Middle School Options from ADHD & Autism

[Anonymous]

Suggest researching geographical regions well. We are in DC and in a private. I don't think DCPS is a true option. I don't know the surrounding counties well, by Montgomery County sure sounds like it has a good program, perhaps Fairfax County too. The advantage with private is smaller classes and flexibility, the downside, in our experience, is the small number of kids needing supports means those support services are not well known and outsourced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs a 1:1? Full time or for certain classes? We know a lot of kids with SN but don't know of one who has a 1:1 for any class in high school unless they have a severe disability and in that situation they are not mainstreamed.

She has a caseworker who meets with her once a week 1:1 to try and coordinate her work and conference with her teachers. That doesn't really happen. She does have shared support aide in her core classes that is split among multiple students. Our biggest issues are that class sizes are way too big and the staff aren't trained in neurotypical kids. So because she is quiet and well-mannered (she is internalizing a lot of it, which is causing so much stress and Autistic shutdown in her body), she is the overlooked and left behind kid at school.

You're going to have all the same issues here. Consistent 1:1 support in classes is going to be limited to kids with much more severe needs. There are no smaller general ed classes, but I don't think most classes are going to be quite as high as 30. If she truly needs smaller classes, that would be self contained special ed classes.

You can get instructional studies classes, push in support in gen ed classes but that would be shared support.