PEP?

[Anonymous]

It really depends on your child's needs, the school and teacher. We did all private. Had friends who did just PEP and some who did both. Most who did both much preferred the private over PEP. We are not happy with the school provided services. They don't compare to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on your child's needs, the school and teacher. We did all private. Had friends who did just PEP and some who did both. Most who did both much preferred the private over PEP. We are not happy with the school provided services. They don't compare to private.

m

When you say private, do you mean regular private preschool or a private school that is geared towards special needs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on your child's needs, the school and teacher. We did all private. Had friends who did just PEP and some who did both. Most who did both much preferred the private over PEP. We are not happy with the school provided services. They don't compare to private.

m

When you say private, do you mean regular private preschool or a private school that is geared towards special needs?

I think she means private therapies. Which is a complete different subject. Most kids in PEP get private therapy, and no one is claiming that PEP takes the place of private therapies. So it's kind of a ridiculous post.

PEP is preschool. It's not meant to replace private individual ST, OT, or PT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on your child's needs, the school and teacher. We did all private. Had friends who did just PEP and some who did both. Most who did both much preferred the private over PEP. We are not happy with the school provided services. They don't compare to private.

m

When you say private, do you mean regular private preschool or a private school that is geared towards special needs?

I think she means private therapies. Which is a complete different subject. Most kids in PEP get private therapy, and no one is claiming that PEP takes the place of private therapies. So it's kind of a ridiculous post.

PEP is preschool. It's not meant to replace private individual ST, OT, or PT.

Agreed. Sorry, I just assumed she meant private preschool.

[Anonymous]

Of course we also did private services. I know of no preschool that could offer what pep does in terms of preschool. If that previous poster does, I'm certainly intrigued.

[Anonymous]

NP here....our child was just accepted into PEP INC. He will be going to Brookhaven. Anybody have experiences with the PEP at Brookhaven?

[Anonymous]

My child was in PEP Classic (4 days/week 3s) last year year, but I felt like there were too many extra breaks during the year so it wasn't consistent enough. If there's a late arrival, there's no PEP. If there's an early dismissal, there's no PEP. Plus, PEP gets an extra week or two of vacation during the year on top of starting a full week after the rest of MCPS starts. There's also no extended day option for children who have difficulty with regulation when classes are short. I thought PEP was far better for my child than the preschool my child was at before PEP, but it wasn't perfect.

During the summer, we found a program geared toward typically-developing children that were my child's age. My child's language developed far faster than it did at PEP (where my child was the only native English speaker in the class, which didn't help for language development). I was very happy we made progression on language over the summer, but my child did not receive enough support in that classroom and my child began developing some severe anxiety issues.

We started Karasik of the Arc of Montgomery County in Silver Spring in August, which is the only private preschool with its on on-site PEP team. Technically, it's Montgomery County's "Building Bridges" program. The services are provided as "PEP Itinerant" services, but instead of only a couple of hours services maximum per week for most PEP Itinerant itineraries, my child receives all of the hours of special education that are on his IEP (9 hours of SpEd + 1 hour speech each week). The majority of these services are provided on a push-in basis in the regular Karasik (inclusive with a mix of typically-developing and special education-qualifying children) classroom. Additionally all the regular Karasik teachers (all of whom are certified early childhood education teachers, not just a day care 45-hour or 90-hour certification) and Karasik's preschool-age director, Sharon Hedgepeth, are very supportive and helpful with the needs of PEP students. I basically look at Karasik as 11 hours/day, year-round (only 12 days off each year) therapy. The progress my child has made there is astounding, and the PEP staff is a big part of it. However, I don't think my child would have made nearly as much progress had my child gone to PEP Classic again this year. Karasik's website is: http://thearcmontgomerycounty.org/what-we-do/children-youth/children.html

With all that being said, PEP is definitely a far better half-day preschool option for children who qualify than just about any other half-day preschool in the region. PEP is pretty much so good that there are very few private special needs preschools in the region, and these few preschools service a narrow range of needs.

