Asperger's/Anxiety/ADHD and MCPS middle school

[Anonymous]

Parents with kids in MCPS, have schools been accomodating? Which middle schools in Potomac/Bethesda/Rockville (other than Tilden) would be good academically but also helpful with accomodations like scribing, patient and understanding teachers, etc? We most likely will have to move from where we are now, and I have no idea where would be the best middle school. Is there any school that would have student body more aware and empathetic to kids with theses issues? Alternatively, have you had really bad experiences with specific school's staff, principals, peer groups being non-understanding?

[Anonymous]

Woud Pyle be a bad choice?

[Anonymous]

My son is currently in the Gt/LD program at North Bethesda middle school. To get in you need to have an IEP and WISC above 120. It has worked out really well for his ADHD/Asperger's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is currently in the Gt/LD program at North Bethesda middle school. To get in you need to have an IEP and WISC above 120. It has worked out really well for his ADHD/Asperger's.

Are IEP and score above 120 all you need, or do you have to be placed there after being selected? Is that only for students who are already living in and zoned for North Betheda middle school?

[Anonymous]

OP - can you go private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is currently in the Gt/LD program at North Bethesda middle school. To get in you need to have an IEP and WISC above 120. It has worked out really well for his ADHD/Asperger's.

Are IEP and score above 120 all you need, or do you have to be placed there after being selected? Is that only for students who are already living in and zoned for North Betheda middle school?

The GT/LD program at the elementary, middle and high school level is open to everyone with those two initial qualifications, however it is an IEP team decision, and the student must be observed in class by the GT/LD coordinator, who then gives her opinion, which carries a lot of weight. I have heard of some students being refused entry to the program, despite being eligible, which seems very unfair. I spent my son's 5th grade year persuading his case manager that he needed this program (closest one to us is the North Bethesda MD, which is why he went there), and having him evaluated at Stixrud's in order to obtain a psychologist's report to back us up. There was no in-school testing, but the school psychologist reviewed and accepted the paperwork.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - can you go private?

I would consider going private, but don't know which private would accept him with an ASD/anxiety /Asperger/adhd diagnosis, and what school would give him the support he needs.

[Anonymous]

We're zone for NBMS and I've long been curious about the GT/LD program. My kids do not have IEPs -- just 504s -- because the ES has always taken the position that they are capable of performing at or above grade level in the core academic subjects in spite of their ADHD/anxiety and therefore do not need any services in order to access the curriculum. With that standard, I'm wondering how any kids with very high IQs manage to get an IEP (unless they have a very specific LD, like dyslexia or dyspraxia).

Questions: (1) Is it worth trying to get the IEP to get them into the GT/LD program? What benefits are there to that program over the regular honors curriculum at NBMS with a 504? (2) If it is, any advice on how to upgrade to an IEP from the 504? Would I need to hire an educational advocate?

[Anonymous]

We're zone for NBMS and I've long been curious about the GT/LD program. My kids do not have IEPs -- just 504s -- because the ES has always taken the position that they are capable of performing at or above grade level in the core academic subjects in spite of their ADHD/anxiety and therefore do not need any services in order to access the curriculum. With that standard, I'm wondering how any kids with very high IQs manage to get an IEP (unless they have a very specific LD, like dyslexia or dyspraxia).

Questions: (1) Is it worth trying to get the IEP to get them into the GT/LD program? What benefits are there to that program over the regular honors curriculum at NBMS with a 504? (2) If it is, any advice on how to upgrade to an IEP from the 504? Would I need to hire an educational advocate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're zone for NBMS and I've long been curious about the GT/LD program. My kids do not have IEPs -- just 504s -- because the ES has always taken the position that they are capable of performing at or above grade level in the core academic subjects in spite of their ADHD/anxiety and therefore do not need any services in order to access the curriculum. With that standard, I'm wondering how any kids with very high IQs manage to get an IEP (unless they have a very specific LD, like dyslexia or dyspraxia).

Questions: (1) Is it worth trying to get the IEP to get them into the GT/LD program? What benefits are there to that program over the regular honors curriculum at NBMS with a 504? (2) If it is, any advice on how to upgrade to an IEP from the 504? Would I need to hire an educational advocate?

I am OP, and also curious about, for example, the difference between the GT/LD program at north bethesda, and the Asperger program at Tilden. He has a very high IQ and an IEP, but also has dysgraphia, but not dyslexia or dyspraxia. We go to an outside OT for the dysgraphia. Would any other MCPS middle school in the area I originally described have the resources at school to cover the help he needs?