Whitman HS: IEP challenges? Affordable private Dyslexia, ADHD tutoring options?

[Anonymous]

Our family is new to Whitman this year with an IEP student. So far, school leadership and IEP teams have been remarkably disorganized, disengaged and overwhelmed. I've waited over a month to even get basic information from the advising team. Have other had this experience?

We had our IEP meeting and the school officials basically all said they barely know or spoke with our kid, and then pushed us through a bunch of "going through the motions" bureaucratic paperwork that barely checked the boxes. When asked about dyslexia support, they were openly hostile and resistant.

With all the recent MCPS challenges, very concerned our kid is going to get lost in a school that appears to be stumbling, when they really need ADHD and Dyslexia supports. Do parents just give up in MCPS or at Whitman, and have to pay for expensive private tutors? We're one of the very few non-wealthy families at the school, do they just assume everyone can pay for private tutoring, so the school then doesn't provide adequate in-school services?

Thanks for any guidance and/or more affordable local Bethesda ADHD or Dyslexia tutoring.

[Anonymous]

You are wealthy in less you are on section 8 or low income housing program. Don't kid yourself. You can afford services, but you have to modifiy your budget.

[Anonymous]

OP- yes you are going to have to do much of the work yourself. MCPS Special Education is in shambles. Expect little to nothing from the school. It's not just whitman-- it's many MCPS schools where children are getting next to nothing. MCPS has beefed up their litigation department so they can fight families and not provide services. It's cheaper to do this than to pay for what kids need. So sadly, our taxes our being used o fight us and prevent our kids from getting necessary services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family is new to Whitman this year with an IEP student. So far, school leadership and IEP teams have been remarkably disorganized, disengaged and overwhelmed. I've waited over a month to even get basic information from the advising team. Have other had this experience?

We had our IEP meeting and the school officials basically all said they barely know or spoke with our kid, and then pushed us through a bunch of "going through the motions" bureaucratic paperwork that barely checked the boxes. When asked about dyslexia support, they were openly hostile and resistant.

With all the recent MCPS challenges, very concerned our kid is going to get lost in a school that appears to be stumbling, when they really need ADHD and Dyslexia supports. Do parents just give up in MCPS or at Whitman, and have to pay for expensive private tutors? We're one of the very few non-wealthy families at the school, do they just assume everyone can pay for private tutoring, so the school then doesn't provide adequate in-school services?

Thanks for any guidance and/or more affordable local Bethesda ADHD or Dyslexia tutoring.

MCPS doesn't provide adequate dyslexia supports to anyone. It has nothing to do with being at Whitman or wealth. You need private OG tutoring. Once you get an IEP, you'll get x minutes of reading support each week. But the "help" that MCPS provides is not really help at all. It's not evidence based; it's not OG. MCPS HS have around 2,000 students--no, school administrators are not going to know your kid. For ADHD, look into an executive functioning coach. You might be able to a resource class once you have an IEP but that will take the place of an elective. Many people don't like that because they feel it shows weakness in the transcript and want to present the strongest academic load when it comes to college applications.

[Anonymous]

Go over to the special needs board, check out ASDEC.

[Anonymous]

OP are you new to MCPS as well as Whitman or where you previously at an MCPS school?

If you already have an IEP you ideally have been through the process before and know exactly what supports your child needs, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are wealthy in less you are on section 8 or low income housing program. Don't kid yourself. You can afford services, but you have to modifiy your budget.

I'm a disabled single parent with no income due to my health and seeking medical treatment currently. I'm applying for SSDI but the wait can be years, despite meeting all criteria. We are barely making it, but my son still deserves a chance to learn as much as a wealthy family's child does. My son's school is also largely inaccessible to me as a wheelchair user, despite me trying to request documents digitally and trying multiple times to attend family events there, as they keep the elevators locked, don't staff them with enough volunteers with passes, etc.

I know your post was meant in spite-- but I want to thank you. You've reminded me that no matter how hard our circumstances or how humbled I am by health or disability challenges, I'm still doing better than those with far more resources and ability, who sadly waste it to try and hurt, instead of help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP are you new to MCPS as well as Whitman or where you previously at an MCPS school?

If you already have an IEP you ideally have been through the process before and know exactly what supports your child needs, correct?

Thank you, we do have an IEP but the process in Montgomery County has been far worse than it was in DC previously. It's also a new school and team, so the way the plan actually is determined and delivered is different. The draft plan this year doesn't even have my child's diagnoses correctly listed, and the staff openly said they had barely looked at it before the required meeting. At my child's previous MoCo middle school, they promised interventions at the beginning of the school year that didn't happen until literally the last 1-2 months of school. It's hard to convey fully how much MoCo special education seems to be falling apart, and how little oversight or support there is for families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go over to the special needs board, check out ASDEC.

