I've wondered the same, to which my son's pediatrician said "there is no panacea of a place." While I get what she was saying, I have to believe that some areas in the country, certain districts within a city, etc. are better than others, and access to resources and higher levels of awareness are real things. From what I've heard, Chicago in general has one of the worst public school systems in the country (ugh), but there are a handful of individual schools that are excellent.

I did hear about a city in Minnesota I believe -- maybe outside the Twin Cities? -- that is striving to be just this. Also read an article about research and progress being made in designing sensory-friendly classrooms. Think the research was done around UK-London area. I don't know much about Seattle area but I do get excited hearing about tech companies having dedicated D&I programs around hiring people with autism in their workforce (Microsoft CEO has spoken out on behalf of families with special needs, as his children have special needs themselves.) Areas of NYC seem to come up here and there as well. And of course homeschooling and mixed schooling, where you can combine therapy received via local school district, with parent teaching and/or hiring tudors, etc.

In my own trying to understand this, at the end of the day, each child is unique and what works for one may not work for others. And resources also need to support the whole family. Am reading a wonderful book called "Uniquely Human" that is touching on this very thing...you may be interested in reading it if you haven't already.

Do wonder what the world will look like for ASD in 10...20...50 years time.

All the best to you in your decisions!

Thanks. Never saw this site before. Surprised as I do so many searches for things. Also cannot believe how little info there is on good schools for kids that isnt just test score data. Especially thought I'd find districts with great Sp. Ed, school or classes for asd, states with better services etc

Welcome.