Private day schools in VA for ASD and ED?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find out what schools they are recommending before you agree to change the placement from public special ed to private day. They will push back because it sounds like they want to get rid of home but be 100% firm that you aren’t agreeing to a more restrictive placement until you have toured what they are offering.

I would try to figure out what is going on at school to drive the outbursts, what does your son say? Is there a certain staff member who is usually involved in the situation?

DS's outbursts are almost always motivated by an instance of perceived unfairness. The last one could have been prevented if someone had walked him through the implications of a decision he was making -- he was doing something very good but he didn't understand that by making the choice to work on one thing, he would loose the opportunity to participate in something else due to limited time. Then when he was ready to move on to the second thing and was told that time was up, he lost it. To me it would be second nature to walk him through the implications of a decision because it's predictable what would happen and pretty shocking to me that this is somehow new considering they claim to have ~15% of the student body with ASD.

This seems like something that could be addressed in a BIP or IEP goals.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. County has provided us with a list of schools they think would be a good placement.

Phillips - Annandale
Rivermont Day School - Springfield
Phillips - Fairfax
Gladys H. Oberle - Fredericksburg
Elite Academy - Fredericksburg
Alternative Paths Training School - Manassas
Alternative Paths Training School - Alexandria
Accotink Day School - Springfield

The only one that could be construed as close is Alternative Paths in Manassas that I've heard a lot of negative things about.

Does anybody have positive or negative experiences with others on the list?

We are also engaging an educational advocate as we navigate all of this. Right now I'm just so sad that we're going further down the rabbit hole. DS has been missing ~2hrs a day of educational time at school due to his outbursts and they want to move him to a setting that prioritizes controlling his behavior over academics. And maybe they're not wrong.

[Anonymous]

Have you asked for another FBA/BIP? There’s nothing any of those schools can do that can’t be done at a public special ed school designed for kids with ASD/ED—which is where he’s at now.

Sounds like they just want to get rid of him.

[Anonymous]

The commute for most of those would be horrible s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. County has provided us with a list of schools they think would be a good placement.

Phillips - Annandale
Rivermont Day School - Springfield
Phillips - Fairfax
Gladys H. Oberle - Fredericksburg
Elite Academy - Fredericksburg
Alternative Paths Training School - Manassas
Alternative Paths Training School - Alexandria
Accotink Day School - Springfield

The only one that could be construed as close is Alternative Paths in Manassas that I've heard a lot of negative things about.

Does anybody have positive or negative experiences with others on the list?

We are also engaging an educational advocate as we navigate all of this. Right now I'm just so sad that we're going further down the rabbit hole. DS has been missing ~2hrs a day of educational time at school due to his outbursts and they want to move him to a setting that prioritizes controlling his behavior over academics. And maybe they're not wrong.

They just gave you a list of every random private day school within a two hour radius. That’s not helpful.

[Anonymous]

Except they didn't include Ivymount (for ASD) or Lab (for dyslexia). DC isn't farther away from Gainesville than Fredericksburg is, so that is pretty odd.

[Anonymous]

this looks like it is missing some reports from schools but better than no info at all.

I would not agree to any school that still puts children in seclusion closets.

restraint means either a physical hold or the child is prevented from leaving an area like a classroom

seclusion means locked or barricaded alone in a small room

https://infogram.com/seclusion-and-restraint-full-dataset-1h7z2lzp0exy6ow

[Anonymous]

Make sure your educational advocate is very familiar with all the private SN day schools in the area--we spent $$ on one and she turned out to know almost nothing outside the public school system.

[Anonymous]

Veteran ED teacher here. I would ask what a private day school has that the current placement doesn’t and what the rationale would be for making a move. Are there wrap around services or more therapy or smaller class sizes or more staff?

[Anonymous]

OP—. Looking at all of these schools so far away, has there been any thought to a therapeutic residential option — only if it coukd clearly be explained what it might offer you DS. Before that, can I ask if there is any option to have a complete mental health workup done to see if any chance of medication or dosage currently in might help your DS to gain emotional stability before being bounced out of a school and put on an even longer bus ride? Are you confident in his psychiatrist’s evaluation and follow up as things have gone south in the school setting.

[Anonymous]

Given what you’ve described about your sons behavior—including going weeks between outbursts—I would not agree to a more restrictive setting. If his current school is not interested in helping him, then as someone upthread suggested—-try the Independence campus with a fresh FBA and BIP worked up once he starts there.

[Anonymous]

I really can't believe that a special ed school set up with kids for ED and ASD is baffled by this not-unusual and occasional behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Veteran ED teacher here. I would ask what a private day school has that the current placement doesn’t and what the rationale would be for making a move. Are there wrap around services or more therapy or smaller class sizes or more staff?

What they say is it's more staff and more therapy services. More intensive support for behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given what you’ve described about your sons behavior—including going weeks between outbursts—I would not agree to a more restrictive setting. If his current school is not interested in helping him, then as someone upthread suggested—-try the Independence campus with a fresh FBA and BIP worked up once he starts there.

Apparently this is not quite accurate. We weren't getting a complete picture. He was going weeks between severe outbursts but he's been having 2-3 outbursts a day lasting 45minutes to 1 hr each if he can't calm himself down (which he's able to do about 30% of the time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this looks like it is missing some reports from schools but better than no info at all.

I would not agree to any school that still puts children in seclusion closets.

restraint means either a physical hold or the child is prevented from leaving an area like a classroom

seclusion means locked or barricaded alone in a small room

https://infogram.com/seclusion-and-restraint-full-dataset-1h7z2lzp0exy6ow

This is why we don't want the only school that's even reasonably close to us -- Alternative Paths in Manassas