poss. relocation! any advice?
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| Fri, 07-08-2005 - 2:05pm |
Hi,
DH has been stuck in a rut at his current job, and has recently applied for one that will fit him better, up his salary, make him actually happy about his job... Great stuff. However, it would mean moving from MD to NJ.
Robbie (5 yrs - PDD-NOS) is about to start kindergarten. Right now he's in a summer program for kids who are about to start kindy, which will help him make friends and get used to the big bus. He spent the latter half of last year in a special needs preschool class in the school where he'll be for kindy, and we were so happy that he'd already know the building and the specials teachers. That would have made the transition to regular kindy so much easier.
Now we have this. Of course, it's all hypothetical, but DH is high up on a list of four candidates, and if he gets the job, they want him to start in August. I am already stressed about the thought of finding a house, a good school district, moving his IEP, and then having to send him to a school he's never seen. Not to mention the whole transition of moving to another state entirely, and right before school starts (and of course, we wouldn't have a house up there by the time DH starts to work, so I'll be on my own a lot while we pack up). Ack!
Does anyone have any helpful hints on easing Robbie's transition? Any technical hints on finding a good school district or transferring an IEP. I'm about to post the same question on the IEP board. Anyone live in NJ? We're looking at Bergen County.
Breathe. I know it's only a possibility for now, but if he gets this job, I have to move fast, so I want to know what all my moves are before anything happens (gosh, not that that would add to my stress level any, right?).
Thanks in advance!
Maribeth

We did that a month into Cait's Kindy year when she was doing well. It went ok.
Thing to remember though is it is a tough transition, but moving at anytime is a tough transition. If this is the best thing for your family in the long term then it is a good thing. And doing it now, well he has to make a transition anyway.
We rented the first year until we found which district we wanted to move into. But one thing you could do is contact the local autism society and get in contact with other parents in the area and find out what districts the parents think are good. It is really hard to get info on special education for moving. There is no rating like there is for regular programs. Actually, in our area, the schools that are rated high by the state or are in the richer neighborhoods, are not neccessarily the good ones for special ed kids.
Renee
hehe I may be facing this same problem next year and this is what we plan to do.
First, as soon as we know the move is going to happen we plan to tell both our kids (currently 5yo poss. pdd-nos 2.5 yo nt) and set a date for the move. Then we will have to create a calander for my oldest to check the days off.
Second, we will take the children to the new place before we move there. This will give us the opportunity to show them where we are going to live, where he will be going to school etc... before the move. Thus during the time between then and the actual move date we can talk to our kids about the move. (Things like how it will be different, how it will be the same, what's going to be exaciting, whats going to be sad etc..) We will also encourage our DS to ask questions and to write down any feelings he is having.
Third, we will make it a point to keep both kids involved, including letting them help pack up their room and toys, letting them pick out their spot in the new place, and letting them pick out some of the last activities we will do in our old place.
We think both our kids will take the move well (my oldest did fine when we moved to a new house last year, though he doesn't like the one we live in now and wants us to move again) and depending on how the transition to Kindy goes this year (new teacher, new school, new SLP new kids) will lay the tone for how another school change may go next year.
Any technical hints on finding a good school district or transferring an IEP.
I agree with Renee about contacting the local autism society and speaking to parents in Bergen County regarding school districts.
Pat
Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response. --
Hi,
I don't live in NJ, but close.
There are some GREAT school districts for special ed in NJ, and some BAD ones, too. So do your research and stay away from Englewood. ;)
Good luck to all of you!
Cathy
Hi! I don't live in Bergen County but in Ocean County. I've had great success with DS in the preschool here. He attended a special ed self contained class and was scheduled to attend an integrated preschool next year but we are moving to NC for the same reasons you stated. Bergen County is expensive (as is most of Northern NJ, property values are soaring) and taxes are pretty high but I'm sure you'll find good school districts throughout the area. The Rumson-Fairhaven district is top notch (northern Monmouth County).
Good luck!
Shelley
we moved from Wisconsin to SouthCarolina last year (I can't believe it will be a whole year in just a few weeks!), we had a lot of time to research schools and areas to live in. We found a realestate agent that was VERY helpful. She was able to send us lots of school reports and through those I spoke w/ several elementary school principals and the special ed coordinators in a couple of districts. I also got in touch w/ the Autism Society in the area and asked questions about which particular schools were better at addressing our needs and through them i could have also contacted some parents --- but I felt I had enough info and my time was running out.
Getting our kids ready was something we spent lots of time doing. We didn't have the luxury of being able to bring them here before the move, but we got lots of info (thanks to our realestate agent) and talked about it a lot. We also gave them the opportunity to look at the pictures of the house as much as they wanted and help pick out their rooms, etc. (I didn't even see our house before we moved in-- DH bought it on a business trip, after I'd seen the emailed pictures). They were involved in helping to pack up their personal belongings and decide which stuffed animals would travel w/ them instead of in the truck.
We were all stressed. Weston (age 7, HFA) did quite well and just toe walked a lot for about a month and regressed a little w/ his speech. All in all it was a pretty easy transition -- he really loved his teachers and speech therapists much more than the ones we'd had in Wisconsin.
We put our trust in the Lord and it worked out VERY well! Happy Relocation! and positive vibes on the new job.
Betsy