I hope your move goes well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was in PEP Classic (4 days/week 3s) last year year, but I felt like there were too many extra breaks during the year so it wasn't consistent enough. If there's a late arrival, there's no PEP. If there's an early dismissal, there's no PEP. Plus, PEP gets an extra week or two of vacation during the year on top of starting a full week after the rest of MCPS starts. There's also no extended day option for children who have difficulty with regulation when classes are short. I thought PEP was far better for my child than the preschool my child was at before PEP, but it wasn't perfect.

During the summer, we found a program geared toward typically-developing children that were my child's age. My child's language developed far faster than it did at PEP (where my child was the only native English speaker in the class, which didn't help for language development). I was very happy we made progression on language over the summer, but my child did not receive enough support in that classroom and my child began developing some severe anxiety issues.

We started Karasik of the Arc of Montgomery County in Silver Spring in August, which is the only private preschool with its on on-site PEP team. Technically, it's Montgomery County's "Building Bridges" program. The services are provided as "PEP Itinerant" services, but instead of only a couple of hours services maximum per week for most PEP Itinerant itineraries, my child receives all of the hours of special education that are on his IEP (9 hours of SpEd + 1 hour speech each week). The majority of these services are provided on a push-in basis in the regular Karasik (inclusive with a mix of typically-developing and special education-qualifying children) classroom. Additionally all the regular Karasik teachers (all of whom are certified early childhood education teachers, not just a day care 45-hour or 90-hour certification) and Karasik's preschool-age director, Sharon Hedgepeth, are very supportive and helpful with the needs of PEP students. I basically look at Karasik as 11 hours/day, year-round (only 12 days off each year) therapy. The progress my child has made there is astounding, and the PEP staff is a big part of it. However, I don't think my child would have made nearly as much progress had my child gone to PEP Classic again this year. Karasik's website is: http://thearcmontgomerycounty.org/what-we-do/children-youth/children.html

With all that being said, PEP is definitely a far better half-day preschool option for children who qualify than just about any other half-day preschool in the region. PEP is pretty much so good that there are very few private special needs preschools in the region, and these few preschools service a narrow range of needs.

I hope your move goes well!

Thanks for sharing all this. I havent read through the Web site yet... do you go through Montgomery County Public Schools to get placement there or do you go to Karasik directly and bring them the IEP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child was in PEP Classic (4 days/week 3s) last year year, but I felt like there were too many extra breaks during the year so it wasn't consistent enough. If there's a late arrival, there's no PEP. If there's an early dismissal, there's no PEP. Plus, PEP gets an extra week or two of vacation during the year on top of starting a full week after the rest of MCPS starts. There's also no extended day option for children who have difficulty with regulation when classes are short. I thought PEP was far better for my child than the preschool my child was at before PEP, but it wasn't perfect.

During the summer, we found a program geared toward typically-developing children that were my child's age. My child's language developed far faster than it did at PEP (where my child was the only native English speaker in the class, which didn't help for language development). I was very happy we made progression on language over the summer, but my child did not receive enough support in that classroom and my child began developing some severe anxiety issues.

We started Karasik of the Arc of Montgomery County in Silver Spring in August, which is the only private preschool with its on on-site PEP team. Technically, it's Montgomery County's "Building Bridges" program. The services are provided as "PEP Itinerant" services, but instead of only a couple of hours services maximum per week for most PEP Itinerant itineraries, my child receives all of the hours of special education that are on his IEP (9 hours of SpEd + 1 hour speech each week). The majority of these services are provided on a push-in basis in the regular Karasik (inclusive with a mix of typically-developing and special education-qualifying children) classroom. Additionally all the regular Karasik teachers (all of whom are certified early childhood education teachers, not just a day care 45-hour or 90-hour certification) and Karasik's preschool-age director, Sharon Hedgepeth, are very supportive and helpful with the needs of PEP students. I basically look at Karasik as 11 hours/day, year-round (only 12 days off each year) therapy. The progress my child has made there is astounding, and the PEP staff is a big part of it. However, I don't think my child would have made nearly as much progress had my child gone to PEP Classic again this year. Karasik's website is: http://thearcmontgomerycounty.org/what-we-do/children-youth/children.html

With all that being said, PEP is definitely a far better half-day preschool option for children who qualify than just about any other half-day preschool in the region. PEP is pretty much so good that there are very few private special needs preschools in the region, and these few preschools service a narrow range of needs.

