Moving to DMV for 1st grade next year - where to live?

[Anonymous]

Hoping those of you attending a public school system you love with weigh in. Our ASD DS will likely experience significant anxiety during this transition, so we’re hoping to land in a great spot with supportive schools who will help him navigate things. We’re also hoping to move to a neighborhood that works all the way through high school. I’d love your recommendations, not just for “Montgomery County” or “Arlington,” but for particular schools/neighborhoods that we should target.

Your recommendations and sharing of your experiences are so appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Private

[Anonymous]

Montgomery county is in the process of changing its school boundaries, so things are a bit up in the air. That being said, Woodlin, Flora Singer, and Oakland Terrace elementary schools are all pretty good for ASD kids who can be mainstreamed with supports, so I'd look in those areas.

[Anonymous]

Your experience is going to be school specific, no matter which district. I’m in FCPS and there are plenty of horror stories. I have had a great experience with SPED so far. I think the reason in hindsight is that both principals were previously SPED teachers and one had an autistic child. I don’t know how to go about finding that info beforehand though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your experience is going to be school specific, no matter which district. I’m in FCPS and there are plenty of horror stories. I have had a great experience with SPED so far. I think the reason in hindsight is that both principals were previously SPED teachers and one had an autistic child. I don’t know how to go about finding that info beforehand though.

And even if you can find that information, principals get moved around.

[Anonymous]

OP welcome to the DC area. The standard DCUM advice is for you to tell us your housing budget and where you'll be commuting to before we give you neighborhood advice. There's no DMV school cluster so good for ASD that it would be worth putting up with a long commute.

[Anonymous]

It will take 6 months to get an iep or longer. Mcps is horrible and going through lots of changes. Bad curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery county is in the process of changing its school boundaries, so things are a bit up in the air. That being said, Woodlin, Flora Singer, and Oakland Terrace elementary schools are all pretty good for ASD kids who can be mainstreamed with supports, so I'd look in those areas.

+1 We are at Oakland Terrace ES and have been really impressed with the teachers DC (1st grade) has had.

Two caveats:
1. I assume you already have an IEP in place that you can transfer, but if you do not I will just say that our experience with that process at Oakland Terrace was confusing and frustrating. I think that can occur at any school, and may be dependent on the child's specific support needs.
2. Oakland Terrace ES is a two-way immersion (TWI) school, meaning half the day is in English and half the day is in Spanish. The program is school-wide. If immersion doesn't work for your kid, you can request a COSA (change of school assignment) to another elementary school (I think for Oakland Terrace ES they send these to Rock View ES). We are grateful for the immersion program and our kid is doing well with it so far, but some kids with special needs struggle with it. I know some parents who feel the school did not provide enough support to help their kids, and they felt they had to transfer due to the level of difficulties their kid was having. It's possible the school is working on improving this due to a report that came out last year on the county's TWI programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private

GTFO with your reflexive “private” comments.

I mean please, even if you are going to completing ignore the OP’s request for public options, you should name the private that does well with ASD kids. A lot of privates around here don’t even take NT 5 yr olds for K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery county is in the process of changing its school boundaries, so things are a bit up in the air. That being said, Woodlin, Flora Singer, and Oakland Terrace elementary schools are all pretty good for ASD kids who can be mainstreamed with supports, so I'd look in those areas.

+1 We are at Oakland Terrace ES and have been really impressed with the teachers DC (1st grade) has had.

Two caveats:
1. I assume you already have an IEP in place that you can transfer, but if you do not I will just say that our experience with that process at Oakland Terrace was confusing and frustrating. I think that can occur at any school, and may be dependent on the child's specific support needs.
2. Oakland Terrace ES is a two-way immersion (TWI) school, meaning half the day is in English and half the day is in Spanish. The program is school-wide. If immersion doesn't work for your kid, you can request a COSA (change of school assignment) to another elementary school (I think for Oakland Terrace ES they send these to Rock View ES). We are grateful for the immersion program and our kid is doing well with it so far, but some kids with special needs struggle with it. I know some parents who feel the school did not provide enough support to help their kids, and they felt they had to transfer due to the level of difficulties their kid was having. It's possible the school is working on improving this due to a report that came out last year on the county's TWI programs.

PP here - adding that one thing that has been great for our DC at Oakland Terrace is the small class sizes, and I know Flora Singer ES (not sure about Woodlin) also gets extra staff for smaller class sizes due to their FARMS rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private

GTFO with your reflexive “private” comments.

I mean please, even if you are going to completing ignore the OP’s request for public options, you should name the private that does well with ASD kids. A lot of privates around here don’t even take NT 5 yr olds for K.

Why so hostile? There is probably no recommendation anyone can give that will meet OP's requirements. Certainly not one that I can give, and I have a lot of experience in different school divisions. Even if there was/is a school path with an elementary, middle and high school that is excellent for this profile, things will likely change by high school or even sooner. So my best advice is to also consider private too. The time to consider this is now because OP could live in a cheaper area in order to fund private. It's also the time of year to apply. There is no need for hostility just because you do not agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private

GTFO with your reflexive “private” comments.

