Any idea which HS is best for special ed kids w/ an IEP?

[Anonymous]

Hello - 1st time poster here. Our son currently goes to Luther Jackson MS and is slated to go to Falls Church HS. I know Falls Church doesn't have the best reputation, but we are not concerned about test scores, AP versus IB, etc. Our son is in special education and has been on IEP ever since he was a toddler as it's always been a challenge for him. He's also dyslexic and school can cause him lots of anxiety. He's fine in the social aspects of school...he has friends and he plays sports...but he constantly talks about how he's a "sped" and asks why he's so dumb and why is everything so hard for him to understand. He has test anxiety and often struggles with his homework which reduces him to tears. Our eventual goal is for our son to hopefully go to any college in general and hopefully not struggle too much.


That being said, we were wondering if anyone had information on the support services (specifically, the special ed dept., counseling services, etc.) offered by local public high schools? We live in the Merrifield area and are open to moving, but we'd like to stay close to where we are for work and family reasons. This means we could stay with Falls Church HS, or move to places that are zoned for Oakton HS, Meridian, Marshall, Madison, Fairfax, or Woodson. For anyone who's wondering, we did look into private schools like the Siena School but decided against it due to cost, and more importantly, our son not wanting to go to private schools. He wants to go to public school where the "regular" kids and his friends are going.

Any advice or information on these schools would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If your DS has friends and plays sports, that’s huge. I would try to keep him with his friend group rather than move him to a new school where he doesn’t know anyone. To me, having friends at school is incredibly important for teenage mental health and more important than the academic aspects.

Rather than move, maybe you could consider getting him some after school tutoring and counseling to help him feel better about himself. Soooo many kids have disabilities in one form or another. He needs to not label himself as “sped” like it’s so negative. It’s just a small part of who he is and it doesn’t have to undermine his future.

[Anonymous]

I would post this on the special needs forum to get more responses.