Thank you, this is really helpful and will do so!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- yes you are going to have to do much of the work yourself. MCPS Special Education is in shambles. Expect little to nothing from the school. It's not just whitman-- it's many MCPS schools where children are getting next to nothing. MCPS has beefed up their litigation department so they can fight families and not provide services. It's cheaper to do this than to pay for what kids need. So sadly, our taxes our being used o fight us and prevent our kids from getting necessary services.

Thanks for sharing this candid experience, it helps me know what to expect. As a disabled person myself, I wish I could say this was surprising, but yet again, it's sadly more of the same work and fight, just to maybe, if you're lucky, have the same opportunity that's afforded to non-disabled people.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm an mcps educator and I'm doing all the work myself for my child with adhd, an ld and more. I am the executive function coach, the tutor, the social skills coach, etc. Whitman has already shown you their colors. You can fight all year trying to get them to do the smallest tasks or you can tutor in the subjects you are able to and be the executive function coach. Your child can get extra help during certain time at school from staff. Ask about after school tutoring with honor society members. Look into alternative programs like the Edison center for vocational training if academics aren't their thing- the trades make great money these days. Try and connect your child with as many resources as possible and fill in the gaps where you can. This is the reality of mcps these days. And continue to make noise about how special education is not doing their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: MCPS doesn't provide adequate dyslexia supports to anyone. It has nothing to do with being at Whitman or wealth. You need private OG tutoring. Once you get an IEP, you'll get x minutes of reading support each week. But the "help" that MCPS provides is not really help at all. It's not evidence based; it's not OG. MCPS HS have around 2,000 students--no, school administrators are not going to know your kid. For ADHD, look into an executive functioning coach. You might be able to a resource class once you have an IEP but that will take the place of an elective. Many people don't like that because they feel it shows weakness in the transcript and want to present the strongest academic load when it comes to college applications.

Thanks for sharing this background. It's really helpful to know that even if go through work of trying to push for access to dyslexia interventions, they may not even be evidence-based or potentially helpful at all for dyslexia. Unfortunately, it does practically come down to wealth then, as if Montgomery County isn't fulfilling a legal mandate to meet the needs of students with ADA-protected learning differences, then it's only families who can pay the very expensive private tutor costs who can access support for their children. My child has a "resource class", but the teacher is overwhelmed and not helpful or skilled in working with kids with learning differences, functions more like a study hall monitor which doesn't measurably do much to support special education students.

[Anonymous]

Pp here...and I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this on top of your own disabling health issues! .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm an mcps educator and I'm doing all the work myself for my child with adhd, an ld and more. I am the executive function coach, the tutor, the social skills coach, etc. Whitman has already shown you their colors. You can fight all year trying to get them to do the smallest tasks or you can tutor in the subjects you are able to and be the executive function coach. Your child can get extra help during certain time at school from staff. Ask about after school tutoring with honor society members. Look into alternative programs like the Edison center for vocational training if academics aren't their thing- the trades make great money these days. Try and connect your child with as many resources as possible and fill in the gaps where you can. This is the reality of mcps these days. And continue to make noise about how special education is not doing their job.

Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm sorry to hear that even one of the MCPS' own educators has to not only do their job, but also is being let down by the school system by having to serve in all these roles for their own child too. I'm disabled and live with serious limitations, so sadly physically don't have the capacity to do all these roles. Paying private tutors will have to come at the expense of forgoing my own medical care unfortunately. It feels very clear to me that our family circumstances are so different from the others in such a wealthy school community. I appreciate your practical advice to just accept MCPS and Whitman now as they are-- failing kids with learning differences-- and save my limited energy and ability for solutions that may actually help, instead of trying to push for little change or support. I'm grateful for the other suggestions you shared too, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: MCPS doesn't provide adequate dyslexia supports to anyone. It has nothing to do with being at Whitman or wealth. You need private OG tutoring. Once you get an IEP, you'll get x minutes of reading support each week. But the "help" that MCPS provides is not really help at all. It's not evidence based; it's not OG. MCPS HS have around 2,000 students--no, school administrators are not going to know your kid. For ADHD, look into an executive functioning coach. You might be able to a resource class once you have an IEP but that will take the place of an elective. Many people don't like that because they feel it shows weakness in the transcript and want to present the strongest academic load when it comes to college applications.

Thanks for sharing this background. It's really helpful to know that even if go through work of trying to push for access to dyslexia interventions, they may not even be evidence-based or potentially helpful at all for dyslexia. Unfortunately, it does practically come down to wealth then, as if Montgomery County isn't fulfilling a legal mandate to meet the needs of students with ADA-protected learning differences, then it's only families who can pay the very expensive private tutor costs who can access support for their children. My child has a "resource class", but the teacher is overwhelmed and not helpful or skilled in working with kids with learning differences, functions more like a study hall monitor which doesn't measurably do much to support special education students.

What exactly are you asking for? It sounds like there is a good iep in place but you want more and MCPS will not give more as that's their limit.