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I'm looking for information about Orion Academy and Orinda Academy. My daughter has very mild aspergers, and we are worried about her placement at a high school for typical kids. We want her to have a good social environment during the high school years where she can make friends. Can anyone tell me if Orion Academy students have mild aspergers, or are the students more severely affected? Also, we have been told Orinda Academy would be a good place for her, but I'm worried that the students don't have special needs, and she won't have friends there. Please advise if you have experience with either school. Thanks. aspie mom
As for your daughter's mild asberger's, my advice would be to go to the school and ask for an interview with the head of the school, Ron Graydon. He is an extremely principled person who is not going to tell you that the school is right for her unless it is. I feel absolutely sure about this. He is very experienced and wise in terms of not only educational issues, but interpersonal dynamics amongst teens. P
1) knowing your child and what they need for both support and appropriate challenges (and helping them recognize and advocate what they need for themselves)
2) recognizing that our understanding of LD/ADHD/AS/ASD is primitive; that diagnostic labels are imprecise shorthands for complex individuals who have a wide spectrum of specific difficulties and strengths, which also vary from quite mild (and occasionally overdiagnosed) to profoundly challenging.
So our child with LD/AS feels great about doing well academically at Berkeley High School. He has done well in part because of the study skills and routines he learned at his private elementary and middle school; in part, he has been in one of the small school programs and has had excellent responsive teachers--as good as most of those we have had in private schools. BHS has been accepting and even welcoming of his social eccentricities.
We expect we will be utilizing tutoring help in the future, and he has done pragmatic speech groups for social skills work. We looked at Orinda Academy, which I think would have been excellent for him, but he felt he did not need that level of structure--so far, he seems to be correct. But for other teens, Bayhill or Orion may be the environment in which they can thrive and learn.
Our experience of private schools has been positive--but far from ''real world''--of course there are great kids, families, opportunities--but the one overwhelming impression that sticks with me is--too much money and consumerism. Our older son felt underprivileged (FAR from true) when he wasn't spending spring break in Barbados. Of course your family is the primary determinant of culture--but I was troubled by the peer messages... even more true in private colleges--the amount of spending money many kids have is striking. And in retrospect, I'm sure our older son would have done just fine in public high school with good AP classes. learning as we go....
I am moving back to the Bay Area and need to find the very best high school in the area for my 16 year old son who has mild autism and needs some support. Any suggestions as to which district/high school is best? Thanks so much.
I am looking for a preschool for my 3 year old son in the Berkeley/El Cerrito/Albany area (although willing to travel for something suitable). He is mildly on the autistic spectrum and is unlikely to qualify for significant school district services. He needs a lot of direction and help to be involved in group activities, so the preschool would have to be very supportive of his particular needs. Anyone have any recent experiences or recommendations? Anon
My son is high functioning autistic and will be entering 1st grade in the fall. We are considering a move to Oakland or Berkeley from the South Bay and are looking for good full inclusion programs in either public or private elementary schools (we'd prefer public). Our son currently attends regular, public kindergarten and has a classroom aide for support. We would love to hear about any experiences with and recommendations for full inclusion programs in any school in the area. Your advice, experience and recommendations are much appreciated!
We are thinking about moving to University Village in Albany. We have a high functioning autistic son who will be four in August. Is there a good, free, preschool in Albany? I've heard of some great public preschools in other cities, but no so much in Albany. Anybody have any suggestions? Is there a way to go to another school district if we are not satisfied with our choices? If so, how would we go about doing that? I'm not familiar with the area...I've never been there, and we aren't moving there until this summer. frustrated mom
My husband was just accepted to UC Berkeley, which is of course fantastic, but I'm having trouble finding resources online for my autistic son, who will be four in April. We haven't technically decided to move to Berkeley yet, but it's our top pick right now. I saw a preschool online called Tilden in East Oakland that looks great! Their website was a bit out of date which scared me into thinking it's not around anymore though. Colin's autism is very mild, and he does not need an aid. The preschool he goes to now is part of the school district, and is half low income families and half kids with special needs. We love it, and I'm trying very hard to find something similar. He does need OT, Speech, and ABA if those services are available. My perfect school for him would be an inclusive preschool, full day with these services provided. I'll be a stay at home mom (at least for a while) with a newborn (due in June). With the very little money thing, it would be awesome if it was a public school. We're willing to not live in Berekely if it means a good school for my son. I found Tildon in Oakland, but it looks like you have to enroll your child in February or March of this year. Yikes! We won't even know if we're moving to Berkeley until April (hubby is keeping fingers crossed for Stanford and Yale). Does anyone know of any other preschools that are really good? Anybody have any advice? We would both love to live in the Berkeley area because it such a great school, but if it's not going to work for our family then we need to plan to move elsewhere. Thanks so much!!
