What are your/your children's needs? For instance, if your son has behavioral outbursts, you might want to look into the TEAACH program in Haverhill, MA. It's set up specifically for neurological and genetic disorder kids with behavioral needs (many students are Downs Syndrome, Autistic, and so forth). They bus children into it from as far away as Salem, NH and Salem, MA. It's a fantastic program with about 8 classrooms, arranged by age and ability level. They take students up to 22 years old. They have a common sense behavioral program, and the program ranges from vocational only for students incapable of doing academics...all the way up to age-level academics (up to a high school Senior program). Students able to do so take standardized testing...or take modified standardized testing. They also have a vocational (work-study) program where students able to go to job sites with teacher-aids.

In the same area, there are several really good programs for gifted children or children with special interests. Essex Ag-Tech and North Shore Vo-Tech both cover the full Essex county area of MA, which includes the area covered by the TEAACH program, though not as far out as New Hampshire. The two are scheduled to be combined two years from now (2013-2014 school year), so they will have the full complement of Agricultural (environmental sciences, veterinary and farm animal sciences, and plant sciences) and Vocational programs.

Up closer to the Haverhill area, there are two additional programs. The Whittier Vo-Tech is probably the best vocational program in the area, especially if your daughter or son are interested in robotics, computers, machine tech, CAD, etc. The Haverhill High School is largely a lost cause, IMO. I wouldn't send a dog through their usual programming, but they do have an excellent Classical Academy and College Prep program. Both of those are very highly recommended.

The Ag-Techs and Vo-Techs have incredible special education programs, which both Autistic kids and gifted children need, in most cases. They also have functional zero tolerance for bullying programs. By comparison, the Haverhill Public Schools fall far short of expectations in that regard.

Which brings me to one thing I'll say. I have been supremely unimpressed with HPS's middle schools. There are major changes this year, which friends tell me may be better, but my experience with them was very negative. They were crap with stopping bullying. Teachers didn't follow the 504s and ended up escalating problems. Honestly, while I can't say enough good about the other programs in the city/county, I can't muster much good to say about the standard school programs.

I am sure you may have already done this (if not considered this) but here goes....do you have a current assessment that you can provide to the judge (the multidisciplinary team report from your son's last Triennial Assessment or Amended Assessment?) The sections written by your child's Special Day Class Teacher, Speech Language Pathologist, and Child Psychologist should provide compelling evidence for your concerns. The current IEP with Current Levels and Goals should also highlight his challenges. Does your son currently have IEP goals addressing transitions? That should be given to the judge. I apologize in advance if I am repeating advice you have already followed (or previously implemented).

Forgot to mention... Much as I dislike HPS, they do have an elementary school program for autistic kids that I've seen good results from. I don't know if they have one at the middle school level.

OCspeechhelp...

I think you posted on the wrong one. Wouldn't want the lady with the custody problem to miss this information. It's very valuable for her.

The Mae institute in Randolph MA is wonderful....