Autism resources in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

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Hi everybody,
We live currently in Venezuela, but are trying to move to Ft. Lauderdale because we feel we will be able to find more resources for my 7 year old boy there than here. He is AS. I was hoping that some of you that already live in the area could give me general information like:

1. Pediatricians that have experience with autistic/Asperger children and you respect or are happy with
2. Skilled speech therapists, social skills groups, Occupational therapy, etc., that have worked with your children
3. Schools you have had good experience with, regarding the handling and helping of kids with this diagnosis and that are open to acomodate their needs,
4. Special Education programs/schools
5. Asperger parents' groups
6. Sports and activities for austitic/asperger kids
7. etc.

And anything else or any information that you can think would help us. It will be hard moving the family to a new country and I just wanted to be able to start with some information and avoid the jumping from one pediatrician to another, or one school to another, until I find the right one for him. Aside of this I will also have to deal with the issues of my other two NT sons, the moving, the different language and so on.
Also, I don't know too much yet about the laws on the way the school or the state should help provide aides and help for my child. There is nothing like that here, and I was reading a thread on that and got a little overwhelmed . So if you know where I can start getting information on all this legal issues, please let me know. We won't be moving (if it happens) until the end of the school year, so there is still some time!

Thanks to all in advance for your much needed help!
Monica

The CARD program has a good program for autistic children and their family:

http://card-usf.fmhi.usf.edu/inthenews.asp

Not sure how good the CARD programs at the University of Southern Florida are, but I know the CARD program located at the University of Central Florida was decent. It helped me to secure a diagnosis for myself. I am now looking to them to help me continue my pragmatic speech therapy for when I move back to Florida at the end of May.

Here is the link to Ft. Lauderdale's web page: http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/index.htm (just for info about the city itself).

Good luck!

Hey!
Thanks so much for your reply, I will look into it.
Monica

Butterfly Effects services Ft Lauderdale as well. They offer extensive programs including Applied Behavior Analysis, Speech-Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy, and Biomedical Treatment Programs.

For more information please visit their website http://www.ButterflyEffects.com

Umm, the University of South Florida is way up in Tampa (yes, they're badly misnamed). They won't be much help.

Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton has a CARD program though.

We love Florida and wanted to move to Orlando. But I found out that the services I get here in North New Jersey are much better, so we decided to stay for him and he is doing great. That is Orlando, not sure about Ft. Lauderdale. I have a friend in Pembrook Pines with 2 kids that have Autism if you need anything let me know and I can put you in touch with her. Good luck.