I hope your move goes well!

Thanks for sharing all this. I havent read through the Web site yet... do you go through Montgomery County Public Schools to get placement there or do you go to Karasik directly and bring them the IEP?

We were already in the system, so they just changed my child's IEP from "PEP Classic" to "PEP Itinerant" and removed transportation (because busing isn't provided for PEP Itinerant). To receive services at Karasik, you would enroll in Karasik first. If you're bringing the IEP with you from another area, I would think they would start providing you services at Karasik listed in your IEP if you enrolled there, and then do their own assessment and make an MCPS IEP. Sharon Hedgepeth can probably give you more information, or she can either talk to the PEP teacher at Karasik herself or direct you to her. The PEP teacher at Karasik is very accessible and I regularly speak with her and meet with her in-person. Some weeks, I'll see her two or three times and have conversations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was in PEP Classic (4 days/week 3s) last year year, but I felt like there were too many extra breaks during the year so it wasn't consistent enough. If there's a late arrival, there's no PEP. If there's an early dismissal, there's no PEP. Plus, PEP gets an extra week or two of vacation during the year on top of starting a full week after the rest of MCPS starts. There's also no extended day option for children who have difficulty with regulation when classes are short. I thought PEP was far better for my child than the preschool my child was at before PEP, but it wasn't perfect.

During the summer, we found a program geared toward typically-developing children that were my child's age. My child's language developed far faster than it did at PEP (where my child was the only native English speaker in the class, which didn't help for language development). I was very happy we made progression on language over the summer, but my child did not receive enough support in that classroom and my child began developing some severe anxiety issues.

We started Karasik of the Arc of Montgomery County in Silver Spring in August, which is the only private preschool with its on on-site PEP team. Technically, it's Montgomery County's "Building Bridges" program. The services are provided as "PEP Itinerant" services, but instead of only a couple of hours services maximum per week for most PEP Itinerant itineraries, my child receives all of the hours of special education that are on his IEP (9 hours of SpEd + 1 hour speech each week). The majority of these services are provided on a push-in basis in the regular Karasik (inclusive with a mix of typically-developing and special education-qualifying children) classroom. Additionally all the regular Karasik teachers (all of whom are certified early childhood education teachers, not just a day care 45-hour or 90-hour certification) and Karasik's preschool-age director, Sharon Hedgepeth, are very supportive and helpful with the needs of PEP students. I basically look at Karasik as 11 hours/day, year-round (only 12 days off each year) therapy. The progress my child has made there is astounding, and the PEP staff is a big part of it. However, I don't think my child would have made nearly as much progress had my child gone to PEP Classic again this year. Karasik's website is: http://thearcmontgomerycounty.org/what-we-do/children-youth/children.html

With all that being said, PEP is definitely a far better half-day preschool option for children who qualify than just about any other half-day preschool in the region. PEP is pretty much so good that there are very few private special needs preschools in the region, and these few preschools service a narrow range of needs.

I hope your move goes well!

NP. But you pay the full 'day care' rate to attend Karasik, right? IIRC it isn't any more than regular full time day care, but it's not free like PEP classic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child was in PEP Classic (4 days/week 3s) last year year, but I felt like there were too many extra breaks during the year so it wasn't consistent enough. If there's a late arrival, there's no PEP. If there's an early dismissal, there's no PEP. Plus, PEP gets an extra week or two of vacation during the year on top of starting a full week after the rest of MCPS starts. There's also no extended day option for children who have difficulty with regulation when classes are short. I thought PEP was far better for my child than the preschool my child was at before PEP, but it wasn't perfect.