Additionally, if you need respite care, you can get him evaluated at the Regional Center of the East Bay, (510)383-1200. Good luck with the move. East bay mom
Michelle Garcia Winner, who is very well known in the field of High Functioning Autism, and often works with Carol Gray, has a clinic in San Jose (South Bay, closer to Sanford). She has also trained several therapists, clinics and school districts in the area. I know at least one of the speech therapist in the Berkeley Schools who has received training from both her and Emily and implements it into her therapy. www.socialthinking.com info@socialthinking.com Phone# 408.557.8595x303 for Carol Gray: www.futurehorizons-autism.com
Lots of clinics in the bay area specialize in social disorders. Several Berkeley parents with high functioning autistic children take their children to Communication Works in Berkeley at cwtherapy.com phone # 510.639.2929. They incorporate a lot of Michelle Winner's methods. Diann Grimm, from the Diagnostic Center-North, now specializes in spectrum children and comes to the school site if a request is made, free of charge, for an evaluation and recommendations for intervention at: www.dcn-cde.ca.gov
For the public pre school in Berkeley I would recommend Margaret Lindenstein as a speech therapist and Joni Miller as a teacher. Joni primarily takes low functioning spectrum children, but I know a couple high functioning spectrum children who have been in her class, because she does such a wonderful job. Joni used to be at Hopkins, but I think she moved to Franklin. Margaret is at Hopkins and maybe Franklin.I know they both work well together. Louise Fender is another wonderful preschool speech therapist in the Berkeley public preschools. Vicki Van Steenburg is the pre-school Full Inclusion directer. Insurance usually covers therapy before children are school age and possibly for the Berkeley Communication Works when they are school age. I am not sure how young Comm. Works takes clients. Several of the Berkeley therapist have been trained for spectrum children and a full inclusion program is offered as early as preschool. Currently the training of therapist is sporadic with therapist using a hodgepodge of methods. Most of the OTs and Adaptive P.E. teachers work with autistic children together with the speech therapist and Full Inclusion teachers. Soon the Berkeley district may receive SCERTS training for all therapist working with spectrum children. The Emerson Elementary speech, full inclusion, and OT staff are already implementing SCERTS, Michelle Winner and Dainn Grimm into therapy programs. anon
Hi - My son 2 years 7 months old has been diagnosed with ASD, specifically PDD- NOS. He is in a private preschool three mornings a week and thriving there. We have an inhome ABA program and other services being funded thru the regional center right now, but our transition to the berkeley school district is coming up and I wanted to find out from other parents of special needs kids, about staying in private preschool versus transitioning to the public special ed preschools? Also did you continue to receive ABA program, speech, OT after this transition? Any advice? Thanks. J
Wondering which school district would be better for a child with
autism and visual impairment...Orinda or Berkeley
parent of special needs boy.
parent of four year old boy
This doesn't exactly answer your question, but have you looked into Lafayette? My information is a few years old, but I've heard from parents and providers that the Lafayette district was much better than average for students in special ed and also good in general. Orinda parents I talked with were enthusiastic about their schools for their typically-developing kids but warned me that it was not as good for special needs students. We found it a complex decision, once you factor in other things such as the availability of independent providers, the Regional Center, etc. A lot depends on the individuals who are working in a district at a given time, so things change. wishing you the best
My 3 year old son was diagnosed with PDD/NOS when he was 2 years old by the East Bay Regional Center. His been getting services through them for about a year now. He currently gets in-home ABA, Speech and OT. He has made great progress and we have him in a mainstream pre-school with an aide 2 days a week.
Here is my concern and I need advice....
Because he is turning 3 in December, the Regional Center can't continue the services and we now have to go through the school district. It's the San Ramon School District. We had our first IEP meeting on Tuesday and we ran out of time. There was just so many questions I had. We have to schedule another meeting. I am very concerened because what they are recommending for my son is Special-Ed classes, the CEIA Center and their services through the district.
Has anyone gone through these services? How was your expereience? and what would you recommend? Has anyone had to fight with the school to keep the services they have?
I would love to talk to someone who has gone through this because I'm on information overload and have so much information and not sure what to do. I just know that the ''appropiate'' services for my son should be what he is getting now. I know my son the best.
