My family and I are anticipating a move to the eastern MA area from the Middle East due to my son's special education needs. Any hints on how to find a school district with a good special education department?

Check out the Riverview School in Sandwich.

I'd start here.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/

Without knowing your son's particular disability it's hard to give you information.

I am assuming you mean public school system. As a generality, the school districts which are more affluent and/or have reputations of being good school systems in general seem to have better SPED resources. If you search out the Mass Department of Education website, they rate schools based on standardized test scores and per pupil spending.

Obviously, SPED can not be measured in the same way. And some schools have a reputation for serving certain disabilities better than others. Since SPED is taking larger percentages of overall school budget every year, there is a real attempt made to meet kids IEP needs in-district rather than out of district. So make sure it is a place YOU want to live as well.

Additionally, students with disabilities are to be educated in the least restrictive environment (inclusion movement). Each district provides an array of services. There are full-inclusion models, push-in/pull-out programs, self-contained, collaborative, etc. Since only you know your child's specific disability, I would suggest you contact the Director of Special Education in the school districts you are considering and request a meeting. Ask what kinds of services would be available for your son. Has your son been evaluated by a educational diagnostician? If so, bring along the assessment results.

Good luck.

As has been indicated, the overall quality of the school system is closely related to socioeconomic status -- in other words, sorting towns by average house price is almost the same as sorting them by almost any measure of school inputs or outcomes.

Parents of special-needs kids are a special, dedicated, well-informed and persistent band. They have to be, as school systems strive to keep costs down by minimizing expensive personalized services. Given the plethora of special-interest discussion groups on the internet, I'd be astonished if there weren't discussion groups that focused on your child's particular needs and knew about the strongest resources. The law that entitles kids to services is Chapter 766, an eminently searchable term.

Here's a site to start with:

http://www.concordspedpac.org/Whatsnew-Sept01Aug02.html

Both of our children were adopted from Romania (at 24 and 34 months old). Our son has ADHD and PDD-NOS, and our daughter may have some learning disabilities. Both are in early elementary grades.

As an example of the need to fit the town to the individual child's needs:

The town I know best just remodeled or rebuilt all their schools; if your child has mobility problems, they will have no obstacles in these nice new ADA-compliant buildings. This system also happens to have strong vocational programs in place for kids with severe learning disabliities.

But if your child needs staff-intensive support -- if they have a vision problem, or autism, for instance -- they might find themselves on the short end of a lot of finagling.

When are you moving - or better yet, when do you anticipate your children entering school in the US (MA)?

The first thing you need to do, is to obtain a copy of their educational records and all the medical information you can regarding their births. This history will be important during the referral process.

Argh, behavioral issues (ADHD, PDD-NOS) are the hardest to research. Now that kids are mainstreamed (full inclusion) if at all posible, so much depends on the training, skills, and temperament of the individual teacher they're assigned to and the school's overall tone and atmosphere in dealing with behaviors.

Yea, I'm still thinking here.

Depending on the severity of your son's PDD, a collaborative model may be the best way to go -- but there is way too much educational information missing here to say. I am assuming that they are in a currently in an American school?

Again, there are many service delivery options available. The first logical step is to figure out where you can afford to live.

As I mentioned earlier, by law schools must educate students in the least restrictive environment. But that can mean many things. An inclusive environment is not necessarily a negative for your son, but a co-teaching or collaborative model (general ed. and special ed teachers) is something you might want to ask about when you begin your search.

Newton, Brookline and Lexington are all towns w/many international citizens that have top-notch school systems.

socialworker,

Are you assuming from the reference to 'Middle East' that the OP is an Arab? I'd be interested to discover if the she's a US citizen, I'd assumed she was.

As a Brit who went through the US immigration process (company transfer), I don't think that the OP will be able to emigrate to the USA based purely on her child's Special Education needs.

I hope she comes back - she's had some good information.

You might also want to contact the SEPTA (Special Education Parent Teacher Association) in school districts you are investigating. You could speak with parents who have first hand experience in a particular school district.

Good luck with your search.

Yes, yes, SEPTA (completely slipped my mind).

Here's a link for you

http://www.nichcy.org/stateshe/ma.htm#parent

(For what it's worth, OP may also be a US citizen in the military or foreign service or employee of a bank or oil company.)

It's interesting, the inferences people will draw from a brief message. The OP used sentence structure/slang that led me to assume she was an expatriate returning to the US.

I think other parents would be the best source of info about this. The school district itself, I don't believe, is the best. They aren't going to admit, "Our programs stink".

I also wouldn't go by the rankings you might see in the local paper in terms of SAT scores, teacher salaries, etc. Our district has a great reputation and something like 96% of its graduating class goes on to a 4 year college. SAT scores are high. But we also have what is believed a very poor special education program, especially compared to neighboring districts.

Ask the parents, but you would be making a mistake if you did not ask the district what services they can provide!!

Umjoseph, I have "lived" on both sides of this fence - as a parent and as an educator. Know the "lingo", use the "lingo" - schools know that parents are savvy. Prepare yourself with questions, use the terminology.

Education works best when there is collaboration between parents and the school. Of course your children will have many advocates, but you will be the most important one of all.