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Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Old Sep 14th 2007, 2:13 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Are you saying that your three children are deaf or nearly deaf? If so, there is a wonderful school in White Plains called the School for the Deaf. You might want to look into that.
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Old Sep 14th 2007, 2:47 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Are you saying that your three children are deaf or nearly deaf? If so, there is a wonderful school in White Plains called the School for the Deaf. You might want to look into that.
Their primary difficulty is speech and language. The eldest is the one that has it severe and attends a specialist school for speech and language difficulties. Her school does sign language.

I feel that she will need to go to a school that is a signing environment even tho it will be a different language when we go to america she will adapt as she had already changed sign languages once already. She learns by repetation, and watching someone sign when they talk. She links the sign to the word and if she can't retevie a word when she want to say it she finds it easier to sign the word.

I do think a deaf school would be more suited for her but don't think she may qualify as her hearing is fine.
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Old Sep 14th 2007, 3:44 pm
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Post Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Many parents with children with special needs (in particular Asperger's Syndrome or autism) move to New Jersey as the educational provision is (apparently - I have no personal experience) very good.

We live in the NJ suburbs and spouse commutes to his office in Times Square; the journey time is approx 40 mins into Penn Station on 33rd St & Seventh Ave.

There is a Regional Day School in our township (Millburn) which is a specialised school for children with disabilities and the children come from many local towns. It is funded by NJ State or possibly the County (Essex) but not by the town's taxpayers.

I have to dash out now but here's a couple of links:

http://www.nj.gov/education/specialed/

http://www.nj.gov/education/lrc/toc.htm

http://www.nj.gov/education/specialed/access/

Feel free to send me a PM if you wish. Good Luck!
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Old Sep 14th 2007, 4:28 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Just want to say thanks to everyone and to those that have e-mailed me as well. As it's the week-end will be busy trying to keep all 3 of them busy and not at each other's necks (typical siblings).
The girls have got karate tomorrow morning and swimming lessons later.

Will tell hubby about NJ as it has crossed his mind in the past.

Need to go and e-mail him.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 12:33 am
  #20  
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Originally Posted by britmummybites
May be moving to NY from the UK. At the moment the HR department of the american company that my husband works for is looking in to the relocating details as they have never done a transalantic transfer before.

I have got 3 children all with speech and language difficulties who will be needing support in school's. The eldest will need a specialist school.

I have no idea which is a good area to move to in regards to getting the right educational support for them. No idea how the system works in getting them the support but wondering if it's like the uk and the uk "statements".
But i am hoping that it's easier to get support in NY then the postcode lottery over here.

So if anyone can help me, and point me in the right area/district, i would be forever thankful.

Col


Hi,
We live in upstate NY and our son has special needs, he is neally 4 yrs old. The schooling is superb and is completely free to us (although taxes in NY are pretty high!).
He receives speech therapy 4 times a week, occupational 3 times per week and physical 3 times per week all during the regular school day although when he was younger it was home based.
We have had no complaints with the schooling or therapies at all over here, in fact we have been very happy.
This is the second state that we have lived in with our son, the care was continued on from state to state without a problem.
Hope this helps.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 7:46 am
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

He receives speech therapy 4 times a week,


All i can say is hubby start nagging.
My eldest has it written in her statement (uk version of an IEP) that she has speech therapy minimum of 3 times a week. I don't think she has been getting that. Was planning for her to settle in the new school year for a few weeks then find out. As i heard from an ex parent that her child didn't get what was written in her statement.

And OT, 3times a week.
I wanna go nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!

How long did it take to get an IEP? Was it easy? As getting a statement over here is nearly impossible.

Would i have to enroll my children at a school or could i when i move over and in a district just drop the school district office a line saying my children need assessing can you assess before i plonk them in to a school to sink first?

Because that is what is scarring me, is them going in to school without the support.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 12:31 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Been looking at a list of "private" special school's in NJ. They seem to have a lot more then NY. But now i need to get hold of a map of NJ that has all the countys on it. As i don't want to move to an area that has no suitable school's nearby.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 3:24 pm
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Lightbulb Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Originally Posted by britmummybites
Been looking at a list of "private" special school's in NJ. They seem to have a lot more then NY. But now i need to get hold of a map of NJ that has all the countys on it. As i don't want to move to an area that has no suitable school's nearby.

