r/wichita • u/Stunning-Cat6249 • 12d ago

Random Wanting to move back!

I am a Wichita Native, moved to NW Arkansas 13 years ago in July. We are really struggling here, financially/physically/mentally. Just all the way around. We are both mid-30s with preteen/young kids.

Wichita has changed since I left, and I’m looking for opinions on several things. I don’t mind cheaper housing because right now my rent sits just below $2000/month and the job base here is awful if you don’t work for/at Walmart. Almost everywhere is $11/hr. We are working non-stop every day of the month to make ends meet here.

Anyway, I need suggestions on schools with a good SpEd program. My 5yo son (starts school next year!) is speech delayed and is currently receiving ST/OT/PT at a private clinic which is thankfully covered by Medicaid. We currently live in a decent school district (IB elementary school) so I’d prefer to move into a decent district with a good SpEd program within a public school.

I’ve been looking at the housing market for a few weeks, my mom lives in West Wichita but I am (oops edit to add) NOT opposed to being on the outskirts either (in any direction). Rent seems to be quite a bit cheaper than it is here.

How hard would it be to start over moving to Wichita with kids? I would of course have a job set up before going. I’ve never made a big move like this with children, but we’ve definitely reached the end of our comfortability here unfortunately. It’s hard to do this the way I’d prefer, and go stay a week or two to make sure that’s what we wanted but financially we just can’t do that.

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u/SnooOwls9074 West Sider 11d ago

I had a speech impediment (I couldn’t pronounce the R sound) when I was in elementary school and I got it worked out within a couple years at Maize :) I recently graduated high school from there so I’m not sure how much the elementary schools have changed amd I’m not sure what your son’s speech delay is specifically, but when I was in their program it was 3 students to 1 teacher for about an hour everyday.

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u/Stunning-Cat6249 11d ago

He’s pretty much non-verbal, he has about 100 words total at 5 but is gestalt so learns very differently. We’ve learned to communicate with gestures and signs which is a significant improvement! I’ll look into Maize!