Struggling between FCPS and MCPS for Autistic Child

[Anonymous]

If budget is not an issue I would just pay for private. You have to fight constantly in public school to get services. They are understaffed and overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

What about Siena School in Silver Spring or McLean in Potomac? Basically, you may want to find a school that is a good fit before buying the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about Siena School in Silver Spring or McLean in Potomac? Basically, you may want to find a school that is a good fit before buying the house.

Siena and McLean do not support autism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - We are targeting FCPS specifically Vienna/McLean pyramids. We also looked at FCCPS, but it seemed very small and was worried that this may impact availability of autism supports. I know nothing is perfect when it comes to public school, we are just trying to get as good as we can given the limitations that exist with public school support in general, and have a more collaborative, transparent process than DCPS, which has been the opposite. And also somewhere that won't constantly violate the IEP. Private school is not an option for us, we supplement with private ST/OT and some limited in-home ABA after school.

Our Plan C alternative is that if FCPS/MCPS is terrible, we return to NYS. But I hope that doesn't need to be the case, as we like the DMV.

FWIW we found Langley to be hugely antagonist to special needs parents. They fought everything We gave up
And went private

I agree. Langley has been difficult with my special needs son. It is a good school, but just seems they aren’t interested in any kid with different needs. It is super sad.

this has been our experience in another highly regarded pyramid at all levels. I realized a few years in that we were trying to get terrible services and the schools were doing everything possible to do as little as possible and the limited services we did receive were terrible.

FCPS treats families with disdain and nothing can convince me otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps talk with your attorney about the prospect of having MCPS or FCPS foot the bill for private school specializing in autism. While I don’t have firsthand experience with it, I have heard of cases in MCPS where the family establishes that the mainstream public school can’t provide the IEP support needed for an ASD student and the school system pays the tuition at specialized private school, e.g., Katherine Thomas, Ivymount, Auburn, etc. It takes legwork and potentially requires legal action, but it’s worth asking about.

Neither MCPS or FCPS will pay to send a PK child with level 2 autism to private school. A school system securing and paying or private is the absolute last resort that only happens after years of failure. That's not the starting point when entering a school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps talk with your attorney about the prospect of having MCPS or FCPS foot the bill for private school specializing in autism. While I don’t have firsthand experience with it, I have heard of cases in MCPS where the family establishes that the mainstream public school can’t provide the IEP support needed for an ASD student and the school system pays the tuition at specialized private school, e.g., Katherine Thomas, Ivymount, Auburn, etc. It takes legwork and potentially requires legal action, but it’s worth asking about.

Neither MCPS or FCPS will pay to send a PK child with level 2 autism to private school. A school system securing and paying or private is the absolute last resort that only happens after years of failure. That's not the starting point when entering a school system.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Siena School in Silver Spring or McLean in Potomac? Basically, you may want to find a school that is a good fit before buying the house.

Siena and McLean do not support autism.

Which schools do?

[Anonymous]

Anyone have experince with Wolftrap or Westbriar Elementary on the Vienna side? I am just looking for somewhere where we can get decent autism supports, we are still going through private therapies/ABA outside school; I'm just not interested in 1) A school that violates/can't implement the most basic IEP services (i.e. DCPS), 2) suing school districts, or 3) private schools.

Not meaning to complain, but to be real, the last couple years have been a nonstop struggle to find therapists, get insurance to approve ABA, dealing with flaky/no service and now the drama with DCPS and a lawyer trying to even get the most basic speech/special ed support. I'm just burned out, and we're not even in K yet.

[Anonymous]

Stafford. I know a family that was frustrated with FCPS autism services and moved to Stafford for that reason alone. They have been extremely happy with Stafford. It is like night and day for autism. They family commutes to Fairfax and DC area for work, and it is worth it to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experince with Wolftrap or Westbriar Elementary on the Vienna side? I am just looking for somewhere where we can get decent autism supports, we are still going through private therapies/ABA outside school; I'm just not interested in 1) A school that violates/can't implement the most basic IEP services (i.e. DCPS), 2) suing school districts, or 3) private schools.

Not meaning to complain, but to be real, the last couple years have been a nonstop struggle to find therapists, get insurance to approve ABA, dealing with flaky/no service and now the drama with DCPS and a lawyer trying to even get the most basic speech/special ed support. I'm just burned out, and we're not even in K yet.

Our family had this same burnout heading into kindergarten and moved to the area from NYC faced with a similar decision. We were open to living in any school district and spoke with educational consultants. Our conclusion was that the continued stress and cost of fighting the public school system was not worth it, and that there was a very real risk of that happening no matter which district we picked. Even if you find a school that works, it’s one classroom with one teacher who gets it. Next year could be a different story. A good principal can leave, etc. The issues here are systemic. We found a private school that we love and that supports our child in ways that makes every penny worth it. We also moved to a part of Montgomery County that has more educational options, both private and public, to give us flexibility as our child grows. Good luck. Nothing about this is easy but fwiw it can get better.