Maddux versus Public School with IEP

[Anonymous]

what age group will your daughter be in? My son is going as well

[Anonymous]

i'm the pp with the daughter going to maddux. she will be in the preschool class. i'm not worried about them doing floortime -- that's my job.

[Anonymous]

Uml I think you misread my post. I wasn't suggesting that you ask them to do floortime, it is not part of their program. I was suggesting that you not mention to the school that you do floortime. That's all.

The preschool teachers are very kind.

[Anonymous]

OP, we decided to mainsteam and it has gone ok. The school has offered some social skills help (through a counselor and a SLP group ) and we have worked closely with DS's teacher. We have tried to do a lot of playdates with a few classmates that the teacher recommended and it is definitely helping. My son tends to copy whoever he is around so we were worried about Maddux (and couldn't really afford it to be honest). We knew that we couldn't do the private school thing long term. In our experience, teachers vary in their skill in this area, the principal put DS in this particular class because his teacher is very attuned to social dynamics. I hope that we are nearly as lucky next year. Anyway, just wanted to say that it CAN work. We are still doing an outside socail skills group too, but he is definitely making progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McLean can be good for this, or a school like Grace Episcopal, both have very small classes. St. C's and NCRC often have kids that stay for an "extra" year before K too.

If you are not close to Maddux and would not stay more than a year, it might be hard if he DID make friends, he'd just have to enter a whole new group the next year. What would the social support be at your local public? It really just takes one well suited, loyal friend.

If you mean Grace Episcopal in Maryland, they do NOT accept kids with know 'needs', nor do they know how to work with kids who are not cookie cutter.

[Anonymous]

i'm the pp who is sending the daughter to maddux, and who does floortime at home. i told everyone we saw there, including mrs cohen and andrea mullins, that we do floortime and see it as an integral part of our work with our daughter. they were very supportive and just wanted to make clear that it's not part of their program per se, but they take stuff from lots of philosophies. i understand that they are directive there. as i said, i think that will be very comforting for our daughter.

[Anonymous]

Can someone help explain to me the Directive and behavioral approach versus another type of school. My son who will be starting there is going for social reasons. He likes kids, is good on playdates but wirthdrawls in a group. I want him to learn in a natural setting and some people's comments about the Maddux approach don't sound that its all that natural. I'm a big floortime fan as well.

[Anonymous]

For all the people going to Maddux: anyone interested in setting up a playdate even if the kids are not in the same class. Looking to meet other families, etc.. My son will be in the preschool class (am). we could meet at a park or something informal like that. Thanks

[Anonymous]

a playdate is a great idea -- my dd is going to be in the preschool class too. email me -- [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

My son will be in the afternoon class at Maddux. We would love to meet you. Please email [e-mail]. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

00:51 I was under the impression that a lot of kids from St. Columba's went on to Grace (kids with some speech or OT issues).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: 00:51 I was under the impression that a lot of kids from St. Columba's went on to Grace (kids with some speech or OT issues).

There is NO support there for kids w/such issues.

[Anonymous]

Why so defensive about Grace? I happen to know kids there who receive speech and OT. No, they don't receive it onsite but the school knows and they are open to hearing about the techniques and trying to incorporate accommodations.

[Anonymous]

14:36 One example of a directive approach is how free play time is handled - in most schools the kids get to pick what they do. At Maddux they have "Guided Play" where the kids get rotated through activities without having a choice. For some kids who tend to get stuck on an activity it can be very helpful. Some kids may find it too micromanaging and rigid. It's not the most "natural" environment, but most of the kids there were overwhelmed by their previous schools.

[Anonymous]

OP, fwiw, we are planning to start K in a regular public school this year. We've met informally about an IEP (mostly social goals, some fine motor, pragmatics) and will get it up and running in the fall. The coordinator asked what types of kids DC does best with and has givien us several names to have playdates with over the summer. We also talked with some families of kids similar to DC and it sounds like it has worked ok for them.

We did a kind of far away preschool (not Maddux) for a year and I think that DC actually got less social skills practice. By the time we got home, it was later, he was tired from being in the car, we didn't know many kids in the neighborhood, and his classmates lived too far away to do playdates that often. I think that that the distance/travel and $ are very valid considerations, both can be huge sources of stress. We think that the neighborhood school will offer more frequent social opportunities/chances to practice social skills. We decided to try public first in part because, as my mom pointed out, trying to transfer in past K might be harder socially, everyone already knows people.

We figure we could always apply to Maddux next year if this doesn't work out, but if it does, he won't have to get bounced to a new place. He does best with kids with strong play skills where he can kind of go along, we were concerned that there might not be as many kids like that at Maddux. I have a friend who really likes Maddux for her child, but she did say recently that she has no idea how he would do in a regular classroom since Maddux is such a unique and supported/cued environment. She plans eventually to go onto a school like Lab or McLean.

Can't say for sure that our plan will work, but we feel optimistic. Good luck with your decision!