If you have an HFA middle schooler, how are they doing? What accommodations have been useful?

[Anonymous]

If you have an HFA middle schooler, how are they doing? What accommodations have been useful? And what aspects of middle school have been most challenging?

[Anonymous]

My kid has anxiety/ADHD/ASD/LD so there is a lot going on and our experience might not applicable to you.

Before the school year, we went to every open house, every tour, etc. We requested his schedule a couple of days early, had a meeting with the counselor and assistant principal who took us on another tour when we walked through his classrooms and made sure he knew exactly where to go. We also wrote a long introductory email for all his teachers and tried to establish relationships with all of them.

In terms of accommodations and services, he’s in a social skills homeroom and an executive skills class. The rest of his classes are cotaught. He has a flash pass for the counselor’s office, which is especially good when dealing with sensory overload. That is in addition to the usual testing accommodations and the ones for learning disabilities.

The transition has gone far smoother than I thought it would, although there have been ups and downs. Socially, I am not sure how things are going. He has kids he talks to, but not friends he does stuff with outside of school. He’s seemingly content with the social side, so we don’t push.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that is super helpful. A social skills homeroom sounds great. Which school/school system is this? Public/private?

[Anonymous]

It’s public- Arlington Public Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has anxiety/ADHD/ASD/LD so there is a lot going on and our experience might not applicable to you.

Before the school year, we went to every open house, every tour, etc. We requested his schedule a couple of days early, had a meeting with the counselor and assistant principal who took us on another tour when we walked through his classrooms and made sure he knew exactly where to go. We also wrote a long introductory email for all his teachers and tried to establish relationships with all of them.

In terms of accommodations and services, he’s in a social skills homeroom and an executive skills class. The rest of his classes are cotaught. He has a flash pass for the counselor’s office, which is especially good when dealing with sensory overload. That is in addition to the usual testing accommodations and the ones for learning disabilities.

The transition has gone far smoother than I thought it would, although there have been ups and downs. Socially, I am not sure how things are going. He has kids he talks to, but not friends he does stuff with outside of school. He’s seemingly content with the social side, so we don’t push.

Dang.

I have a MS with the same profile in MCPS and we are def not getting these accomodations!!

[Anonymous]

Does he still receive Speech therapy?

[Anonymous]

Noise Canceling Headphones for doing work on own...game changer but it was a huge fight to get them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has anxiety/ADHD/ASD/LD so there is a lot going on and our experience might not applicable to you.

Before the school year, we went to every open house, every tour, etc. We requested his schedule a couple of days early, had a meeting with the counselor and assistant principal who took us on another tour when we walked through his classrooms and made sure he knew exactly where to go. We also wrote a long introductory email for all his teachers and tried to establish relationships with all of them.

In terms of accommodations and services, he’s in a social skills homeroom and an executive skills class. The rest of his classes are cotaught. He has a flash pass for the counselor’s office, which is especially good when dealing with sensory overload. That is in addition to the usual testing accommodations and the ones for learning disabilities.

The transition has gone far smoother than I thought it would, although there have been ups and downs. Socially, I am not sure how things are going. He has kids he talks to, but not friends he does stuff with outside of school. He’s seemingly content with the social side, so we don’t push.

Dang.

I have a MS with the same profile in MCPS and we are def not getting these accomodations!!

You're not alone in MCPS. Arlington services seems appropriate and supportive. MCPS ignored letters from clinicians and sent kid home sparking a school refusal problem that is now entrenched. Administrators overruled MS counselor's input. HS kid is now in a private setting, but MCPS denied services from K forward even with documentation. It's shocking and sad.

[Anonymous]

Our HFA MS student in MCPS gets , what I feel like are basic accommodations: extended time on classwork and testing, assistive technology like typing or speech to text, movement breaks, preferential seating, etc...

I'd love to hear about what accommodations parents have been able to get for social interactions, attention to tasks, group work, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has anxiety/ADHD/ASD/LD so there is a lot going on and our experience might not applicable to you.

Before the school year, we went to every open house, every tour, etc. We requested his schedule a couple of days early, had a meeting with the counselor and assistant principal who took us on another tour when we walked through his classrooms and made sure he knew exactly where to go. We also wrote a long introductory email for all his teachers and tried to establish relationships with all of them.

In terms of accommodations and services, he’s in a social skills homeroom and an executive skills class. The rest of his classes are cotaught. He has a flash pass for the counselor’s office, which is especially good when dealing with sensory overload. That is in addition to the usual testing accommodations and the ones for learning disabilities.

The transition has gone far smoother than I thought it would, although there have been ups and downs. Socially, I am not sure how things are going. He has kids he talks to, but not friends he does stuff with outside of school. He’s seemingly content with the social side, so we don’t push.

Dang.

I have a MS with the same profile in MCPS and we are def not getting these accomodations!!

