Best elementary school in Maplewood/South Orange for Special Ed/ Very Verbal Autistic Child

Hi!

My family is relocating to NJ from Florida and are strongly considering moving to Maplewood/South Orange or West Orange. Our 7 year old daughter has been homeschooled here because the services for kids with special ed needs are very lacking. Can anyone recommend the best public school in the area for kids on the spectrum who are also gifted and dyslexic? She is super fun, stubborn and scared to death of school. She is very verbal and will likely be placed in second grade next school year, although technically she could be in third. I'd love to hear from anyone with personal experiences with IEPs and 504s. She might need an aid to get her started on the right foot...has anyone had success getting this? 

Thanks in advance for any advice, thoughts, considerations.

Happy Holidays!!!

Sincerely,

Steckley

I think she is a little young, but Winston school which is in the whippany NJ area is a special ed school for kids like that...you might have to fight the public school to pay for it...west orange had good classes for kids with more severe needs.....the advanced students are really tricky to find a good fit for (twice exceptional).  I know someone very happy with services they get in Livingston.  The child is fully mainstreamed.

http://www.winstonprep.edu/contact-us/

Thanks for this info. Is your friend in Livingston using public schools? Do you think they'd be willing to talk to me? Having always homeschooled her, I'm so nervous to send her to school. 

I sent you a PM.  I know the family is okay with me giving some details about their experience in Livingston, but I'd rather not post it publicly.

Also, there was a long thread (maybe about 6 pages) related to this topic.  I think in the education section.

Here it is, it is mostly about middle school, but may have some relevant info:

https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/id/107681-Can-anyone-here-recommend-a-good-middle-school-close-to-SOMA-?page=1

For now, have you been able to find any group programs (library story time, etc) that are appropriate for your child to expose her to being in a class?

Livingston has a high school club that buddies with kids with disabilities.  I know they had a mentoring type program with the middle school, but I don't know if they do anything with the elementary students.

The Craig school looks good for dyslexia as they use Orton Gillingham.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Craig_School

It would be accessible by school bus from the areas you are looking.

Quick answer to your immediate question:  I suspect all of our Maplewood/South Orange elementary schools will share the same strengths and weaknesses for your child, since they all are part of the same Special Ed system and have pretty much the same curriculum and programs, including typically one inclusion classroom per grade, with both a general education and an special education teacher, and a mix of kids with and without IEPs.

I don't have time to write more right away, for family reasons, but please post again to this thread in a few days to bring it up the list and remind me to share what I can.  Your child sounds like she may have a lot in common with mine, so I'm happy to talk more.

Note that you may get responses by private message, so keep an eye out at the top of the page where it says "messages".  If there is a number in the blue box, click on "messages" to get the private messages. 

The Center School I mentioned in the pm moved to Somerset.  The student I know that went there seemed to just be average academically.

Is your name steckll or steckII (steck with lower case LL or steck with upper case ii)? I don't want to write a private message and have it fly into the nether world. But I do want to send a private message about my own experience with IEPs and the public school.

lisat,

I think you can just click on the name. 

It occurred to me that some 'twice exceptional' programs are actually geared toward students with average academics/college prep level and not really toward gifted/above average students.

lisat said:

Is your name steckll or steckII (steck with lower case LL or steck with upper case ii)? I don't want to write a private message and have it fly into the nether world. But I do want to send a private message about my own experience with IEPs and the public school.

My name is steckLL but all lowercase. I'd love to get any info I can. Thanks for reaching out. 

unless you're willing to endure legal battles, don't move here. New York State is far friendlier to special Ed kids and this district is a nightmare for special ed. 

thanks lost, I didn't know!

A good thing about NJ is that ALL students get a standard high school diploma as long as the meet the IEP goals.  Even students with severe disabilities who only have basic communication and life skills goals get a standard diploma.  In NY, if a student can't pass the Regents, they just get a special ed diploma/certificate of completion...many states are like that...and even if they are just below the standards, they can't get into college and have a hard time getting a job.

my child has an IEP etc...we found Tuscan to be wonderful and accommodating, as is the high school. But the Middle School was a disaster. Keep that in mind if u move here, and start researching alt schools early...

I don't have experience with this myself, but I've seen some friends with twice-exceptional kids have a very hard time in the SOMA district. Private schools nearby that could be helpful include Wardlaw-Hartridge in Edison (pre-K to 12), the Hudson School in Hoboken (grades 5-12), and Fusion in Morristown.

i never heard of any districts that are good for twice exceptional.  There is a good statewide program for students who are deaf.  One school district in each county acts as a receiving district.  That allows the schools to put the resources in place for groups of students instead of each district providing services individually for individual students.  It would be great if they did this for more categories of students like twice exceptional.  Most districts don't have enough students to really have 2E specific programs, but if a bunch of districts got together, they could have a specific 2E program where they would have advanced classes, but in more of a resource room type setting, but with a the regular ed expert content teacher and a special ed support teacher as well as standard accommodations such as shortened tests, modified assignments, work breaks that could then be further modified on an individual basis as needed.

sent a private message to you steckly