Help me find a great preschool for an autistic 2.5 year old

[Anonymous]

KKI in Baltimore is amazing. It's also a site used for demonstration when they train educators to work with ASD kids.

KKI also has a great program for small group speech called Achievements, it's 2.5 hrs per day and is covered by some insurances. Logistics can be challenging though commuting from VA.

When picking an ABA setting always get parents feedback from local SN listserves or search this forum. Ask whether parents can observe sessions, what tenure the RBTs have with the company (turnover an minimal training are very common), whether they have the RBT credential or it's in progress, and ask how they match kids in small groups. If your friend's son has language and no behaviors he should be matched with kids with similar foundational skills.

Sorry the resources are mostly MD based. One other piece of advice I got was to look for private daycares affiliated with Jewish congregations - they emphasize inclusion and often allow a specialist to come in for kids with any type of disability (ie. a speech therapist or an ABA shadow).

[Anonymous]

what district is she in? if she is in FCPS, you should contact the head of special education there and tell them about the phones thing. i work at an FCPS school and that is absolutely not allowed. we have many wonderful preschool teachers and the kids are very supported in our program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what district is she in? if she is in FCPS, you should contact the head of special education there and tell them about the phones thing. i work at an FCPS school and that is absolutely not allowed. we have many wonderful preschool teachers and the kids are very supported in our program.

Right, I’m surprised the mom was able to catch them doing that during a tour? Seems like the teachers would’ve had a heads up and put the phone and screens away

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of these suggestions. The silver spring option looks perfect and my friend is calling them today. The McLean option is also sweet, but only part time for this age.

Other suggestions are welcome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dolley Madison in McLean. “We are a structured, play based preschool with a focus on social-emotional development, communication skills, and academic readiness. We also offer inclusive speech and language services for children with communication delays, for a few students in each class.” My kid went there years ago, and it was great and he’s been great…but I kind of wish sometimes that we had sent him to public preschool and saved the money for other interventions later…but I’m not honestly sure it would have made a difference in the long run anyway!

This is the one to look into.

It is in McLean just adjacent to VA 123 near CIA. So one could take the Chain Bridge to/from DC if needed.

They have speech pathologists on staff and will do pull out 1:1 work during the preschool day. One possible glitch is they did not offer any aftercare option when we attended; things might be different now.

They really helped our DC who understood words and was capable of speech, but would only rarely express needs or desires verbally.

[Anonymous]

He can stay in his current daycare and have an ABA technician go into the classroom to work one on one with him, if the daycare permits. Karasik in Silver Spring is amazing but there is an Easter Seals in Falls Church which is also an inclusive daycare.

[Anonymous]

The benefit of going public is that her kid will have an iep and be in the system. They'll seamlessly move him into special ed services for ES.

[Anonymous]

Maybe UMD LEAP? It is a language based preschool and he would get speech therapy 3x/week. My autistic son loves it. But they aren't equipped for a lot of behavior management so if that is an area of weakness for him it may not be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

It would really help to know which school district as some jurisdictions have very specific programming for certain children.

[Anonymous]

Easter Seals

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe UMD LEAP? It is a language based preschool and he would get speech therapy 3x/week. My autistic son loves it. But they aren't equipped for a lot of behavior management so if that is an area of weakness for him it may not be a good fit.

She said VA or DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don’t pressure a mom whose instincts are saying not to do ABA to ignore those instincts. The majority of people who have experienced ABA experience it as abuse. It also makes kids incredibly vulnerable to sexual abuse as kids are explicitly taught not to protest.

This is so stupid. Kids with disabilities are extremely vulnerable to csa. It has nothing to do with aba but limited ability to communicate and social isolation. Look at the rates of csa amongst deaf children. Also really high and they don’t do aba.

[Anonymous]

Before writing off FCPS PAC, I would ask to observe another 1 or 2 classes at different schools. We had a great experience with PAC. I have a SN 5th grader and NT older child and many times a text or phone call helped head off issues during the school day. Also, there are this much loved/hated computer programs used county wide, even at the PS level...so if you don't like them now, they aren't going anywhere.

If after those observations the parent still isn't impressed, then you've got some great advice from other posters above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe UMD LEAP? It is a language based preschool and he would get speech therapy 3x/week. My autistic son loves it. But they aren't equipped for a lot of behavior management so if that is an area of weakness for him it may not be a good fit.

She said VA or DC

She said VA or DC area, and UMD is inside the Beltway, so depending on where in DC she works it might be totally reasonable. Or not! But OP said they were looking at an option in Silver Spring so College Park seemed like a reasonable thing to mention.