I mean please, even if you are going to completing ignore the OP’s request for public options, you should name the private that does well with ASD kids. A lot of privates around here don’t even take NT 5 yr olds for K.

Why so hostile? There is probably no recommendation anyone can give that will meet OP's requirements. Certainly not one that I can give, and I have a lot of experience in different school divisions. Even if there was/is a school path with an elementary, middle and high school that is excellent for this profile, things will likely change by high school or even sooner. So my best advice is to also consider private too. The time to consider this is now because OP could live in a cheaper area in order to fund private. It's also the time of year to apply. There is no need for hostility just because you do not agree.

DP - posting the word "private" is not helpful.

I'm hardly an expert on this, but it seems a lot more complicated than this. At a private there is no legal obligation to ensure the child can access the curriculum. Special education is not perfect by any means, but I know many parents who feel the IEP services have been really valuable for their kids. Depending on the type of private, teachers may lack experience working with kids with special needs, and they may simply not admit a child with an ASD diagnosis. The best thing at public for my kid is having teachers with decades of experience and with supporting kids with different needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private

GTFO with your reflexive “private” comments.

I mean please, even if you are going to completing ignore the OP’s request for public options, you should name the private that does well with ASD kids. A lot of privates around here don’t even take NT 5 yr olds for K.

Why so hostile? There is probably no recommendation anyone can give that will meet OP's requirements. Certainly not one that I can give, and I have a lot of experience in different school divisions. Even if there was/is a school path with an elementary, middle and high school that is excellent for this profile, things will likely change by high school or even sooner. So my best advice is to also consider private too. The time to consider this is now because OP could live in a cheaper area in order to fund private. It's also the time of year to apply. There is no need for hostility just because you do not agree.

DP - posting the word "private" is not helpful.

I'm hardly an expert on this, but it seems a lot more complicated than this. At a private there is no legal obligation to ensure the child can access the curriculum. Special education is not perfect by any means, but I know many parents who feel the IEP services have been really valuable for their kids. Depending on the type of private, teachers may lack experience working with kids with special needs, and they may simply not admit a child with an ASD diagnosis. The best thing at public for my kid is having teachers with decades of experience and with supporting kids with different needs.

PP here. correct but there are specialized privates that cater to specific disabilty needs. OP could explore those either by asking for school recs or hiring a consultant. or both.

[Anonymous]

So this is really hard to answer. We are at Flower Valley, a small ES that very much has a neighborhood feel. Many kids walk to school. My child does not have ASD but I know a one who does, but they are definitely level 1 and quite above average IQ. That child is doing well. The administration is ok with SN but I have heard wildly varying experiences with IEP implementation, with the trend being poorer implementation recently. I think that is county wide, sadly. My older child’s experience was generally positive. Our guidance counselor is a national treasure and has made a huge difference for many students. I will forever be grateful to her.

But honestly I have no idea what middle school is good for these types of kids. I have generally heard ours (Wood) is not great for IEPs or anxiety but I am yet to hear of a public middle school that is. We may have to go private for middle school. I think it’s hard to find one cluster that is going to meet all your needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private

GTFO with your reflexive “private” comments.

I mean please, even if you are going to completing ignore the OP’s request for public options, you should name the private that does well with ASD kids. A lot of privates around here don’t even take NT 5 yr olds for K.

Why so hostile? There is probably no recommendation anyone can give that will meet OP's requirements. Certainly not one that I can give, and I have a lot of experience in different school divisions. Even if there was/is a school path with an elementary, middle and high school that is excellent for this profile, things will likely change by high school or even sooner. So my best advice is to also consider private too. The time to consider this is now because OP could live in a cheaper area in order to fund private. It's also the time of year to apply. There is no need for hostility just because you do not agree.

DP - posting the word "private" is not helpful.

I'm hardly an expert on this, but it seems a lot more complicated than this. At a private there is no legal obligation to ensure the child can access the curriculum. Special education is not perfect by any means, but I know many parents who feel the IEP services have been really valuable for their kids. Depending on the type of private, teachers may lack experience working with kids with special needs, and they may simply not admit a child with an ASD diagnosis. The best thing at public for my kid is having teachers with decades of experience and with supporting kids with different needs.

PP here. correct but there are specialized privates that cater to specific disabilty needs. OP could explore those either by asking for school recs or hiring a consultant. or both.

One thing to know about the privates that specialize in serving kids with disabilities is that unless it is a "nonpublic placement" through the IEP process (where the public school system pays for the placement) they still don't face the same legal requirements as a public school to provide FAPE.

I know it sounds like I am super anti private schools and I'm not. I know there are specialized privates in the DC area that many parents have found to be really good fits for their kids with disabilities. I don't have personal experience with them, but OP can search this forum for them if they are interested.

However, OP asked about public schools, and for many kids with disabilities public can be the best option for some or all of their k-12 education and certainly worth trying if they are coming from another public school. There is no need to fearmonger about rushing to put in an application for private in less than a month which is unrealistic as they'd often expect to meet with you and your kid first. Many do rolling admissions anyway.