Looking for an accountant who works with adults with learning challenges

April 9, 2018 3:16 PM

I'm looking for an accountant in the Boston MA area who works with adults with learning challenges on such things as budget creation and financial decision-making.
posted by springrain to Work & Money (3 answers total)

This is not normally accountant-level stuff. Could you maybe explain a bit more about what you are looking for? I have a partner with a son with a disability and in his world, this sort of thing would be handled by his representative payee or the agency that they work for (in this case, the Edinburg Center) NAMI of Mass is also a good starting point for stuff like this if there are actual mental health challenges at work. You might also try the Mass Department of Developmental Services. Where I live in Vermont the groups that do this sort of "financial literacy" things are usually Community Action groups. You might look to see who your local Community Action group is and give them a call to see if they have advice. DisabilityInfo.org has a lot of resources though I wasn't able to find exactly what you were looking for, but you might want to play around a bit with the parameters a bit.
posted by jessamyn at 4:19 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

You might try this firm; they seem to be exactly what you're (maybe) looking for.

But, as another angle, you might try getting recommendations from lawyers who do estate planning that take special needs into account. When I was looking for an estate planning attorney, I came across this firm, which stayed with me for some reason. I don't have any special needs beneficiaries and I did not use them in the end, but they seemed like they do good work.

I mention this route because I got a few recommendations from the estate planning attorney that I actually used (e.g., insurance broker, etc.).
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:09 PM on April 9, 2018

If the learning challenges involve the autism spectrum, you might try contacting AANE (The Asperger/Autism Network), which is located in Watertown. They have a lot of resources dedicated to helping people on the spectrum handle the challenges of adulthood.
posted by Bresciabouvier at 9:18 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]