Here is a county map:

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/gis/map.shtm

The counties tend to be a lot smaller than those in the UK. For instance, I live 18 miles west of NYC but in the very south-west corner of Essex County. About half a mile from my house is the next county, Union, and about 2-3 miles to the west of our house is Morris County (where Jerseygirl lives).

It will probably be worth your while sending an e-mail enquiry or making a couple of phone calls to the US and speak with someone in the State's education departments about your questions and concerns (bearing in mind that we are 5 hours behind the UK!). Obviously you will only be able to get general advice until you have narrowed down where you are going to live, then you can speak with the local education depts for each town you are thinking of moving to:

http://www.state.nj.us/education/genfo/welcome.htm

http://www.nysed.gov/

Where are you living in England right now? My sister's son has Asperger's Syndrome and although they would prefer to live nearer to her in-laws a couple of miles away just inside the Warwickshire county border (in the borough of Bedworth & Nuneaton) they have chosen to stay in Coventry - and made a large extension to their house - as the provision at home and in school for my nephew is far superior and funded better by Coventry City council.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 4:14 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Don't laugh.....Middlesex.
Might give the school's an e-mail to say which districts they get their students from.

Will need to look at the school's that does autism as at the moment their is more "private" schools that would suit my middle one.

And i'm just amazed and totally flabbergasted as they is nothing like that over here unless you pay for it.
And even then they are few and far.

I am falling in love with these schools

For example:-
Banyan school
* Dyslexia (Language Disability)
* Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
* Visual/Spatial Processing Difficulties
* Auditory Processing Difficulties
* Speech and Language Difficulties
* Short and/or Long Term Memory Difficulties
* Reading Comprehension/Decoding Difficulties
* Poor Organizational/Study Skills
* Poor Social Skills

The only things that my middle one doesn't have is the poor social skills (might be little bit immature and i'm not sure on the visual spatial) but every thing else is her!!

elementary and middle school for students with average or above average intelligence whose academic success has been compromised by a primary learning disability.
This is her.................

And this is just one school.

I am weeping............ i dread to think of HR saying no.

Tell your sister never to move to middlesex as aspies are regards as "high incidence" and not supported and i know mums that have fought the LEA for years to get support and met a mum who son is 9 and has given up in trying to get him support.

Thank's for the map.

Still looking at school's then googling the school names to get the actual web site and then book marking them.

Am still gobsmacked that they have got schools that seem perfect for my middle child.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 5:28 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Another question......can a child go to a school in another county. For example if we moved to union in NJ and i found a school in Mercer.... would that be ok?
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 5:36 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Originally Posted by britmummybites
Another question......can a child go to a school in another county. For example if we moved to union in NJ and i found a school in Mercer.... would that be ok?

I will send you a PM.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 7:52 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Originally Posted by britmummybites


All i can say is hubby start nagging.
My eldest has it written in her statement (uk version of an IEP) that she has speech therapy minimum of 3 times a week. I don't think she has been getting that. Was planning for her to settle in the new school year for a few weeks then find out. As i heard from an ex parent that her child didn't get what was written in her statement.

And OT, 3times a week.
I wanna go nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!

How long did it take to get an IEP? Was it easy? As getting a statement over here is nearly impossible.

Would i have to enroll my children at a school or could i when i move over and in a district just drop the school district office a line saying my children need assessing can you assess before i plonk them in to a school to sink first?

Because that is what is scarring me, is them going in to school without the support.


My son was diagnosed at birth so he has received therapy from 4 months old. We didn't have to apply for it, when he was born (on a USAF base in Britain) they automatically contact the early intervention program for you and get the ball rolling. We then moved to South Dakota and everything was already in place for us when we got there because the office in Britain (still on the USAF base) had already contacted them, all we had to do was call them and tell them that we had arrived in NY.Then they set up an appointment to come to our home, meet with us and our son and let us know what services he would be signed up for.

He received all the services I mentioned above in our home until he was 3 yrs old and then he started pre-K in an integrated elementary school. He has just started year 4 there. He has always received therapy in all 3 categories several times a week and it has never cost us a single extra penny out of our pockets.

