Advice on what states would be best to move to..

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***I need to preface this post with the fact that it is a double-post, I don't like doing that but I asked for a mod to move my original in the General section to here two days ago and nothing happened. I really, really would like to discuss this with some people and there was zero interest in that section******

Hi everyone, I just joined today so be gentle Wink

To get right to the point I am the father of an 11 year old girl diagnosed with Asperger's when she was 8. When she was diagnosed we lived down in Vicksburg, MS and let me tell you the schools there were horrendous. The staff did not know a single thing about any level of ASD nor full blown Autism. Sis was bullied, pinched by teachers, called names by the students... she even attempted to run away once. (interesting side-note, after learning about Asperger's I realized that I most likely had it as well, as a kid I was diagnosed with ADHD/HA and took Ritalin for a few years)

Fast forward a couple years and luckily the company I work for has a facility in Central Michigan and the admin there quit, So I was offered the position and for them to move us so my entire house jumped on it like a Bengal tiger.

So we have been in Michigan now almost two year and let me tell you.. Mount Pleasant, MI has some of the best public schools that any of us have ever known about. Sis get's 1:1 help, OT's, you name it they attempt to accommodate. And what's best IMO at least, they care. They care so much and it really shows.

Now here's where my situation get's complicated. The kids, the wife and myself don't want to live here forever.. they hate it because it's farmland. During the spring/summer there;'s nothing but corn/soybean fields everywhere. Couple that with (and surprisingly to me) there's almost nowhere reasonable to go camping at within an hours drive. I try to keep the kids interested in outdoor activities and it's hard because the biggest thing we all enjoy is camping. With all the farmland there are zero state/national parks within an hours drive of home. Plus the land is so flat and uninteresting the kids including Sis our Aspie just doesn't want to get out and do anything. I know these things seem like small potatoes and in the overall grand scheme of things probably shouldn't matter much, but with a possibly two Aspies in the same house the little things pile up and become great things.

So anyway on to my actual question. I've heard that New Jersey and Wisconsin are supposedly great states for ASD resources.. what about some western states like: Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah?

I've already heard two opinions, Montana, or the Bozeman area had nothing to offer. And another person said 'Oregon had nothing good'.. but I'm here for parental opinions, hopefully ones generated by personal experience.

Thanks so much!

Massachusetts is supposed to be amazing for school services for special needs, and school quality in general -- a neighbor of mine moved from there and said it was incredible how much more support her children with ADHD got there as compared to CA. It's expensive, though, and I don't know how far you'd have to go for camping.

San Diego has ocean, desert, and mountains within a two hour drive, lots of day hiking within the metro area itself, and very active camping clubs like Sierra Club. You have to be careful about which school district you end up in, but there are several that do a pretty good job with services, and there are lots of private therapy providers available (and state law requires that ABA, speech, and OT are covered.)

In MI, have you thought about doing more water sports instead of camping?

Thanks Zette, The wife and I are more suited to small towns than metro areas or even cities in excess of 50k. I def don't make enough to move to CA or MA.. small population densities and lesser spoiled outdoor environments is the kinda of areas we're looking for. In those states I listed but only if the services Sissy gets now could be maintained there.

You could try southern MD, some of the school systems there are pretty good -not great with AS but not awful either- and there is a decent amount of open space and a smaller population but also fairly close to DC which is nice if you want to go to the museums and help your kids get used to more populated areas. There are a few parks down there too, for camping but it depending where you lived it may take a while to drive somewhere to camp.
As for western states I honestly don't know, I personally wouldn't go there for AS resources at least. As a nice open place for camping and outdoors activities it is obviously great. That is however all I have to offer.

NY NY NY NY NY NY NY

I am in MA. Yes Boston is expensive but have you looked at western MA? That could possibly be more along the lines of what you are looking for.

I can recommend Farmington MN. This is a small town just outside of the Twin Cities. My daughter has had years of therapies both in school and privately and I can't say enough great things about both. The school district has a fantastic autism program and we are close to some of the best behavioral clinics in the country (the Alexander Center and Frasier)

I would also recommend checking out the website www.asdd-dr.com. I started this site to help families find the services they need in their local area - you can search by state to figure out where there are a lot of services.

Thanks for all the replies. Outside of Dmarcotte.. it sounds like the rest of you all live in the NE amiright? Please remember that tone cannot be transferred in text when I say this, there no way that I'd move to the North east for multiple reasons. Probably the top most would be cost of living.. the market I''m in makes fairly good for the more rural areas, urban is a different story alltogether. But if the western states I'm asking about are truly lacking in resources for my daughter then I'd just stay in Michigan. We'd bide our time until they graduate then move out west.

I won't go into our personal reasons why large population areas will never be on our radar scope. But neither the wife nor I have any need to get our kids used to larger population areas.. without getting into the whole urban vs. rural debate, we are rural people.

I had hoped that there'd be some members here from those states, I wish this site had a member directory or something.

Minnesota might have been doable, until the wife saw teh extreme low temps you guys are getting this week. I mentioned "Hey you ever thought about Minne--" is all I got out before she vetoed it LOL.

There are some areas surrounding San Diego that are more rural and feel Ike an under 50k area -- Ramona, Fallbrook, Julian, Temecula -- but the cost of housing is still high compared to what you're used to in the Midwest. I do think you'll need to consider an outlying area of a larger city to find a range of services on offer.

In general, you have to follow the money. The better the tax base, the better the services. The larger the town, typically the more children like yours they might have experience in helping, and if they have the $$$ it means they can follow through with good services. Often that means that the cost of living and tax rates are higher.

If you live in a low cost of living area with good services, and in area with low population density, I would frankly hold on to that with dear life, if that is important to you. You found a needle in a haystack. If your family can handle long trips, I would save the recreational outings for when you have more vacation time.

If you still want to look around, I would try to narrow down places of interest and find websites dedicated to the local area. I think there is something called city-data something or other where people ask about particular areas and towns, and you can post there and hope someone on there knows about autistic services.

Thanks guys.. Actually someone from City-data directed me here. That site was almost worthless as the only reply I have gotten after my post being three weeks old was the one saying I'd have better luck here. I do hear what ya'll are saying. I have to keep the hope up that I'll stumble across another needle out west but yeah we will not be jumping the gun on this that's for sure.

Maybe you will have to drive a little bit father for camping
That's near Saginaw Michigan, which reminds me of this song, Saginaw, Michigan.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtGrJEVPY60[/youtube]

Some of the districts out here in California are pretty bad from what people tell me, heavy gang presence, lots of bullying. It can be so variable. And some small towns can be bad too, meth havens.
You have the Silicon Valley area which is know for its higher number of aspies, but it is very expensive.