"The school district itself, I don't believe, is the best. They aren't going to admit, "Our programs stink"."

Actually, I have observed the opposite. Many towns actively discourage people who inquire about special-needs programs with the intent of moving to the town. Many of those kids are very expensive to educate, and almost all of them cost more than average. Any town that gets a reputation for doing a great job on special ed is going to inflate its per-student costs. All it takes is a few kids with $100K needs to totally mess up the school budget.

On the other hand, parents who have dealt with the town's services will know who to call and what to say to improve the quality of the child's program, and will be able to tell you what's possible and what's not.

At least, that was my experience 6 years ago when choosing a community on the South Shore.

Yes, of course I think you should ask what programs a school district has. I'm just saying that's not necessarily the BEST way of determining a good program. And, yes, yes, yes, KNOW THE LINGO. That is so major!

I, too, have heard of districts discouraging parents from moving there, and I do understand the strain on school budgets from special ed.

Maybe I'm using my own district as too much of an example. But I've heard too many stories of people who've moved their family just because of securing special ed services for one of their children, only to find out that their new district is not as great as they thought it would be.

My own district tells people that they are an inclusive district. Our whole state (PA) doesn't do inclusion well. But our own PA Dept of Ed has an inclusion checklist for schools, and our district scores very low on its use of inclusionary practices as based on that. But the school will tell you "of course we believe in inclusion", when in fact, we have an "earn your way in" mentality.

I believe stuff like this you can only found out from other parents, not the school district itself.

I don't disagree with what I am reading here. Budgets, cost, etc. are the hard realities of education. However, parents have the right to Due Process (now more than ever), and parents have sued many a school district over their child's educational needs. The bottom line is, regardless of how much it may cost the district, they MUST provide the educational services to the student - they cannot be turned away because of budget constraints. Sometimes you just have to play hardball.

Inclusion is in a state of transition. It is required by law, under No Child Left Behind. Many districts are playing "catch-up" in trying to get their teachers which were once considered *highly qualified* but now under NCLB, are not (leaving schools short in a critical area). Some schools have better inclusion programs than others - no doubt. That's why I suggest a co-teaching or collaborative model. They are growing in popularity.

Since I am not located in MA, I do not have direct experience with how districts treat or handle potential students and their families. I can only go by my own experince (both professional and personal) - which overall, has been extremely positive.

Good luck to you and your family.

Very interesting thread. We live in one of the best public school districts in our state and it is also well known for being top notch in special education. I've heard more than once of families moving to our district because of it. The dollar per student ratio for our district is by far the highest in town and I've heard some people without children complain that it is due to mis-management of money (while complaining about levies always passing and raising their taxes). I suppose it makes sense given the quality of our special education! Very good to know! My son is "typical" but goes to a district preschool where 1/3 of the kids are special needs - I think it's great that he is getting exposed to and becoming friends with kids who have special needs at such a young age.

As the parent of a sped child, who is about to enter 12th grade, I can tell you that elementary school is the easiest level of all for parents and students. Also, until your child is in the system, it's very difficult to be able to tell how good it is. We have been blessed with an excellent sped department, but no matter how good it is, there's always room for improvement. No program is perfect, but the secret for getting everything your child needs is to be involved and supportive, both with your child's individual program and the school as a whole.


Check out www.wrightslaw.com.

And snowrooster, just to add on to what you just wrote... Children, particuarly with PDD, benefit greatly from inclusion because they are exposed to the language, social, and communicaiton skills of typically developing children. An area in which these students struggle.

I should somehow promise to end my responses, but I know that will not be possible.

seetheworld is so right. Children with any type of learning disability do learn from their "normal" peers. I know from experience that my daughter was more successful, her vocabulary improved and her social skills developed better when she was included rather than in a class with only sped kids.

Snowrooster, the cost of special education is very high, and all the programs are mandated by either the Federal government or the State. Unfortunately, they don't fully fund these mandates and each school district still has to provide them. I'm not sure of the current level of Federal funding, but I think it's less than 40%.

I think it is important to remember as well that just because a child is special needs doesn't mean he/she has a learning disability. Some children have special needs physically but are completely typical (often even excelling) academically.

True, but the kids in question here are not physically disbled.

And I am spelling "disbled"! Should be disabled, of course.

Just like you, seetheworld, I suspect I'll be responding to this thread a lot - I hope I am not getting too far away from what the original poster was asking.

I have become a huge inclusion advocate b/c I have seen the difference when a child is included with typical peers v. a self-contained classroom. With the latter, I have seen a dramatic increase in negative behaviors. When placement changed to the regular education class, a lot of the negative behaviors stopped. I believe this is b/c of having "appropriate" role models. It also does a world of good for peer relationships and acceptance. The change I've seen within one year was dramatic.

But inclusion is sooo easy to do wrong. Merely plopping a kid in a regular education class is NOT inclusion!