When my oldest was two years old, I called my sister n law. I knew she would have the knowledge to help me find some resources for my son. Her son had some language delays as I recalled when I first got married and met my husband's family. I learned that school districts, or at least most of them, offer to pay for early intervention programs to help children succeed before they get placed in the school district officially at age five. I called the school district and asked for their special education department and told them my concerns. They offered to test him. We saw an audiologist and screened them for things they should be able to do at their age. Next, they find a program in their school district that offers educational benefits., therapy, and other services to help your child. Sometimes, the bus transportation is provided and sometimes it is not. In some places, we have lived, the school district actually requires an official diagnose to address specific needs, like occupational therapy for example. We ended up at a regional center where they did further testing and can make those kind of diagnoses by a team of doctors and your services in the school district expand because of the need, if your child is significantly delayed and the typical preschool centers aren't a match. We were referred to one of these centers and in time both of our first two sons were diagnosed with Autism. We found programs for them to attend. Once we had a program, then we sat down and discussed between parents, program staff, therapists, and doctors what this child needed. We established an Individual Education Program just for that child. It is nicknamed after it's acronym or IEP for short. You work as a team to establish those goals to help your kid.
It's not the only way to get services, but it is the easiest way. I have friend that prefers to have a 504 plan instead. You can research that alternative, if you feel the need. This alternative does not let the school district be in charge of the services, but puts the parents at the responsibility of seeking out, paying for, and ultimately taking care of the problems the child has. The parent has to show "proof" they have been servicing that child, if problems arise at school. I have seen how individual cases were better with this 504 plan. It is the parents choice. The school district will not force their programs and services on you, but you have to be prepared to communicate how you are handling your child's needs, if you take that route. Usually, the school district does not ask unless their needs are evident at school (after they are enrolled at age five years old, typically) and their is no plan in place to deal with the problem directly during school hours. They will insist on a plan because they are liable at school if things happen to the child and no plan is there for them to deal with the problems that they face with that child. They can't just ignore the problem. Legally, they are limited in how to deal with your child if there is no IEP in place for them. Also, they can't let that one child's needs go unaddressed at school and disturb the other kids educational goals. As a parent, you will need lots of communication efforts to make this alternative succeed.
I speak in terms of public schools here, but some places do offer private schools that deal with only autistic children. It's not a free ride, tho....you have to pay for that placement. You have to be prepared to pay for it out of your own pocket. I checked into a couple of private based schools that offer intervention for autistic kids and offer great services. For ONE child, I would have had to pay the equivalent of what I was paying for my mortgage. It would be like paying for a double mortgage after I did pay my house payment and the tuition for that school. I couldn't afford one child's tuition and I certainly would not have been able to add a second child only a year later. It was not an option for me at the time, but it is an option for those who are able to put a little money out for their child's education.
Ten years later, after my first two children, both boys, were diagnosed with Autism....there is far more resources and programs for treatment and education to this diagnose than what existed when I was seeking for help. I am confident that if public funding fails because our economy has been affected so extremely that public schools can't offer as much as they do right now, that there will at least be schools you can PAY for that kind of thing. This is good, but the people it would hurt the most is families that don't have the funding to pay for those kind of schools.
