**please excuse the multiple posts. I did not realize the character limit and had to break my response in chunks** :-)

Hello! I'm so sorry to respond so late. I see you posted this almost two weeks ago. I'm happy to say Alex had a wonderful experience in CCK (at Pleasant Union Elementary-great school)! I understand your frustration if Wake County is being vague now, for sure, but I think they are in the process of changing the way they administer some of the Special Needs classes. I heard this from another parent in passing a few months ago, and wasn't given details, so I'm not sure how extensive these changes may be. I can give you an overview of our son's journey, if it will help! I apologize in advance for the length, but I'll just lay out his whole story. :-)

We self-referred to Project Enlightenment (https://projectenlightenment.wcpss.net/) when Alex's daycare teachers expressed concern (he was around 3 years old - in the summer of 2014). Your child may be older, but Project Enlightenment was definitely great starting point for us. I think it took a few weeks to schedule an evaluation. They were awesome and after a series of evaluations (over a period of 2 or 3 months, I think), they were able to confirm he would be eligible for Pre-K AU (Autism Pre-K class). He had to go to evaluations at their actual center in downtown Raleigh, as well as be observed in his daycare classroom.

Oh, and as for my experience with Durham County? We did finally move and I'm still a little nervous and feel in the dark, honestly. It appears they have special education coordinators at each school and do not seem to have the regional program setup like Wake County. It appears they deliver special education services at the child's base school, with pull-outs as necessary. He starts school August 28th and the only answer I've truly received is "someone" will be in touch with us a week or two before school to go over how his IEP will be implemented. They have assured me they will request records from Wake County, but we will see.

I've not been pleased with the communication (everyone has been really nice, but vague), but I will say starting out with Durham County Schools speech therapy for our youngest (now 3 year old) has been wonderful! We're still in-progress, but they have been great and responsive with him. Maybe it is a little different when starting off versus transferring in (shouldn't be, though)!

Take care and I wish you all the best with your potential move!

Another important note, all of these special types of classes are referred to as "Regional Programs". So, for example, CCK (or AU-I, ID-Mild, etc) is not offered at every school in Wake County. Your child would be assigned to the closest regional program - with space. My only complaint was our school was farther away than I would have liked, but I wound up really liking his teachers and everyone, down to Before and After school, was so great with him.

If your child qualifies for transportation (they recommend you always get this in your child's IEP if he/she qualifies - even if they never use it, because it's very difficult to get it added after the fact, but it's fine if you don't use it. It will be there in case circumstances ever change). I wound up driving him everyday, but there is the option of County provided transportation. Unless a child has some sort of physical needs for it (usually if the child is wheelchair-bound), students typically don't have one of the smaller buses. At least in my case, we would have wound up with one of the private transportation companies with which Wake County contracts (Lucas Transportation, AA&D, Reese's, White Horse(?)). I don't believe the parent gets to pick the company - it's all based on the child's school assignment. These companies tend to use Ford Expedition-type SUV's or minivans.

Again, I apologize for the length, but tried to think of everything I wish I had known. :-) Please feel free to ask any additional questions (and I will try not to be so long in responding)!

I'm having trouble finding links to the Wake County program (some say the pages aren't found - so that also tells me they're probably making some changes). But, you can try this link for an overview of the types of special needs classes: http://www.wcpss.net/cms/lib/NC01911451/Centric...
But, this is my basic understanding:

Pre-K AU tends to be the first step.
From Pre-K, the teachers and parents may be able to determine if a child is eligible for a diploma-track (NC Common Core) or certificate track (NC Extended Common Core). One of the main differences is if it is expected a child will eventually like to attend a university, he/she would have to go the diploma-track route. I believe the certificate track focuses more on life skills and I *think* may be used to get into a community college program.

If, after Pre-K, it is not decided which track the child will follow (Alex fell into this scenario), the child may then go to the CCK classroom. CCK classrooms have children whose special needs fall into different categories. In Alex's class, there were some older children who were developmentally delayed with no official diagnosis, children with Down's Syndrome and children with Autism. A child can also go directly to an AU-I classroom (K-2 in the same class) from Pre-K.

If a child goes to CCK, from there it can be determined if he/she will be mainstreamed, or if he/she needs to go to an AU-I, or any of the other special needs classes. Some children with Autism may go to an "ID Mild" class (for example) if his/her needs are better matched in that environment, regardless of the diagnosis.

It is my understanding that a child who goes through an AU-I class can always go mainstream if he/she makes satisfactory progress. So going to an AU-I class won't automatically mean a child will have to stay on the certificate track for good. We were assured of that, since I was scared to make a decision about certificate/diploma track based on a 5-year-old!

Simultaneously, after starting with his pediatrician, Alex was referred to a developmental pediatrician. I think Wake County agreed to start Alex in the Pre-K AU room in December 2014, the same month we received the official medical diagnosis from his developmental pediatrician. (Wake County can not provide a medical diagnosis, but they were able to determine he qualified for services under the Autism label based on their evaluations).

After that, Alex began Pre-K in Wake County Schools (at Brier Creek Elementary - great school and wonderful AU Pre-K teachers!) at the age of 3.5. He started in January and completed half a year. He was assigned to AU Pre-K for a second year at Brier Creek. He qualified for speech therapy, and progressed enough to be assigned to CCK (cross-categorical Kindergarten) the following year.

He has continued with speech therapy this past year and, again, thanks to his awesome teachers and speech therapist, progressed enough to be recommended for mainstream Kindergarten. The CCK teachers were awesome and we couldn't be happier! We were nervous for him to go from the small class size of CCK with such a low student to teacher ratio to a mainstream 1st grade class. In his case, Alex will repeat Kindergarten, but he will be pulled out for certain subjects versus the way it was handled in CCK (where he was pulled out for mainstream math, since he excelled in that area). He'll be spending most of his day in mainstream (but in Durham County).