He is entitled to receive all these therapies until he is 21 yrs of age.
The only thing that they will do is if you have medical insurance they will bill that to try and retrieve a little money but if you do not then it's not an issue. They only ever did this when he received homecare, it stopped when he started school when he was 3.

Do your kids have a diagnosis? If they are having speech issues but it is not understood why then I'm not sure if the system works the same way. My son was entitled to services from day one as he had a diagnosis from birth.

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Old Sep 16th 2007, 8:06 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

[QUOTE=britmummybites;5316905]

How long did it take to get an IEP? Was it easy? As getting a statement over here is nearly impossible.



He had an IFSP (individualized family service plan) within a week or two of meeting with EI services for the first time. He then started therapies immediately. It then switched to an IEP (Individualized education program) when he reached age 3 and was able to attend pre-k. He went straight from home therapies to school with no break in services.
P.s Yes it was easy, we just had to attend a couple of meetings, that was it.
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Old Sep 16th 2007, 8:36 pm
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Hummmm which child should i start with first. Start with my eldest. I knew there was something wrong when she was less then 1 day old but just got poo pooed by the MW. She had a hard time of putting weight on. Got tested for CF and finally about 15 mths old she was referred to the child developmental centre. She got put on a high energy high protein diet and given a supplement drink. Referred to speech therapy at 18mths but was nearly 2 and a half before she foad a block of therapy as we thought she was deaf, hearing was fine.
She only had 2 blocks of therapy before she went to the nursery. Got promised PECS and sign language but that didn't happen. Ended up paying for private therapy.

Every aspect in regards to speech and language is disordered. She went to a nursery that was mainstream but accepted a few children with speech difficulties as it had a speech therapist. Then she got a place at a specialist hospital speech and language unit. And now she attends a special speech and language school.

She also has social communication disorder. She is "unoffically high functioning, is on the spectrum somewhere" but they won't write it down in black and white.

Non verbally she's above average, she is good at karate.

Middle one - she got referred to CDC at 2 and a bit as i was worried about her speech, only got i think one block of speech therapy until i got her in the same nursery as her sister attended and that was a battle. Whilst she was there i managed to twist the CDC doc arms to get her assessed at the specialist hospital.
Found her a school out of borough and got her a statement, if she stayed in borough it would of meant going to trubunial.
The second visit at the special hospital revealed that she has verbal and oralmotor dyspraxia. At the same time she got dx with ADD.
We had to go and see a private educational psychologist last year as hers is lazy as a barge pole (She has got a really bad rep) and lol and behold she's dyslexic, her school kept saying she was fine.
Last Dec she got DX with visual stress and wears pricisson tinted lens. She has sensory issues, hates clothes, it takes a lot for her to feel the cold.
And most nights she tends to bed hop. Will go to sleep (it takes her a few hrs) and in the morning she be sleeping somewhere completely different.

When i was pregnant with the third i went and saw a geneticist and got told it was an autosomant domiant condition.
1 in 2 chance of having a child with speech difficulties.

Everyone knew and yet i still couldn't get my son referred for speech therapy until he turned 2. That's the referral age for where i live.
He's under CDC as well. Behaviour wise he's a lot like the middle one but a bit more violent. Is a bit more tactile, hate clothes.
He's nearly 4 and all he has had is 2 lots of group speech therapy. 6 sessions of 45 minutes with at least 3 other children.
Have finally wrangled a referral to the specialist hospital. I think he's got verbal dyspraxia like his sisters but his speech therapist says no, even tho she say he does this that and the other and they are all verbal dyspraxia signs.

Over here it is postcode lottery, a few months ago the readers digest did a survey on where are the best family oriantated places to live. I think there was nearly 440 towns in the survey. My town just missed out on the worest top ten.

Last edited by britmummybites; Sep 16th 2007 at 8:39 pm.
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Old Sep 17th 2007, 12:05 am
  #30  
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Default Re: Any "special needs" parents in New York?

Originally Posted by britmummybites
Another question......can a child go to a school in another county. For example if we moved to union in NJ and i found a school in Mercer.... would that be ok?
Hi BMB,

I think you'll find that if the school district that you live in, cannot provide services for your child, they will have the child go to antoher district, and yes it may well fall under a different county.

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