Anyone from FL?

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Hi,

Anyone from FL out there? I have 2 boys with Asperger's and may be locating to Florida. I need a good elementary school with decent SpEd, sensory corners, people who are competent, etc. So far, I have heard that the public school system stinks in Florida. Is this true?

We were thinking of the Tampa area or St. Petersburg

Thanks

I live in S. Florida currently and yes....the public school system (though i've never attended K-12 public school here) does stink overall from what little I know of it. I honestly can't tell you much more, especially about the PS system in Tampa/St. Pete specifically. It has never been a personal concern as I only attended college here. I just don't pay much attention to things which have no direct bearing on my life or that don't interest me.

*shrugs*....sorry

I have to go against that. I have attended high school in both missouri and florida and the missouri ones are a million times better.

Hi RockyMtnAspieMom,

I'm from that area. Actually, I still live in Clearwater.

I was in the Pinellas County School system (St Pete area) from 1st grade through graduation. I was in the "SLD" special education program from 2nd through graduation. I graduated in 1996, so my experiences area bit bit dated.

The special education program wasn't all that great back then. I'd be surprised if it's gotten much better. There was no attempt to really figure out how I learned best. They never got to the root cause of my learning problems (not being about to see any images in my head).

I came out of the system with very low goals and a very low self image. My career plans were very far below my actual potential. Luckily I accidentally found something I'm very good at (computer related) and have excelled. The problems is that this accidental discovery of my strengths didn't happen until my late twenties!

I strongly feel that a similar amount of effort needs to be put into developing the strengths of people with special brains as is paid to their weaknesses. This isn't what I experienced though. I was taught the same thing over and over again... THE EXACT SAME WAY THAT DIDN'T WORK BEFORE... for years. Six years of phonics didn't help me spell words better that weren't spell phonetically.

Erg... sorry, I'm ranting now.

No. I don't think this area has the quality services you're looking for.

thanks for your feedback

my family is, does that help?