Is Janney for every child?

[Anonymous]

Janney has worked extremely well for my child who is on an IEP and who has required various levels of mild to moderate intervention to ensure his success. I'm not sure of the components of your IEP plan, but I will share our experience generally and if you want follow up, I'm happy to talk to you off line. The speech therapist at Janney, Toni Willis is excellent. My child's has improved so much that we discontinued private speech and use Ms. Willis once per week. Ms. Willis visits in class and works with children in small groups outside the classroom too. She sets measurable goals, reviews them with us and follows up to ensure success. When my child isn't hitting the targets, she provides at home exercises and works to adjust the services to build the skills. We also used OT services from Pre-K to second grade. The therapists have changed over time but they have all ranged from excellent to good. Our favorite therapist is no longer there, but the current OT is quite good and I found her to be accessible and very committed to my child's success. Early this year, we were released from OT and I credit the Janney special needs team for helping accomplish this milestone. We retain the flexibility in our IEP to return to OT if we see regression and I was very comfortable with that.

Regarding the focus and social issues, we worked with school nurse to administer medication at the right time of day. She is discreet and my child never feels ostracized about interrupting the school day to take medication. We also utilized the in school psychologist, Dr. Leventhal, who observed some social difficulties my child had and created a social skills group to empower better interaction amongst peers. At some point, almost every kid in my child's class attended the social skills group as a guest and they never knew the real deal behind the process. It was a major boost of confidence for my child! Dr. Leventhal visits with my child once per week, but often pops in class to observe or watches on the playground to make sure my child is not self-isolating.

I really can't say enough good things about the entire special needs team at Janney. I am amazed at their resources, which also includes a psychologist, in addition to the full time nurse, social worker, speech therapists and
OT. I also appreciate the fact that the team shares information with one another to optimize the work my child is doing, rather than working in their own silos. We looked at a number of private schools that did not rival these resources unless the school was a designated special needs school and I didn't think my child really needed a full time special needs environment.

A previous poster mentioned that Dr. Wood, the Special Needs Coordinator, is an acquired taste. I understand how one could come to that conclusion, however, it should not deter you from seeking the best for your child. If you are clear and persistent about what you need for your child and if you are willing to stay in communication to cooperate with the teachers and professionals at the school, Janney can absolutely meet and will likely exceed your needs. Like any school, the professionals at Janney are busy serving lots of kids and dealing with stressed out parents who are navigating difficult and unchartered territory with kids who are not "typical". If you are not getting what you need from Dr. Wood (and I am not saying you won't), talk to the Principal or the Assistant Principal directly. They are both straight forward, extremely committed to the success of every child at Janney and have been a pleasure to work with as we've taken the IEP process one year at a time. It takes a lot of work and patience to navigate this process, but if you believe in your child, Janney is one of the best places I've seen for successfully integrating children with special needs into the entire school community. Hope this helps and best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

OP, are you moving just for Janney or do you have multiple reasons for relocating? No school is perfect for every child and family, of course. But if you have multiple reasons for moving, then it probably won't hurt.

But without an IEP, 504, or some type of formal diagnosis, there is no guarantee your child will get anywhere near the attention that PP mentioned. According to federal law, public schools aren't required to promise or deliver anything above and beyond for a child on grade level academically. Social, emotional, or attention issues without corresponding demonstrated academic problems do not need to be addressed by the school.

There are many good teachers and administrators in DCPS who try to do the right thing. If you luck out, you'll get some of them and they'll connect with your non-IEP child. But don't count on it by moving into a boundary just for the current situation at a school.

I hope this isn't too discouraging a reality check. If you have multiple reasons for moving in-boundary, then you and your family will likely do fine even if Janney does not turn out to be the best spot for your child.

Best of luck

[Anonymous]

PP who had sucxh a good experience at Janney for mild-moderate SN -- would you be willing to share what your DC's issues were/are?

[Anonymous]

My DC has had a range of issues since age 3 that thankfully seem to lessen each year. It's really been a long process and it's hard to name the conditions precisely, but I will describe the characteristics and hopefully that will help. The primary issues involved attention and focus due to sensory processing disorder. DC was in some cases overstimulated, anxious and easily distractible. DC had a hard time focusing, couldn't settle down, and was not socializing with peers because DC was so busy moving from one thing to another. DC's fine motor skills were not age appropriate and due to visual motor issues, DC had trouble with handwriting and some other fine motor related concerns. DC was also developmentally delayed in speech and language. While DC could decode words, it was difficult to process the textual meaning and DC had trouble explaining the why and what happens next.

As I'm writing this, it's hard to believe DC is the same child. As I mentioned before, DC no longer needs OT and the handwriting has dramatically improved. We sought outside visual therapy for a year which strengthened muscle performance and eye coordination. DC continues speech at Janney to help with expression, processing and explaining and topic maintenance. DC continues to have some focus and attention issues, but they do not appear to hurt academic performance. In addition to medication for ADHD, we've found that physical activity, limiting sugar and developing a consistent routine with high expectations and firm consequences really helps.