Hi Cate2, we no longer live in the area, but I heard some nice things about public schools in suburban cities north of Chicago. Good luck!

Chicago Parent also hosts special needs playdates throughout the year where kids can play, families meet, also vendors attend. Havent been but may in future

My pleasure! You may also want to look at the Rush University website—the affiliated hospital has a lot of resources for autism and families. They may be able to point you in some additional directions.

As I am sure you are seeing, CPS has a pretty weak reputation overall, but I have heard of people finding good support at some locations.

Chicago Parent magazine can also sometimes feature content for families w special needs. I think one of the contributors has kiddos on the spectrum, which she’s mentioned here and there.

NPN also hosts school fairs around the city a few times/year—they have a special needs school fair too—my kiddos not quite preschool age right now so I cant speak firsthand, but I have been gathering bits of knowledge along the way.

All the best!

Welcome to Chicago! I wish I had more insight for you. I hear a mixed bag of feedback on CPS in general. There are good therapeutic preschools and kingergartens around the city I have heard about—not sure what age your child is. I hear that Black Bear Academy is good (Lakeview area) but it is private. I wish I could be more helpful. You may want to check out Chicago’s NPN - a parenting network site.

Hi! Lower west sider here, my preschooler was just diagnosed and I'm having the same questions that you did. What did you end up doing? What was your experience? Right now he's in a private therapeutic preschool but I want to transition him to a mainstream classroom in Kindergarten or 1st (he's pretty mild so I think this would be best in the long run).