Auburn School in Silver Spring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering Auburn - coming from mainstream where DS with HFA does okay, but is always an outsider. Is it better for to continue in mainstream and be forced to interact with neurotypical peers if he can cope, or to go to Auburn with much more support, but no integration?

That's an impossible question for us to answer for you. You need to look at the pluses and minuses for each situation. We had to make the same choice and chose to stay in public school. This was because the cost of private school is high and my kid was doing well enough in public to continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering Auburn - coming from mainstream where DS with HFA does okay, but is always an outsider. Is it better for to continue in mainstream and be forced to interact with neurotypical peers if he can cope, or to go to Auburn with much more support, but no integration?

We had this question too for DS with ASD/ADHD for middle school. DS has been mainstreamed with IEP since preK4 at a dual language charter. He does well academically, above grade level, has friends at school, and no behavior issues. Eveyone, his teachers and neuropsych and psych, agreed that DS will do fine academically at a public middle school with IEP. However, we decided to send DS to Auburn. His neuropsych advised us that DS will do best in an environment that addressed social communication and executive functioning as a part of their curriculum and has small classes.

The public middle school, DS would have attended is IB like his elementary which emphasizes a lot of collaborative group learning which does not fit DS's learning style. Also, their class size is bigger than Auburn's.

DS did a day long visit Auburn and LOVED the school. He never felt like he did not understand what was going on and told us it was like being with the school counselor at his current school except for the whole day and learning stuff.

I suggest your son visit - visits are part of the admissions process. Unfortunately, it is near the end of the school year but call them and see what they say.

[Anonymous]

We moved my child from public school with supports to Auburn Chantilly this past year and couldn't be happier with the change. We had similar concerns about lack of integration but after seeing how much progress he's made in social skills, self-regulation, and self-esteem, I'm convinced we made the right choice for him. We make sure to keep him involved in some extracurriculars and summer camps with neurotypical peers and may well consider mainstreaming him in the future but for the next few years, we're sticking with Auburn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering Auburn - coming from mainstream where DS with HFA does okay, but is always an outsider. Is it better for to continue in mainstream and be forced to interact with neurotypical peers if he can cope, or to go to Auburn with much more support, but no integration?

We had this question too for DS with ASD/ADHD for middle school. DS has been mainstreamed with IEP since preK4 at a dual language charter. He does well academically, above grade level, has friends at school, and no behavior issues. Eveyone, his teachers and neuropsych and psych, agreed that DS will do fine academically at a public middle school with IEP. However, we decided to send DS to Auburn. His neuropsych advised us that DS will do best in an environment that addressed social communication and executive functioning as a part of their curriculum and has small classes.

The public middle school, DS would have attended is IB like his elementary which emphasizes a lot of collaborative group learning which does not fit DS's learning style. Also, their class size is bigger than Auburn's.

DS did a day long visit Auburn and LOVED the school. He never felt like he did not understand what was going on and told us it was like being with the school counselor at his current school except for the whole day and learning stuff.

I suggest your son visit - visits are part of the admissions process. Unfortunately, it is near the end of the school year but call them and see what they say.

Chess mom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering Auburn - coming from mainstream where DS with HFA does okay, but is always an outsider. Is it better for to continue in mainstream and be forced to interact with neurotypical peers if he can cope, or to go to Auburn with much more support, but no integration?

We had this question too for DS with ASD/ADHD for middle school. DS has been mainstreamed with IEP since preK4 at a dual language charter. He does well academically, above grade level, has friends at school, and no behavior issues. Eveyone, his teachers and neuropsych and psych, agreed that DS will do fine academically at a public middle school with IEP. However, we decided to send DS to Auburn. His neuropsych advised us that DS will do best in an environment that addressed social communication and executive functioning as a part of their curriculum and has small classes.

The public middle school, DS would have attended is IB like his elementary which emphasizes a lot of collaborative group learning which does not fit DS's learning style. Also, their class size is bigger than Auburn's.

DS did a day long visit Auburn and LOVED the school. He never felt like he did not understand what was going on and told us it was like being with the school counselor at his current school except for the whole day and learning stuff.

I suggest your son visit - visits are part of the admissions process. Unfortunately, it is near the end of the school year but call them and see what they say.

Chess mom?

Yup

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering Auburn - coming from mainstream where DS with HFA does okay, but is always an outsider. Is it better for to continue in mainstream and be forced to interact with neurotypical peers if he can cope, or to go to Auburn with much more support, but no integration?

We had this question too for DS with ASD/ADHD for middle school. DS has been mainstreamed with IEP since preK4 at a dual language charter. He does well academically, above grade level, has friends at school, and no behavior issues. Eveyone, his teachers and neuropsych and psych, agreed that DS will do fine academically at a public middle school with IEP. However, we decided to send DS to Auburn. His neuropsych advised us that DS will do best in an environment that addressed social communication and executive functioning as a part of their curriculum and has small classes.

