Moving to Nova (?) with profoundly autistic 7yo. Where?

[Anonymous]

My husband has just accepted a job in Alexandria and we will be moving to the area very soon. We will be buying a 2 bedroom condo, somewhere, but not yet sure where. Does anyone have any advice on best area to live? Our budget is under $200k. We found a few we like in the Springfield area, but not sure if that will be a good fit for our son.

We currently live in PA and he receives SP, PT & OT at school, has a full-time one on one aide at school, receives ST from Kennedy Kreiger, sees a developmental ped at KKI and receives supplemental OT & Speech from a private center here in PA. He is on medical assistance as well as my husband's insurance.

Any & all advice is appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Not Alexandria City. Alexandria City Public Schools have a poor record for educating children with special needs. Fairfax Country has a better reputation but it's a very large system and not all schools good. You might want to consider renting for a while until you get a feel for the schools.

You seem to be getting excellent services in PA. I doubt you will around here, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

I think services are better in Fairfax county than either Alexandria, Falls Church or Arlington. Big, rich county, you should be able to get services. Sorry no personal experience, I live in Mont.Co, MD

[Anonymous]

I did want to note that there are parts of Alexandria which are in Fairfax County and parts which are in City of Alexandria. You need to know the difference.

[Anonymous]

http://www.fcps.edu/index.shtml

Above is a link to the fairfax county site. You can use to find what school district the potential condos are in (boundary locator) and to check stats on the schools (profiles) includes services at the school.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the link. Yes, we have excellent services here & I hate to leave them, but the opportunity for my husband is too good to pass up.

[Anonymous]

I live with my family in the Alexandria part of Fairfax County. We are in the West Potomac HS/Carl Sandburg MS cluster, which is Cluster 4. The website below breaks out which schools provide Autism services by cluster, and those in Cluster 4 that are closest to the city of Alexandria are Belle View ES, and Groveton ES, although others that are south along the GW Parkway/Ft Hunt/Rt 1 corridor are also well within a commuting distance to Alexandria. Depending on where your husband's job is, Falls Church or Annandale may also work, so you'll want to consider the schools in those areas as well.

I don't have any direct experience with FCPS autism services at the ES level yet, so I can't give you any advice about ES schools. If it's at all possible, you may want to consider coming down here for a few days to drive to the different schools and check out the classrooms. I know that the preschool level has classes that go through the summer, and I suspect that ES does too? I know it's probably very hard to arrange for that, but I just wanted to throw it out there as s suggestion.

I heard a while back that Arlington also has a good autism program, but I see that others on this site are saying FCPS has the best services. I'd go with that advice. And please stay away from the Alexandria City school system as they will not do service to you or your child.

Here is the website showing the ES services by cluster, and then the second website will allow you to secarch for individual schools on a map. Best of luck!

http://www.fcps.edu/dss/sei/ABA/sites.htm (you need to download the PDF)

http://commweb.fcps.edu/directory/

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the area! We live in the Fairfax County section of Alexandria near Franconia/Kingstowne. Our kids are ADHD/LD/SPD and our experience is that on a day-to-day instructional level, the teachers/service providers have been excellent (we're at Rose Hill Elementary) and our kids have benefitted greatly. However, when it comes to crafting IEPs, there is a lot of variability in the knowledge and willingness of school staff. I think that's probably true no matter what school you end up with. For the last two years, we've worked wth a consultant/advocate to ensure we get the best IEPs we can and I think having her has really made a difference in the quality of services we get.

We've been very appreciative of the assistance we've received from the FCPS Special Ed staff. They hold workshops throughout the year and have a lending library. We've found the staff to be very supportive and informative. http://www.fcps.edu/specialed.htm

You didn't ask for this and I don't know if you need it but we really like our pediatrician - Dr. Timothy O'Mara at Virginia Pediatric and Adolescent Center in Springfield http://vpacmd.com/ and for private OT/PT/ST we're very happy with the therapists at Children's Therapy Center in Springfield http://www.pediatric-therapy.com/

Good luck and welcome!

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the recommendations. I was thinking about contacting the Special Ed department directly to get answers as well. We are limiting our search to Fairfax Co. Can you, or someone, explain how the "clusters" work? I am guessing that the group of schools would share the same service providers? I am certain I will ultimately have a million questions, so again, all info is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Here is my understanding of the way that the clusters work, assuming that your child meets the criteria for attending one of the autism class rooms (which it sounds like they do!).

At the elementary school level, each cluster only has so many schools that offer autism services/autism class rooms - not every elementary school offers those services. So your child will be placed in the closest elementary school to your home, within your cluster, that offers the autism services. For example, our actual base elementary school is Hollin Meadows ES. Hollin Meadows does not have autism services for preschool or for elementary. Our child is going to Stratford Landing ES for autism services, and then will most likely go to Belle Haven ES when she's ready for kindergarten/elementary. We only have one middle school and one high school in our cluster, and both offer autsim services for their respective grade levels.

I'm not sure how service providers (e.g., OT, SLP) are shared, but it does seem like they try to have one SLP assigned to a school, one OT assigned to a school, etc. Those providers may work at multiple schools, but I have a feeling that their case loads are such that they don't. I hope this is what you were looking for!