Colorado Springs Advice

[mouseforcemom]

Hello and Help!

We are weighing the pros and cons of moving to Colorado Springs, CO next Spring in order for our family to once again be on the same time zone for longer than 5 days a month. My husband works out west and comes home once every 2 weeks, but this is just taking its toll on our kids (who miss their father tremendously) & also me (I love my husband very much, but I really don't want to single parent the majority of the time when there are other options.)

As you can tell by my Avatar we have a son who is Autistic, High Functioning Verbal in first grade, & our eldest son is in second grade. Both boys are doing well in school and are involved in activities like swimming, soccer, church, etc.

I have heard that Colorado Springs, and Colorado in general, is great for kids who are PDD-NOS, ASD, Asperger's, Sensory Integration Disorder, etc. namely because of inclusion in the classroom (which he is) and also the amount of facilities.

I guess my question is, where should we settle, what are some good schools for kids with special needs, we are Catholic so let us also know (if it goes within board guidelines) of Churches in the area that are really active with youth groups and vocations, and really anything else you would tell me if I were moving to Colorado Springs!

Thank you in advance!

 

[IDoDis]

You will get some great advice on the city-data forums:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/colorado-springs/

We just got back from there on Saturday, but I don't know anything about the schools.

 

[jsmith]

I live in Colorado Springs-have been here about 5 years-but-let me caveat-school information is based on the experience of friends who have kids in school since my children are in college. I do have one friend who open enrolls her son in Academy District 20 -they actually live in Pueblo not El Paso county but thier child care provider is in D-20. CHeyenne Mountain D-12 is also very good and Fountain Ft Carson D-8 has a lot of programs for kids in stressful family situations since it primarily serves military families.
Colorado Springs has great weather -its pretty-and kind of in the middle of the cost of living. Two things to be aware of-it is a heavilly military community-there are three Air Force installations and one of the larger Army posts in the country here. The community is supportive of the military but between that and the fairly conserative religous community -Focus on the Family has thier headquarters here-the community has an interesting flavor.
The housing market is still fairly soft althought it has recovered some in the last few months. If you work and want to have a professional job here-the largest market outside of education and medical fiels are in those fields that surround defense contracting and defense support. I would actually start looking for a job now if you are planning on moving here in the spring-the market is fairly tight unless you want to work in a service industry job. Federal jobs assoiciated with the military take as much as a year from posting to hire. There is a gradient in Housing prices from north to south-and the south end of the metro area is primarily military.
Colorado has a fairly high tax base-and despite the sink in housing prces the cost of living here can seem quiet high if you come from the south-if you are coming from the north east it will seem less so.
As for an active church community-we are also Catholic but attend church on Ft Carson so thats a different kind of community. i do know that St Dominics in Security is a fairly active parish in all areas as a couple of my co-workers attend there.

 

[golfgal]

Is your husband working in Colorado Springs?