What are the best school districts for autism in New Jersey? According to CDC’s report, 1 in 45 people in New Jersey is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. This number is huge, especially if you compare it to the national average which is 1 in 68 people. Due to a large number of persons with ASD New Jersey has developed a very good autism service network for autistic persons and their family. Autism Family Services of New Jersey is offering advice and recommendations about programs, schools, therapies and residential programs for persons with ASD in New Jersey and their website is a place where you can find a lot of useful information.
It is not unusual that families with school-aged children move from district to district in order to have their children enrolled in good schools. Having a good school is of extremely important when it comes to children with autism. Due to the specific nature of autism spectrum disorder, children with ASD do not experience the world in the same way as we do and it is important to help them find a suitable environment for learning. Traditional curricula can overwhelm children with ASD, especially because a lot of them don’t have the same language skills and auditory skills as their peers. Typical oral instructions in school are more likely to cause frustration than help your child learn. Because of this, it is important to find a school that offers programs for children on the spectrum or choosing to enroll your child in a school that is designed especially for children with ASD (mostly private schools). Educational options include public schools, charter or magnet schools (these schools receive public funding and often operate using lottery), private schools (parents usually opt for private schools specialized only for children with autism spectrum disorder) and home schooling (choosing to educate your child at home may include help of therapists and professionally educated personnel). However, homeschooling is not a good choice for families where both parents have to work to support the financial needs of the family. If you are wondering about cities which offer good services for autism, you should take a look at our article about New York City and 7 best school districts in New York City for autism.
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Early intervention and proper education can make a huge difference in your child’s life. According to Steven Krapes, director of The Forum School, New Jersey is the best place to live in when it comes to the high level of education as well as innovative educational programs. Krapes stated: “If your child falls on the spectrum, you want them to be educated in New Jersey”. Overall, New Jersey is a great place to live in when it comes to autism services which is why it was also included in our list of 10 best cities and states to live in for autism services.
In order to compile this list of best school districts for autism in New Jersey, I focused primarily on a Directory of New Jersey Schools Serving Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders published by Autism New Jersey website. This comprehensive list contains lists of all public and private schools in each county. New Jersey is divided into 21 counties and each county is divided into numerous school districts. However, since the information published on the above mentioned website showed that some counties contain only two schools per county for children with ASD, I’ve decided to focus on counties rather than districts. In this way you can get the insight into counties which have a lot of schools for children with ASD and then narrow down your interests to a specific district within that county (which are also mentioned in this article). In order to single out the best districts in New Jersey for the education of autistic children I’ve created a tally sheet of all counties and added number of schools. Counties are ranked by the number of schools in each county, from lowest to highest. Essex County and Bergen County had the highest scores while Cumberland County, Cape May County, Warren and Salem Count had a low number of only one or two schools for children with ASD and did not make it to this list. Counties which have the same number of schools are ranked randomly. To help you find a perfect school, we’ve added links to every click which means that you are only one click away from finding out all the information you need.
Let’s see which are the best school districts for Autism in New Jersey.