Any advice or input would be greatly apprciated. Nilesh
The biggest shock/adjustments families have to make when transitioning out of Regional Center Early Intervention Services is the change in services. Some families supplement the District services by paying privately for other services. If you have someone from your ABA program that can attend your IEP that would be great or if you have an advocate. You can call DREDF or CASE or your Regional Center Case Manager for advocate information. anolther thing you should get is the book, ''A parents guide to an IEP.'' You can get it through Nolo Press in Berkeley. Good luck. anonymous
My son, diagnosed with PDD-NOS, will be three at the end of this month. He's been in an Early Intervention program (Small Voices) for most of the last year, and now we're ''transitioning'' him into the Berkeley USD (as I write this, he hasn't yet had his IEP). I'm confused by our options, I'm concerned about doing the right thing, I need somebody to talk to! Are there any parents out there who have been where I am and can talk to me? Jill
It was a very structured program, which helped these kids learn and perform. The teacher we had there was wonderful and it really helped get my son on the path to learning. He had a hard time with staying on task etc. but did pretty well.
If you have a diagnosis for your child, you have presumably seen a professional. Ask him/her what kind of preschool setting would be best, and then ask the school (in advance of your IEP) for permission to visit any preschools that might apply.
I'd also look in the archives here to see if any of the private preschools seems appropriate. I'd also go visit Linda Beech school in Piedmont to see the kind of program they run.
Looking at a lot of options and seeing what kind of kids are in each setting, and whether they seem attentive and happy, will help.
If you would like general help on your IEP, there is a great book: Lawrence Siegel's ''The Complete IEP Guide: How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child'' from Nolo Press. I used this to prepare for my 1st IEP and have found it a great, great reference guide.
You can also contact me directly if you want more suggestions, but for school district navigation advice it's better to hear from BUSD parents.
Good luck! Nancy
I checked on the website and there's no recent information on good childcare/preschool programs for a child with special needs. My son has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and we are hoping to find a preschool that can accomodate both he and his twin (normal functioning) sister. He's pretty mild, but his current preschool gives me the impression that he is still much more work than they are used to. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I have heard of a good school out in Danville, but since we live and work in El Cerrito it's just not feasable to do such a commute daily. Many thanks, -Susan
Other advice:
There is a preschool attached to Castro Elementary School on Donal St. in El Cerrito that may be just what you are looking for. The preschool does ''reverse mainstreaming,'' meaning most of the children have special needs but the group includes non-special needs kids as well. The teachers I met there last year were incredibly warm and loving had wonderful relationships with all of the children. You can probably reach them through the West Contra Costa County Unified School District. Good Luck!
Our (almost) three year old was just diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. She is very verbal and the diagnosis may be changed to Asperger's as she grows older. Our IEP is coming up soon and we are looking into various preschool options. We are uncertain as to whether she would be best suited in a 5 day per week special day class or in some combination of ''typical'' community preschool combined with special services for spectrum disorder. Our child is very high functioning and we're not sure she'd be best served in a school district day classroom that also serves children with more severe disabilities. In addition, we are investigating various schools and services for preschoolers on the spectrum. Recommendations from parents who have been through this would be much appreciated. Concerned Parent
You didn't say which school district you were in, but if its Oakland, you should look into one of the classrooms at Tilden School. This is a small special education public school for preschool/kindergarten, and has classes for a variety of non- severely handicapped disorders such as Asperger's, autism, language, deaf/hard of hearing and more. (My son attends there in one of the communicative handicapped kindergarten classes.)
If you happen to be in the Piedmont School District, the Asperger's expert teacher who used to teach at Tilden is now teaching at a school there. Her name is Patti Stevenson.
If you are in neither of these districts and your district is not offering an appropriate placement, you could perhaps get an inter-district transfer. Under the law you are entitiled to a ''free and APPROPRIATE education'' for your child. If the classroom being offered to you has a mixture of children with disabilities ranging from mild to severe, that is not an appropriate placement for your child. If you need any further information, I would be happy to direct you to some parents who could better answer your questions. Charlotte
We are looking for other parents of children with high functioning autism, Asperger's syndrome or similar non-verbal learning disorders. We are having great trouble finding an appropriate school for our boy. He is 15 and very very bright, but has sensory integration problems and a list of other things that make it impossible for him to survive (let alone thrive) in the public schools. This is a common problem among high functioning kids on the spectrum. Many can't function in the large, noisy, ''full inclusion'' setting for behavioural, language processing, and sensory reasons, but the smaller, ''special day classes'' are geared to students on a cognitively low level and so are equally pointless. There is supposed to be an epidemic of autism out there, and we KNOW there must be other families stuck in similar situations. Where are the good schools for these remarkable young people? They can grow up to make enormous contributions to society, and to make their way in the world. But they need the right educational setting, social skills training, and lots of attention. Can't we get together and form a school, or help the school districts form an appropriate school? At least we could share ideas. Please write to me. Tobie
Last updated: Nov 21, 2009
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