HFA/Aperger's parents in DC

[Anonymous]

OP here. Here's the email address: [e-mail]

Sorry to keep it so generic for now, but DC is a small world I hope to hear from you soon! C.

[Anonymous]

ugh TYPO: [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, PP where do you get your numbers from? We have been told that the range is at least 35k-75k. I have two kids with autism.

To the PPs who asked why I posted, well it's simple. I just do not want to accept the fact that our neighborhood school that happens to house self-contained autism classrooms won't be able to see these kids through elementary school. It makes no sense. I know about ALL of our options should we fail, but I am not willing to give up hope yet. I will set up an email account tomorrow for parents to respond if they are interested.

I'm just saying AT LEAST $30K and that would be just for a small school that did a better job but not a super specialized school like Ivymount. Even just 1 kid is just crazy expensive, especially since most of us have undoubtedly done years of co-pays for private therapy at this point. My other kid is sped too so I am also looking at 2 kids in specialized schools eventually. I just want every year I can get for free since we have to think (like all sped parents) of an incredibly long road ahead with no guarantee that either child will ever b/c fully capable of supporting him/herself. Probably will, but we're starting to plan just in case.

It's great that we have so many fabulous private options in our area -- we are truly blessed. However, many families could not begin to afford a private program, even with financial aid (unless the financial aid were nearly full ride). It's crazy to me that DCPS cannot serve our kids, many of whom are extremely strong academically and "just" need some extra care and consideration (and social skills groups, therapy, pragmatic speech therapy, etc).

[Anonymous]

OP here. My point exactly. We cannot afford private school for two kids on the spectrum. We would probably be able to have one in private school but definitely not both of them. We have struggled through two years of DCPS already, and what made the difference was an absolutely amazing teacher who unlocked so much in my son who was much lower functioning when we started off.

But I too feel like it is just not acceptable that DCPS routinely fails to service children on the high end of the spectrum. It is not rocket science, the research is out there and there are people who have been so eager to help that have literally had to run away from DCPS because they were told the budget wasn't going to allow for what they asked for. The in-home ABA program has been cut and dedicated aides were pulled out, etc, it is just a big mess.

I just want my children to be able to stay in the neighborhood with their peers. *sigh*

[Anonymous]

OP here, please keep the emails coming!! Thanks for the tremendous responses I have received so far, it seems like there are quite a few parents like us. Together we can make a difference! hfa.aspergersdc.gmail.com