You're not alone in MCPS. Arlington services seems appropriate and supportive. MCPS ignored letters from clinicians and sent kid home sparking a school refusal problem that is now entrenched. Administrators overruled MS counselor's input. HS kid is now in a private setting, but MCPS denied services from K forward even with documentation. It's shocking and sad.

PP here from Arlington. I don’t want to overstate the helpfulness. The executive functioning skills class seems basically like a study hall with help (although I have heard that there are more proactive classes at other MS). And my kid doesn’t take advantage of most of his accommodations. Also, we got more support after hiring an advocate. The initial IEP done in his last year of elementary school didn’t include the social skills or executive functioning classes. Those were added after we hired an advocate who knew to ask for them.

[Anonymous]

Our HFA/ADHD middle schooler is in MCPS Aspergers Program (soon to be renamed the Connections Program). The full program includes a social skills class period in the morning; a self-contained English/Writing class that is the same curriculum as Gen Ed but heavily focused on written language expression ; and a resource class for the final period of the day. Everything else is gen ed. MCPS has to place the kid in the program in the IEP process. The kid needs to have the HFA diagnosis.

As far as accommodations and supports go, on the face of the IEP ours looks robust. A few of the most helpful: extended time for testing, quiet room/small group for testing, graphic organizers, strategies to sustain attention, movement breaks. Implementation is inconsistent but not a disaster. Fortunately DC (now 7th grade) has grown significantly since entry to the program in 6th grade and in general the return to in-person school. Self-advocacy, social give and take, taking initiative with teachers and peers are all hugely improved. The IEP team (including DH and me) is likely to recommend he do an elective in 8th grade rather than a third year in the social skills class but keep the English/Writing class and end of the day Resource. I think DC is heading that way as well.

[Anonymous]

Another APS Experience. Same profile. And same/similar accommodations. Actually there hasn’t been an accommodation that I have requested that has been refused. I will say that I “found out” through word of mouth about the options and asked. I was not refused. As with everything at APS , I think school to school experiences are quite different. Special Ed I’m our elementary was terrible. Middle school has been all together different. I’ve found at the MS level there is a lot of flexibility in terms of changes demands and expectations.

Other things to think about/ ask for:
- somewhere quiet for lunch, when needed
- flexibility Re electives. Or even PE, if needed
- leaving class early to change classes (avoid loud hallways), if needed
- flexible seating to sit in back of class (easier to pace or walk without disturbing others), if needed
- flexibility to show work mastery other ways, sometimes a different writing assignment or fewer worksheets
- more time for assignments
- scheduling non-core classes at beginning or end of day to make outside appointments easier
- a shorter school day- we needed that at times (for months)
- a quiet place to go with a flash pass on each floor of building.
- headphone use as needed


We don’t always use all of the accommodations, be we have used all of them at various times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HFA/ADHD middle schooler is in MCPS Aspergers Program (soon to be renamed the Connections Program). The full program includes a social skills class period in the morning; a self-contained English/Writing class that is the same curriculum as Gen Ed but heavily focused on written language expression ; and a resource class for the final period of the day. Everything else is gen ed. MCPS has to place the kid in the program in the IEP process. The kid needs to have the HFA diagnosis.

As far as accommodations and supports go, on the face of the IEP ours looks robust. A few of the most helpful: extended time for testing, quiet room/small group for testing, graphic organizers, strategies to sustain attention, movement breaks. Implementation is inconsistent but not a disaster. Fortunately DC (now 7th grade) has grown significantly since entry to the program in 6th grade and in general the return to in-person school. Self-advocacy, social give and take, taking initiative with teachers and peers are all hugely improved. The IEP team (including DH and me) is likely to recommend he do an elective in 8th grade rather than a third year in the social skills class but keep the English/Writing class and end of the day Resource. I think DC is heading that way as well.

This program has been suggested for my kid. For the gen Ed classes, are there paras in the classroom to support the kids? Where do the kids eat lunch?

[Anonymous]

Tilden Asperger program was great. Social skills class, contained English, resource to stay organized, supported classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has anxiety/ADHD/ASD/LD so there is a lot going on and our experience might not applicable to you.

Before the school year, we went to every open house, every tour, etc. We requested his schedule a couple of days early, had a meeting with the counselor and assistant principal who took us on another tour when we walked through his classrooms and made sure he knew exactly where to go. We also wrote a long introductory email for all his teachers and tried to establish relationships with all of them.

In terms of accommodations and services, he’s in a social skills homeroom and an executive skills class. The rest of his classes are cotaught. He has a flash pass for the counselor’s office, which is especially good when dealing with sensory overload. That is in addition to the usual testing accommodations and the ones for learning disabilities.

The transition has gone far smoother than I thought it would, although there have been ups and downs. Socially, I am not sure how things are going. He has kids he talks to, but not friends he does stuff with outside of school. He’s seemingly content with the social side, so we don’t push.

I like this doing a tour to know where every rooms are & possibly meeting teachers in advance to communicate before day 1 of middle school year. Is that part of IEP plan of 5th grade going to 6th grade? We are in MCPS as well.