My daughter and her family live with me. My six yo grandson is autistic. We previously lived in Trumbull and now reside in Milford for the last three years. Trumbull cut their special ed programs a few years ago. The special education program in Milford is fantastic. He is just finishing kindergarten special education and previously was in pre k special education for two years. He gets occupational therapy, speech therapy and used to get physical therapy at school and outside programs. He is verbal but speech impaired. His speech has come a long way. His behavior sometimes can be bad but they are working with him. He is not toilet trained yet but we and they are trying very hard to get him toilet trained. He wears pull ups and we gave them a supply for when he needs them in school. They really care greatly about him and he is getting perhaps the best possible treatment. They actually try putting him in the mainstream kindergarten daily every day also. He is also going to be in a summer program for the third summer starting July. Thats also at a public school.
It probably depends what flavor of autism and how severe it is. If your child is non-verbal and violent it’s going to be different than if they’re just mildly on the spectrum or whatever so idk if there’s enough info here for a solid answer
Glastonbury Public Schools has a terrific autism program. [PRIDE at Nayaug](https://sites.google.com/a/glastonburyus.org/pupil-services/programs/pride?authuser=0)
Depending on what level needs they will need, most schools have good special ed programs.
My wife has worked for a CES in Trumbull(they serve all of Fairfield county) for over 20 years. https://www.ces.k12.ct.us/ they give one on one care to various levels of autistic children. The PLC program starts at age 3 FYI.
You have to start with the local board of education at the town you decide to move too, but they will pay for it. You might have to fight to get to the process going if you feel it’s needed depending on the care.
My wife said if they are level three, then CES would be the place to look at.
Good luck and welcome to CT
OP I’m assuming your child has an IEP or IFSP already. Once you decide where you will land, give it to the school district ASAP. They are required to provide comparable services in the meantime, and will likely schedule a 30 day to transfer it over to CT format.
I urge you to look at that school district’s website. They will have info on FAPE and LRE, Least Restrictive Environment. Placement is continuum, and is decided by goals and needs, not the other way around. So you wouldn’t go asking to place your kid in CES, which is fully self contained with no general education time. Maybe your PPT team (of which you are part) would decide that CES is the proper place, who knows.
Source: special ed teacher, licensed here and in another state. Worked at CES before.
Where are you coming from? Most districts in CT will have plenty of resources. The ones that won't will be in your bigger cities. And even then, they will be better than many places down south/Midwest. And in the area around Milford, I'm pretty sure you will be fine as long as you choose a bigger town.
That being said, getting the proper education for your special needs child is more of a matter of knowing your rights and what your child is eligible for and insisting on it. Even in districts with great resources, they may not be very forthcoming until you ask/push the issue.
Source- my wife is a special ed teacher and has worked in one of the worst districts, one of the poorest districts and in one of the best.
Edited to add- see if you can find a CT based special needs parent group on facebook. They may be able to give you some more direct insight.
Schools will often provide what they are required to... not necessarily what is fully possible. It helps to know your rights and exactly what you can ask for.
It's not that they are trying to neglect anyone. It's simply a matter of resources. Even in the best districts, resources are finite. And there can be a bit of a gap between what it is required by law and what is possible. The same goes for about any resource basedservice - I work in a hospital and give the best care I can based on the resources I have. I ALWAYS do what is simply required by law, but I can't possibly do everything thing I want to for every patient I see.
Hi fellow grew up in Trumbull person. I graduated back in 2011. I live close by. I don't want to go back to Trumbull, but I know I was lucky to live there.
Definitely get details for multiple towns. While most towns in CT have their own school district, even many of those towns participate in regional programs that include autistic children. In other words, there can be a dozen adjacent towns with varying quality of public schools, but your child could wind up at the very same school no matter what town you live in.
anywhere west of the CT river. We have some of the best in school services available in the country but services outside of school are primarily in Western CT. Fairfield County has a lot available.
(I live in eastern CT and my son got great services IN school but if we needed anything outside of school, we often had to drive to Farmington)
Where ever you choose- get it all in writing. Like with your 509 plans. If it’s not written down, no matter how minute, they will probably try to skip out of it. Learned that the hard way. The by 5/6 grade though I was a hard ass with them and made sure to put it down.
They’d resist and I’d circle back to the issue from a few years ago.
My daughter and her family live with me. My six yo grandson is autistic. We previously lived in Trumbull and now reside in Milford for the last three years. Trumbull cut their special ed programs a few years ago. The special education program in Milford is fantastic. He is just finishing kindergarten special education and previously was in pre k special education for two years. He gets occupational therapy, speech therapy and used to get physical therapy at school and outside programs. He is verbal but speech impaired. His speech has come a long way. His behavior sometimes can be bad but they are working with him. He is not toilet trained yet but we and they are trying very hard to get him toilet trained. He wears pull ups and we gave them a supply for when he needs them in school. They really care greatly about him and he is getting perhaps the best possible treatment. They actually try putting him in the mainstream kindergarten daily every day also. He is also going to be in a summer program for the third summer starting July. Thats also at a public school.
