Oakstone Academy in Ohio??

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	I may be relocating to Westerville, OH and I've heard about a private school for children on the spectrum as well as NT kids for modeling.  Is anyone familiar with this school?  How is the tuition?  I know there is a long wait list. Where is westerville? Imean what part of OHIO? I live in NE Ohio and The Rich Center is up here its only for ASD children. I know its free during the school year. We are considering sending Jr there if we cant get him in the MRDD school here.  Have you googled the school? I know "the Rich Center" has a great websight. Westerville is in Central OH, it is basically NE Columbus (in my backyard - literally!). The website for Oakstone is www.ccde.org, but it looks like the page is under construction right now. I am not sure about the tuition costs, but I know that they do accept the Ohio Autism Scholarship, which allows parents to choose private schooling for meeting IEP goals rather than public. The scholarship is $20,000 a year but I am not sure if it completely covers Oakstone's costs. The website will let you fill out an online form with some basic information so that you can be added to the waitlist. I have not seen any other way of being added, and you cannot even request a tour or anything until your name comes up on the list. Because of the lack of schools like this in the area, the waitlist is very long. When an opening comes up they go through their database to see which children best match with the opening that they have and then those people are contacted and it goes from there. From what I understand, because they want a certain balance of students, it takes even longer to go down the list. A student may leave the school, but they only want to fill the spot with a 4 yr.old girl w/Classic Autism, or another student may leave, and they have to fill the spot with a 6 yr. old boy w/Asperger's. It doesn't just matter where you're at on the list, but also whether or not your child matches their need. From what I hear, it is a really great school and the children enrolled do really well. But, Dezarae has been on the WL since last year and we haven't gotten so much as a phone call with a WL update. Here's an article, though it is a bit dated (2003) http://www.ccde.org/news/03112003/The-2520Columbus-2520Dispa tch.htm   what a cool school...I would love something like that   We live near.  I hear good and bad... people who love it LOVE LOVE LOVE it... but people who hate it have MANY negative feelings about it.  Many of the teachers there are not special ed.  Ididn't like that they won't let you tour unless you are on the waiting list.  How can I know I want to send my kids there without touring??  That made me feel like they had something to hide.  I've heard other complaints too.  It is VERY expensive... I think a good $10,000 more than the autism scholarship still... and there's a waiting list for some grades (not all supposedly).  There are other autism schools in the area... all with similar reputations (good and bad)... Haugland, Step by Step, Hand in Hand.  Personally I LOVE my public school district.  We live in Olentangy and they've been great.  I wouldn't ever think of pulling them out and paying for a private shcool... the servcies they get are astounding.  I have a good friend with a 8 year old with classic autism who's in Westerville and she's been VERY happy with their STACK program too.   I'd look at some of the public schools before thinking private honestly.  brown- If I lived in the Olentangy district, I wouldn't pull my kid out either    It's the top rated district in the state, isn't it? My dad's in administration for our district, and he's pretty jealous of your stats. Then again, our district is mainly low income and we've got a really great program that focuses on kids with autism too...so I second looking at a public district first. We live in an OK school district. Personally if I had the choice I wouldnt send my daughter to school here but they do wonderful with her so I am not much to complain. I do know that my son WILL NOT be going to our public school district as they can hardly handly DD and my son is a bigger challange than she is so He will go to the county MRDD school which did so wonderful for my daughter until she became to high functioning to qualify to continue to go there.  I would go on a tour of anywhere I plan to send my kid or I wouldnt want to send them there. Luckily this isnt my first time around so I know better now and what to look for. The school seems like a nice place.. brown1442-  What exactly is the STACK program in Westerville? Do you have any info about Step by Step?
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