Searching for a school district with good autism programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family will be moving back to the DC area next year after some years away. In the meantime, our 8 year has been diagnosed with autism and mild ID. We didn't have children the last time we were living in DC so feeling very uninformed about what school district (or neighborhood in DC) to try to move to. My job is remote and my spouse will have to commute to Rosslyn. Any advice/recommendations welcome.

It would help if you can be more specific as to your child's needs. What level autism? Self contained or inclusion? Behavioral challenges? etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard very good things about Falls Church City public schools - we are looking to move there from McLean (fairfax county) where we find the classes are overcrowded and our Austistic DC is often overlooked. I can't speak from personal experience but several professionals (SLPs, OTs, etc) have said FCC public schools are great for this.

I have heard they are very open to inclusion, but what happens if your child needs more specialized services or placement in FCC?

[Anonymous]

I have to say that the advice about renting is probably the most important. DCPS was a disaster for our autistic DC, and we moved to MCPS. Thankfully, we had not purchased a home, and could more easily move. I have friends stuck in DCPS because they own a home there and selling/moving is cost prohibitive, and it's been a struggle for them. I would not say that MCPS is the ideal, but it has certainly been better than DCPS for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to say that the advice about renting is probably the most important. DCPS was a disaster for our autistic DC, and we moved to MCPS. Thankfully, we had not purchased a home, and could more easily move. I have friends stuck in DCPS because they own a home there and selling/moving is cost prohibitive, and it's been a struggle for them. I would not say that MCPS is the ideal, but it has certainly been better than DCPS for us.

did your child end up in any of the MCPS autism programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family will be moving back to the DC area next year after some years away. In the meantime, our 8 year has been diagnosed with autism and mild ID. We didn't have children the last time we were living in DC so feeling very uninformed about what school district (or neighborhood in DC) to try to move to. My job is remote and my spouse will have to commute to Rosslyn. Any advice/recommendations welcome.

This family has a different profile, but the thread is nevertheless informative. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1212973.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has good autism programs depending on the type of support required.

This has not been our experience either. We almost hired a lawyer but ended up pulling our child to do the independent schools route. We were very disappointed with MCPS for our child with ASD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hunt Valley Elementary school in Springfield, VA. The school has a wonderful autism center.

FYI, in FCPS if the autism program in your school is full, they will bus your child to a different school. It’s hard to move into a certain elementary zone for special education services and the enhanced autism program isn’t available at every school. I worked at a school in Region 3 last year and we had school-based autism and it was full. There were no open spots in our region and we bussed new kids to Region 4!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hunt Valley Elementary school in Springfield, VA. The school has a wonderful autism center.

+1 We’ve had a great experience in West Springfield.

[Anonymous]

If your child is mainstreamable, with mild or moderate needs - MCPS is not is going to be good. If you are looking for contained placement - MCPS has some decent options, but getting some of them may be challenging due to not enough spots. They will not tell you it's due to space constrains, but they will put you through the hoop jumping saying there is not enough data, go mainstream to determine the needs, etc. Your child might need to suffer for a year before getting an appropriate placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child is mainstreamable, with mild or moderate needs - MCPS is not is going to be good. If you are looking for contained placement - MCPS has some decent options, but getting some of them may be challenging due to not enough spots. They will not tell you it's due to space constrains, but they will put you through the hoop jumping saying there is not enough data, go mainstream to determine the needs, etc. Your child might need to suffer for a year before getting an appropriate placement.

+1. We are on year 2 of this headache. More programs cut, more need, and not enough spots…

[Anonymous]

Not LCPS. We are stuck here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has good autism programs depending on the type of support required.

My son is currently in MCPS's Autism program at Tilden MS. Our experience is not good at all. We are looking to leave. MCPS in general positions itself as a great school district but it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has good autism programs depending on the type of support required.

This has not been our experience either. We almost hired a lawyer but ended up pulling our child to do the independent schools route. We were very disappointed with MCPS for our child with ASD

What is independent school route? I am desperately looking for an alternative to MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has good autism programs depending on the type of support required.

My son is currently in MCPS's Autism program at Tilden MS. Our experience is not good at all. We are looking to leave. MCPS in general positions itself as a great school district but it is not.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has good autism programs depending on the type of support required.

This has not been our experience either. We almost hired a lawyer but ended up pulling our child to do the independent schools route. We were very disappointed with MCPS for our child with ASD

What is independent school route? I am desperately looking for an alternative to MCPS.

There are sooo many great private options in Montgomery County. Our son is in a neurotypical religious school but there are only 9 kids in his grade and he is really able to thrive in a small, quiet environment. There are also schools the specialize in helping kids with ASD. I have heard great things about Katherine T Thomas (and Maddox for younger kids).