Takoma Elemetary School (DC) and the grade-level autism program there? (or Seaton or SWS)

[Anonymous]

My kid is autistic and has recently moved from a self-contained autism classroom to general education with supports. DCPS isn't great about providing services for kids in his position, but there are three programs that are classified as CES Autism Level 1 and 2, at SWS, Seaton and Takoma. Trying to get into the program involves an enormous amount of hoop-jumping and the special ed coordinator at my kid's school hasn't been able to get him evaluated.

But we did the DC school lottery and were offered a spot at Takoma. Is there anyone out there who has a kid in one of these programs? Can you tell me about it? We'd be committing to a looooong commute, so if it's awful, we'd like to know. I searched here and the public schools forum, and the general consensus seems to be positive but there wasn't much info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...there are three programs that are classified as CES Autism Level 1 and 2, at SWS, Seaton and Takoma. Trying to get into the program involves an enormous amount of hoop-jumping and the special ed coordinator at my kid's school hasn't been able to get him evaluated.

Where did you hear this? My understanding is that all DCPS CES classrooms are self-contained and are non-diploma track.

Your child's IEP team will work with the DCPS location of services people to determine a placement, but you unfortunately can't enroll in a specialized program/self-contained classroom just by getting into the school through the lottery. It's mostly determined by your address/which schools have space in the classroom your child is determined to need.

[Anonymous]

My school's special ed coordinator was the first to tell me about them (and they are usually referred to as high-functioning autism classes, although I hate that terminology). If you look up the school information in the DCPS report card, you'll see CES listed and then CES Autism 1 and 2 for those three schools. Of course the website has no information beyond that, probably because there are far more children who would benefit from the program than there are spaces for them.

Kids only qualify for the grade-level autism program if they're in general ed with supports, which means that they aren't subject to the placement process that DCPS uses for kids in self-contained classrooms. This opens up a loophole, because so long as your kid has under 20 hours of services a week, they can attend whichever DCPS school they lottery into.

Our logic is that if my child lotteries into one of these schools with an IEP that was written to mimic the program that the school provides, the school must both enroll him and honor his IEP. It's immaterial to me whether that means that they officially bring him into the program or simply provide appropriate supports in an environment where both special ed and general ed staff are attuned to the needs of autistic kids who can learn on their grade level. In either case, he's in a far better environment than his current school can provide.

[Anonymous]

What exactly does the program consist of if it's not a specific classroom? What makes it a "program?"

[Anonymous]

A specialize cadre of aides within the gen ed classroom and a resource room where kids get autism-focused assistance with executive functioning, social scripts, etc, I believe. But getting information about it is like pulling teeth.