During the summer, we found a program geared toward typically-developing children that were my child's age. My child's language developed far faster than it did at PEP (where my child was the only native English speaker in the class, which didn't help for language development). I was very happy we made progression on language over the summer, but my child did not receive enough support in that classroom and my child began developing some severe anxiety issues.

We started Karasik of the Arc of Montgomery County in Silver Spring in August, which is the only private preschool with its on on-site PEP team. Technically, it's Montgomery County's "Building Bridges" program. The services are provided as "PEP Itinerant" services, but instead of only a couple of hours services maximum per week for most PEP Itinerant itineraries, my child receives all of the hours of special education that are on his IEP (9 hours of SpEd + 1 hour speech each week). The majority of these services are provided on a push-in basis in the regular Karasik (inclusive with a mix of typically-developing and special education-qualifying children) classroom. Additionally all the regular Karasik teachers (all of whom are certified early childhood education teachers, not just a day care 45-hour or 90-hour certification) and Karasik's preschool-age director, Sharon Hedgepeth, are very supportive and helpful with the needs of PEP students. I basically look at Karasik as 11 hours/day, year-round (only 12 days off each year) therapy. The progress my child has made there is astounding, and the PEP staff is a big part of it. However, I don't think my child would have made nearly as much progress had my child gone to PEP Classic again this year. Karasik's website is: http://thearcmontgomerycounty.org/what-we-do/children-youth/children.html

With all that being said, PEP is definitely a far better half-day preschool option for children who qualify than just about any other half-day preschool in the region. PEP is pretty much so good that there are very few private special needs preschools in the region, and these few preschools service a narrow range of needs.

I hope your move goes well!

NP. But you pay the full 'day care' rate to attend Karasik, right? IIRC it isn't any more than regular full time day care, but it's not free like PEP classic.

Yes, I pay the full day-care rate, but Karasik has some grant programs that defray a small amount of cost of the day care. Also, if you qualify for LISS funding, then that could be $2,000 off the day care cost during a year. That $2,000 is close almost two months of tuition for an older preschooler.

I also look at it like this: If we were to send our child to a regular day care and bus to/from PEP Classic, we would still have to pay the full day-care rate and have our child be in classrooms with upwards of 50 children per day. At Karasik, our child is with a consistent, small group of children everyday and we don't have to worry about our child having two different curricula, missing fun things at one school in favor for fun things at another school, or worry about whether the adult responsible at the day care to get our child on/off the PEP bus remembers to do so. So, Karasik is already one of the least expensive options in MoCo and it makes our lives a lot easier. It also has been so amazing for our child that we didn't feel like one of us had to quit our job and pay for a daily therapeutic social group program through Kennedy Krieger. We think that Karasik actually works better for our child than that program would.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP - I am a huge Karasik fan too (my typical son was there as a preschooler a few years back). I didn't know about it when his SN older brother was the right age.

[Anonymous]

I have a PEP question--- are all the PEP classes integrated--- like half IEP kids and half non-IEP kids? Or are only certain PEP classes like that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on your child's needs, the school and teacher. We did all private. Had friends who did just PEP and some who did both. Most who did both much preferred the private over PEP. We are not happy with the school provided services. They don't compare to private.

m

When you say private, do you mean regular private preschool or a private school that is geared towards special needs?

We did a private SN school then a private preschool along with private services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on your child's needs, the school and teacher. We did all private. Had friends who did just PEP and some who did both. Most who did both much preferred the private over PEP. We are not happy with the school provided services. They don't compare to private.

m

When you say private, do you mean regular private preschool or a private school that is geared towards special needs?

I think she means private therapies. Which is a complete different subject. Most kids in PEP get private therapy, and no one is claiming that PEP takes the place of private therapies. So it's kind of a ridiculous post.

PEP is preschool. It's not meant to replace private individual ST, OT, or PT.

No, we did everything privately. The county gave us a huge run around and we were not impressed with what we saw. We gave up and did private only. We did preschool, speech and ot. Now getting public services at school and they are terrible. We still do private.