The public middle school, DS would have attended is IB like his elementary which emphasizes a lot of collaborative group learning which does not fit DS's learning style. Also, their class size is bigger than Auburn's.

DS did a day long visit Auburn and LOVED the school. He never felt like he did not understand what was going on and told us it was like being with the school counselor at his current school except for the whole day and learning stuff.

I suggest your son visit - visits are part of the admissions process. Unfortunately, it is near the end of the school year but call them and see what they say.

Chess mom?

Yup

Chess mom again. DS's psychiatrist loves Auburn: He has patients in their late teens/early twenties who attended and they had good outcomes and are currently college students. All our providers love the school actually and thinks it will be a very good "fit" for DS. Middle school is very hard socially and we want DS to be happy at school.

Small class size, lots of individualized attention with academic differentiation, and social communication and executive functioning embedded into the curriculum = perfect for DS for middle school.

[Anonymous]

^Another big incentive for sending DS to Auburn was that our neuropsych advised us that DS needs an executive functioning and organization coach which we don't have time for due to chess and DS's other extracurricular activities. It's just easier for us if he gets social skills/executive functioning coaching at school. We have a stellar IEP but we are realistic about what public schools can provide.

[Anonymous]

Hi Chess Mom, We really loved Auburn on our tour too and I am happy to hear your son has found a great school to attend for MS! If you don't mind the question why did you decide on Auburn versus a mainstream private school? Did he get in to any in our area? How did they respond to your telling them of his diagnoses? You mentioned that you expected MS to be hard socially. As your child got into late elementary did you notice new social issues that you didn't see earlier? You mentioned your child has friends. What social communication issues are you seeing that you think could be better addressed at Auburn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi Chess Mom, We really loved Auburn on our tour too and I am happy to hear your son has found a great school to attend for MS! If you don't mind the question why did you decide on Auburn versus a mainstream private school? Did he get in to any in our area? How did they respond to your telling them of his diagnoses? You mentioned that you expected MS to be hard socially. As your child got into late elementary did you notice new social issues that you didn't see earlier? You mentioned your child has friends. What social communication issues are you seeing that you think could be better addressed at Auburn?

We applied to one mainstream private school in another state and they wanted us to red shirt DS - send DS to 6 grade here and then apply again for 6 grade next year. Nothing to do with his diagnosis or academics, btw. DS has a summer birthday, the school we applied to has a large boarding component and the kids tend to be older, etc. DS would have been the smallest and youngest for his grade if he went in the fall.

We've decided not to move or redshirt. See how it goes at Auburn, etc.

At the moment, DS does not have social issues. He has a group of kids he plays with during recess, etc. He has a posse - and they are real buddies who really care about each other and value their friendship. They work through problems that arise, etc.

As I've said, all our professionals think DS can manage a regular middle school w/IEP but we want the social learning firmly in place for high school and think Auburn will do a better job than a mainstream middle school.

Also, DS is currently not on medication for anything and we want a school that will tell us if he needs meds, needs therapy, etc.

DS loved his visit to Auburn. His current teachers think Auburn will be a perfect fit for DS so we are very happy that DS will be going there.

[Anonymous]

^Our ultimate goal is that DS is ready for a top tier mainstream private high school after Auburn. We'll see how it goes...

[Anonymous]

Hi I have a nine year old son will be 10 at.the end.of.the month, he is attending Elementary school in Silver Spring, he is not following instructions at school, His mom was.on hard drugs when she was pregnant with him . The ways he.is acting at pretty soon they.are going to ban him from going to that school ..We.need help for him
...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi I have a nine year old son will be 10 at.the end.of.the month, he is attending Elementary school in Silver Spring, he is not following instructions at school, His mom was.on hard drugs when she was pregnant with him . The ways he.is acting at pretty soon they.are going to ban him from going to that school ..We.need help for him
...

You'll get more answers if you start your own thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi I have a nine year old son will be 10 at.the end.of.the month, he is attending Elementary school in Silver Spring, he is not following instructions at school, His mom was.on hard drugs when she was pregnant with him . The ways he.is acting at pretty soon they.are going to ban him from going to that school ..We.need help for him
...

Does he have a diagnosis of something? Are you interested in Auburn or just general advice regarding the situation? I would suggest talking with Auburn. It's a nice school, and we have been very happy there. While there are some kids who have had behavioral problems, it is not a school for his with behavior problems specifically. It really is focused on kids with autism (and often co-existing conditions like ADHD, anxiety, sometimes LDs). They are tolerant of some behavior that might be a bigger deal elsewhere but don't have the supports you would find in a school truly focused on behavioral challenges. That said, the school has been fabulous for my kid and really helped with liking school, making friends, etc.