Are you talking about just in your area or in general? Our daughter goes to New England Center for Children in MA and it is one of if not the best in the country. She gets great care and has progressed more that we could have ever hoped

Wow! That's quite a wait. Thanks so much for giving an overview of the admission process and the tip about where to live. It's a tough decision to consider but I know that you've been in my spot.

I believe the wait list is about a year right now. It can vary though because the houses are set up by age and gender. The gender comes into play at 10 so before that boys and girls are together. Other times the children move on to the day programs because they do not need residential any longer.

I can tell you it is well worth the wait they are great and do wonders for our daughter. They do take the child's level of need into consideration so the worse cases tend to go higher on the list.

What you can use the wait time for is getting documentation if you do not have much now. Also I would reccomend living in a small town because they tend to be easier to deal with when it comes to the school district. They will most likely have you try some other options before agreeing to the residential but if the child really needs it you can get it

If you don't mind me asking, what is the typical wait period after a family moves to the area?

The school district pays for the placement, we had to fight for a year and a half to get them to do it, and prove she needed it, and we did get an Advocate to help but our Department for Developmental Services paid for the Advocate. I would suggest investigating and researching the school first, let them determine if they think your child requires residential or day based services. Also there is a wait list for most schools, so even if you get an approval you may have to wait. If it is a school like NECC it is worth the wait. We moved here for it, and there are many students whos parents moved here just for the school because they are the best at what they do.