Looking for a Good Special Ed School for My 5 Yr Old

Hi. Being a special ed. teacher for CPS and a mom of a child with learning disabilities, I know it can be very hard. What part of the city do you live in? What do you mean "they are not good?" There are many Chicago Public Schools that are fabulous. As far as Chicago goes there are no straight "Special Ed" schools unless your child has severe behavior disorders which at 5 years old I'd be upset if anyone in special ed. told you that was the fact. If you really want to know more about a particular school you can go to www.isbe.net. This is the website for the Illinois State Board of Education. The have a "report card" set up for all the schools in the state that will tell you how their students do on high stakes tests. This is usually a good indicator of whether or not a particular school is doing their job or not.

Also, educate yourself on the no child left behind law. There is a statute in that law that says if your neighborhood school isn't meeting certain standards within a stated matter of time you have the option to move your child to any school in the district at the expense of the board of education. Be careful though, this doesn't mean gas money for you. If busing to that school isn't available, which it isn't for many schools, they will give you prepaid passes for CTA. However, my experience with this is that it is more of a hardship than a blessing. Older kids that come on their own to school are often late, sometimes very late, due to CTA's unpredictable schedules. Last year I worked for a school that did have buses and the kids that came from far away were often absent because it was too cold in the winter to wait for the bus outside (you have to meet the bus at one particular point, not many bus services come to your home anymore).

If you feel that your child's special needs won't be met or are not being met you should call an IEP meeting right away. They can't fix what they don't know your unhappy about. If you feel it is necessary you should bring an advocate with you who can help you feel not so overwhelmed with all the professionals sitting at the table. If you are interested in this option write me back and I can give you the name and number of someone who does this for a living. She is wonderful and will make sure you get what you need.

Last thing. I would invite you to be careful about looking for a special ed. school. Like I said, I don't know what type of disability your daughter has but no child is better of in a separate school compared to being in an environment with non-disabled peers. They learn more educationally and socially.

Please contact with any more questions if you have them.

Elim Services---13020 Central Avenue, Palos Heights, IL

Is the best that you will find---They have their own buses as well as take CPS children. check them out!!!

hi R. I am not so much familiar with special ed schools but there are some very nice, new charter schools with in the Gary area and even some great ones in the miller area of gary that take really good care of their students so maybe you should look into one of the charter schools.. I have a 2 year old whom hasn't started school but she is gonna need some special attention also because she has some physical limitations and I am gonna have take her somewhere that people actually care...I hope this helps..good luck and godbless

Hi R., SPEED in Chicago Heights...ECHO in South Holland Many schools mainstream. SPEED and ECHO are schools that primarlity have students with disablilities.But also have satelite classes for kids who can handle the mainstream. Berwyn, Cicero, Oak Park schools are more self contained within a regular school setting with opportunities for kids to socialize with non disbaled peers. The best setting really does depend on the needs of your child. Why not go observe programs to see where your child will be happiest. Also, you need to determine whether you want your child to focus on academics or life skills. More self contained environments focus on the life skills. This would be academics in relation to having a job someday, teaching domestic skills so your child might be able to live independently or in a group setting. The best setting would include both the opportunity to learn life skills and opportunities to socialize with non disabled peers. Proper socialization is very important too. With different trends an philosophies, it is hard to determine what the best schools are. I am a temporarily retired teacher of almost 10 years. So many aspects of all schools mentioned could have changed. But I would look into any of them. Because we do not know your child and his/her needs, we can only suggest what we are familiar with. Elim seemed to have a strong training with kids who are autistic. But again, because of the increase in autistic population, I am hoping that all schools have stepped up the training of teachers of autistic kids. You also want to look for a strong support team too. OT's PT's and Speech...take the time to get to know the therapists. They are very important.

The Family Resource Center on Disabilities in an agency that helps parents advocate for children with special needs. They have training for parents, and perhaps can help you learn more about your child's specific special education needs.

http://www.frcd.org/

The pendulum on special education swings back and forth, and currently, as a previous poster noted, the feeling is that children with special needs do better learning alongside their peers. However, I would say that this is probably true for most, but not all children, and there is a huge range in how well different schools do with kids. If you feel that your school is not responding to your concerns and meeting your child's needs, you can request a transfer, but you need to be very specific about the ways your child's needs, included in their IEP, are not being met. Some children do better in private schools that specialize in specific disabilities, such as autism, or learning disabilities, or behavior problems. CPS will pay for private schools if they are not able to provide an appropriate education for a child.