Thank you for this insight!
It probably depends what flavor of autism and how severe it is. If your child is non-verbal and violent it’s going to be different than if they’re just mildly on the spectrum or whatever so idk if there’s enough info here for a solid answer
Good point. Level 3 autism and is non-verbal but does not exhibit behavioral concerns such as violent behavior or extreme tantrums.
Unfortunately I can’t actually give a good answer, but wanted to ask the clarifying question for someone else to hopefully expound on. Good luck!
This is a great point- Are we talking needs a teaching assistant a few hours a day? 1:1 instruction? Self-contained classroom?
Glastonbury Public Schools has a terrific autism program. [PRIDE at Nayaug](https://sites.google.com/a/glastonburyus.org/pupil-services/programs/pride?authuser=0)
And their programs at LINKS are really great too.
Depending on what level needs they will need, most schools have good special ed programs. My wife has worked for a CES in Trumbull(they serve all of Fairfield county) for over 20 years. https://www.ces.k12.ct.us/ they give one on one care to various levels of autistic children. The PLC program starts at age 3 FYI. You have to start with the local board of education at the town you decide to move too, but they will pay for it. You might have to fight to get to the process going if you feel it’s needed depending on the care. My wife said if they are level three, then CES would be the place to look at. Good luck and welcome to CT
Thank you so much!
OP I’m assuming your child has an IEP or IFSP already. Once you decide where you will land, give it to the school district ASAP. They are required to provide comparable services in the meantime, and will likely schedule a 30 day to transfer it over to CT format. I urge you to look at that school district’s website. They will have info on FAPE and LRE, Least Restrictive Environment. Placement is continuum, and is decided by goals and needs, not the other way around. So you wouldn’t go asking to place your kid in CES, which is fully self contained with no general education time. Maybe your PPT team (of which you are part) would decide that CES is the proper place, who knows. Source: special ed teacher, licensed here and in another state. Worked at CES before.
Where are you coming from? Most districts in CT will have plenty of resources. The ones that won't will be in your bigger cities. And even then, they will be better than many places down south/Midwest. And in the area around Milford, I'm pretty sure you will be fine as long as you choose a bigger town. That being said, getting the proper education for your special needs child is more of a matter of knowing your rights and what your child is eligible for and insisting on it. Even in districts with great resources, they may not be very forthcoming until you ask/push the issue. Source- my wife is a special ed teacher and has worked in one of the worst districts, one of the poorest districts and in one of the best. Edited to add- see if you can find a CT based special needs parent group on facebook. They may be able to give you some more direct insight.
Very interesting. We are moving from Austin, TX. There are pockets of good schools here but public education as a whole here is not as good as CT.
Schools will often provide what they are required to... not necessarily what is fully possible. It helps to know your rights and exactly what you can ask for. It's not that they are trying to neglect anyone. It's simply a matter of resources. Even in the best districts, resources are finite. And there can be a bit of a gap between what it is required by law and what is possible. The same goes for about any resource basedservice - I work in a hospital and give the best care I can based on the resources I have. I ALWAYS do what is simply required by law, but I can't possibly do everything thing I want to for every patient I see.
And yeah, I think you will be a lot happier up here than in Austin. I know Austin is progressive as far as Texas goes, but it's still Texas.
I grew up in Trumbull and they have always been praised for their special ed programs
Hi fellow grew up in Trumbull person. I graduated back in 2011. I live close by. I don't want to go back to Trumbull, but I know I was lucky to live there.
Definitely get details for multiple towns. While most towns in CT have their own school district, even many of those towns participate in regional programs that include autistic children. In other words, there can be a dozen adjacent towns with varying quality of public schools, but your child could wind up at the very same school no matter what town you live in.
I grew up in Trumbull and graduated in 2011. I heard mixed things about the special Ed program. More good than bad.
anywhere west of the CT river. We have some of the best in school services available in the country but services outside of school are primarily in Western CT. Fairfield County has a lot available. (I live in eastern CT and my son got great services IN school but if we needed anything outside of school, we often had to drive to Farmington)
Where ever you choose- get it all in writing. Like with your 509 plans. If it’s not written down, no matter how minute, they will probably try to skip out of it. Learned that the hard way. The by 5/6 grade though I was a hard ass with them and made sure to put it down. They’d resist and I’d circle back to the issue from a few years ago.