income was always "to high" in their opinion yet were were just a typical middle class family. We qualified for nothing outside of the Birth to Three program. Once the boys turned 3 we were totally on our own and the school district was so bad that in 2005 we decided Homeschooling was a better option.

Oh, the best part was our case manager from DSHS, she was a waste of space! She told me to divorce my Husband so I would qualify for better services (being a single mom with two kids and all). Not only did she dispense that useless advice she also quit her job and didn't inform any of her clients. During that time my oldest son was supposed to be reevaluated so he could continue to stay on their useless waitlist for the Medicare waiver. Well since that never got done, he was removed for the waitlist! What a joke!!!!

We moved to Southern California in 2006. Services here aren't much better if you're middle class.

Sorry for the rant - this topic just makes me cringe.
[QUOTE=pat27265] I'm seriously considering relocating to Montgomery
County, MD in the very near future; not interested in returning to NYC
and the Board of Ed there if I can help it.��I never really thought about
Long Island, NY�and�I guess that's the Manhattanite in me (in that,
nothing outside of the five boroughs matters); would be interested to
learn more though.[/QUOTE]

I live in Long Island and the services here are fantastic.   My son goes to
great school called Variety Child Learning Center and it's fabulous.   My
school district has a variety of classes he can go into according to his
needs if he doesn't get mainstreamed into kindegarden.   The only thing
about my school district that pisses me off is they wouldn't give me a Seit
so that he could attend a typical nursery school 3 days a week for 3
hours, all other services have been met.     Most other school districts do
grant Seits.   I am jealous

JakeysMom39309.8366898148I live in NoCentr Florida and I have been pleased overall with Benjamin's services. The UF-CARD office is super. The Centers for Autism and Related Disabilities(CARD) hold great workshops and seminars. They also partner with our districts Inclusion office to support kids and teachers. Ben attends a small neighborhood school and everyone knows us and are very attentive. I haven't had to go to war, I have had to be a little more assertive early on. Ben got PreK services in the same school. I am very frustrated with the sate's term "educationally relevant" grrrrrrr
We are on the waiting list to get back into OT at Shands for Kids. The insurance will cover to a certain dollar amount. That is better than nothing, which is what our district wants to give for his OT needs.
Janet[QUOTE=sunnycal]

Hi DisneyMommy,

[/QUOTE]

I don't know about DisneyMommy, but I'm upper middle class, and my son (and soon my daughter) is in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Has it been perfect? No. But overall, I would have to rate the services very high, especially if you do your due diligence, and know what you want and are not afraid to ask for it. I've learned through the years that proper placement is the key. When I didn't like his resident school, I fought to send him somewhere else. I've also used the Magnet program to my advantage. Now I have to start looking for the best high school for him, as he is about to start the 8th grade.

FYI, I'm located in the North San Fernando Valley. In general, all the schools are excellent in this area, though that does not guarantee that they are appropriate for my son's learning difficulties. Our Regional Center in this area is also top notch