Best Districts for Special Education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the larger districts in the area, I think it's more about specific schools. Some seem to care more than others. (Para who's worked in four schools.)

This has been my experience, as well, in Arlington- different experiences at different schools. If we had to do it over again, I would buy in MoCo with a home that was cheap enough we could swing private school if necessary.

[Anonymous]

If you are working with private providers, this may be an important reason to remain in a certain geographic area. Also, depending on how you plan to use the preschool years may be important as we kept our DD out in a mix
of two Private preschool half- day programs and school and private therapy so she was in kindergarten at age 6. The point was to “front load” the therapies and early education before going to public. She was the first with her disability to show one could learn to read. Today with so many kids having
behavior and social issues, it makes sense to see if an added year could be helpful. It is the one time you will have this option and kindergarten today is paced with reading goals etc.

[Anonymous]

Although we’ve had an excellent experience in MCPS (my DS is 17) I really think it’s based on individual needs.

The best way to go, imo, is with an advocate. What works well for one child won’t necessarily work for another.

When we were looking for high schools, I learned to take the opinion of other parents with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the larger districts in the area, I think it's more about specific schools. Some seem to care more than others. (Para who's worked in four schools.)

This has been my experience, as well, in Arlington- different experiences at different schools. If we had to do it over again, I would buy in MoCo with a home that was cheap enough we could swing private school if necessary.

+1 buy a cheap house in a big district in an area you like so you can afford private if needed. You don’t know what the road will look like in 5 or 10 years.

In my experience, the low needs ASD kids are the ones that are not offered enough resources to succeed in gen ed at a public school. If your child has higher needs and placed in a special program, they will more likely have a better experience. It is very school dependent.

Research the different programs offered by the district and see if they fit your kids profile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find a home and neighborhood you like. That’s really my only advice. My child was similar to yours at 3 and we could have never predicted what he would need by mid elementary and how that would change in middle school, in 9th grade, 10th, 11th…. Needs keep changing as your kid grows and changes. Our school district drastically changed from when we bought our house. We’ve changed from private to public to private as his needs changed. Staff at a school on any given year can make a huge difference.

What hasn’t changed- our house, our commutes, our safe neighborhood and our community here. I don’t regret buying here because even though we aren’t using the public schools, it’s been a really nice neighborhood to grow up in for the kids.

+1000 we thought we were in the best district huge teacher turnover plus our child’s changing needs landed us in private.

[Anonymous]

My child’s needs (not ASD) have adequately met at our public in MOCO. However, there was a child who was mainstreamed in my child’s class last year who, even with a 1:1 aid was clearly not accessing the curriculum. I heard from another parent the school and the parents were trying hard for a different placement but the county was not supportive. I think they were doing the best they could at the school but I am not sure that it’s easy to get a separate placement in this county. So i agree it depends on the needs.

[Anonymous]

Flora Singer ES and Forest Knolls ES in MoCo both have a reputation for strong special ed teams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a home and neighborhood you like. That’s really my only advice. My child was similar to yours at 3 and we could have never predicted what he would need by mid elementary and how that would change in middle school, in 9th grade, 10th, 11th…. Needs keep changing as your kid grows and changes. Our school district drastically changed from when we bought our house. We’ve changed from private to public to private as his needs changed. Staff at a school on any given year can make a huge difference.

What hasn’t changed- our house, our commutes, our safe neighborhood and our community here. I don’t regret buying here because even though we aren’t using the public schools, it’s been a really nice neighborhood to grow up in for the kids.

+1000 we thought we were in the best district huge teacher turnover plus our child’s changing needs landed us in private.

Agree with this line of advice. We live in PG Co and had the same question you have now. Our advocate said every system has it flaws and so much can vary from school to school and so much can change if a few people leave. You can research programs, but they may be limited and you don’t get into them or they change - see MoCo shutting down their popular and well supported autism program at Darnestown. Plus 3 is really young to know what your kid needs, and it will change over time. My kid is only 6 and now has two more diagnoses and the main issues we were dealing with at 3 aren’t the main issues anymore. I have found that being in a community I love that supports how I want to live (close friends in walking distance, everything we need within a 15 min walk/drive/bike ride, a favorite yoga studio, very friendly and welcoming, great transportation links for our commute, great biking options, being able to bike to work) are things that support me as I navigate my kid’s needs. I wouldn’t move within the DMV for schools unless the new place also worked for everyone in the family, including the parents.

[Anonymous]

FCPS was good. We moved to LCPS and quickly realized how good FCPS had been. LCPS removed services and accommodations that FCPS had given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am happy with my child’s program in FCPS.

We have had a horrible experience in FCPS

We were very happy with FCPS mclean area. It was the right choice for us to move from Montgomery school to Mclean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child will need an autism program with smaller classes (any level of autism including HFA), Montgomery county has the best options. However, if your child will be fully mainstreamed, I wouldn’t recommend.

This is a blatant lie. Moco absolutely does not provide smaller classes for HFA in any shape or form. They push HFA kids into mainstream and then wait to see if they fail badly enough to put them into a different program. There is a lot of gatekeeping and spots are limited in the Aspergers MS program. Furthermore, there is a lot of political activism happening through the school system via budget reshuffling, and some of the previously good ASD programs are being dismantled in the name of equity - see the recent Newsweek piece on Darndestown Learning Center situation.

I bought in Whitman cluster before we knew we will need special education services and if I had to do it again I would buy in Arlington or Fairfax. MCPS is a hot mess.

[Anonymous]

New Jersey. I'm only half joking. I wish we had left here years ago. Too late now, for various reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Jersey. I'm only half joking. I wish we had left here years ago. Too late now, for various reasons.

This was what I was going to say. A friend changed careers and moved across the country because he didn't know what to do for his ASD child in his west coast city (they had tried both private and public schools with no success) and said it was 100% worth it in terms of the difference in services and support his child got. He went from basically not attending school to graduating from high school and going on to college, and his parents credit the school system for a LOT of that.

Another friend just moved there with two ADHD/dyslexic kids and again, she said the difference in supports they receive is just unbelievable. The school district is active in trying to figure out what services they can provide that will help make the kids more successful, v. their past school, where it felt like they were fighting the school every step of the way.

[Anonymous]

Would not recommend APS (Arlington). Some are having good experiences in elementary but it's VERY hit or miss school by school. Middle school is pretty challenging everything in APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child will need an autism program with smaller classes (any level of autism including HFA), Montgomery county has the best options. However, if your child will be fully mainstreamed, I wouldn’t recommend.

Agree. Mainstreaming kiddos on montgomery county get ignored and bullied by both students and teachers in montgomery county but if they will be in a contained program it's an okay place