Mississippi | Missouri (Photo credit: Kevin Saff)Moving to a small town was disconcerting, but finding out there were no children like D was even more so. No autistic students were enrolled at his level of cognitive difficulty.Indy is a veritable melting pot of disabilities and disorders, and every resource you could think of is represented somehow by their number. It made information easy to come by when you search. Here, even people are hard to find, and they are typically my favorite resources. People always seem to know something outside the manuals and tend to supply anecdotal guidance.
The first step after relocation is to find your local advocacy agency.
MPACT is the local equivalent to INsource back home in Indiana.
Here is where you find your most important resource, the law.
Determining placement here is a bit slow, so far. Children like D (severely disabled) must apply to the schools that are appropriate in the area in a fairly involved process with much testing and much discussion. We're waiting to hear now.
Rural areas are, understandably, lacking in my favorite resource; people. Take your support where you can find it. Schools and online resources are the best bet in a farm community.
