Services for a child with autism in general education -- school recommendations

[Anonymous]

My daughter has level 1 ASD and is in general education in 5th grade out of state. We are moving to the area over the summer and would love to hear about your experiences in FCPS, MCPS, or Loudon for your level 1 ASD kiddos in middle school. Good, bad, and ugly. X-posted in Other Areas because we haven't fully settled on where we are moving yet.

[Anonymous]

My DD went to the Connections program at Tilden MS (formerly known as Aspergers/ASP) and we were very satisfied with the level of support and communication from staff. She has two resource classes to start and end her day and the rest of the classes are a mix of self-contained, co-taught (w/ SpEd teacher or para), and just regular gen ed classes. She is continuing in the same program for high school because it worked very well for us. The teachers that work with her are all very kind and because the program is there, it feels like even the non-SpEd teachers "get" these kids.

We are out of boundary for Tilden but they send a bus that picks her up from our house. It's a little different than going to the home school because we're not in the neighborhood and don't always feel like a part of the community. But being around other autistic kids and forming friendships, and having a designated safe space to do that, has been really beneficial for her and for our family.

[Anonymous]

Zero help.

[Anonymous]

I’m a special educator in mcps and have probably seen it all by now. The connections program (high functioning former Asperger’s ) mentioned above is very good however hard to get your child placed into unless you push very hard and advocate for it. Maybe even by securing a lawyer or advocate ahead of time before your intake/ placement meeting. I have also seen a lot of kids with a similar profile to your kid do well in general education given the right supports on the iep. For middle school, if it it were my child and I were considering general education , I’d definitely want a resource class for daily check ins and all supported classes (all classes co taught ). These classes tend to be smaller and have multiple adults in the room. If you want Ot or speech therapy , see above where I mentioned to push for it at your placement meeting and get what you want at that meeting. It seems the OT department has been generally reducing services across the board in mcps

[Anonymous]

Just remember you'll never know for sure. Educators move year-over-year, so someone who made a program great might no longer be there the next year.

Also keep in mind that the counties are still currently in the budget process, and the local economy is and will be hurting due to the federal layoffs. So there could also be seismic unanticipated changes, like cutting more school staff and/or services.

[Anonymous]

as another commenter noted, I recommend hiring an education consultants, preferably one that was previously a school system administrator and who knows IEPs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:as another commenter noted, I recommend hiring an education consultants, preferably one that was previously a school system administrator and who knows IEPs.

+1. We were not in MCPS for middle school, but the Tilden program mentioned above feeds into WJHS, and our experience there was very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zero help.

Unfortunately, this was my experience, too. It’s no bueno.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:as another commenter noted, I recommend hiring an education consultants, preferably one that was previously a school system administrator and who knows IEPs.

100% OP, you need a consultant or an attorney.

[Anonymous]

My son was in MCPS and received no support for his mild high-functioning autism per se, but plenty of solid support for issues that are often comorbid with autism: low processing speed, dysgraphia, inattention, and initially a speech delay.

He had group speech in elementary, coded for a speech delay, which looking back on it, was probably filled with mildly autistic kids like him. He received pull-outs in early elementary so he could have one-on-one help with an aide who wrote for him because he couldn't write fast enough (no laptops at that time).

In 5th grade, I finally overcame my husband's reluctance to medicate the ADHD and he started doing much better academically. He went to the MCPS GT/LD program for middle and high school: Gifted, Talented and Learning Disabled, also probably full of kids with ASD/ADHD like him. IT WAS WONDERFUL. He was able to access all the advanced courses in general education, but with a para in the classroom and a resource class instead of an elective, where he could finish his work and get organizational help. Later in high school, his IEP was changed to a 504. If it hadn't been for the pandemic, they would probably have made the switch much earlier, but the IEP teams were always chose to err on the side of caution and kept him on his IEP "just in case". Please note that 504s and IEPs are confidential and not reported to colleges; however any resource or remedial class show up on the transcript, which is required by colleges.

Outside of school, we tried social skills group at Alvord and Baker's, but it didn't really change anything. I worked A LOT with him at home on narration: explaining people's motivations in real life situations he experienced, or books we read, or movies we watched. I believe that was instrumental to his socio-emotional learning. I would literally pause from our joint reading, or pause the movie, to ask him questions and explain stuff. He had a writing tutor in middle school who, without knowing his diagnosis, zeroed in on his weakness of not inferencing from the text (using context clues to understand unwritten character motivations or social undercurrents). She taught him techniques for close-reading, and also helped him organize his thoughts and transfer them to paper, because he had a LOT of difficulties with writing. This is very common for a lot of kids with ADHD and autism. This tutor was the English coordinator at an MCPS high school, and she was absolutely excellent.

DS did very well academically and graduated with a dozen APs and stellar test scores. The MCPS schools he attended - Bethesda ES, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson HS - never fought us for anything we asked, and all his IEP teams were really good (with a couple of exceptions). But the main driver of success was my son's work ethic and willingness to take direction, despite extreme inattention and daydreaming; and the fact that I was the general manager and daily coach, and I understood exactly what he needed help with.

I have limited experience of Virginia schools, but from 15 years of reading the SN board and talking to various parents at various activities, I understand that MCPS may be the best school system in this regard. The North Bethesda/Walter Johnson, or Tilden/Walter Johnson cluster are particularly well regarded for this type of neurodivergence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:as another commenter noted, I recommend hiring an education consultants, preferably one that was previously a school system administrator and who knows IEPs.

OP here. Thank you--we have hired a local consultant and are very pleased with her and her VA partner so far! We wanted to hear from parents as well.