Kindergarten recommendation in NOVA?

[Anonymous]

We are in the process of trying to figure out where to send our DS to K next year. He is currently in a private preschool and doing well. The preschool is very small and he also has an IEP in place. His main issues are speech delays (he gets private speech therapy on top of the IEP), likely ADHD, some gross motor delays, anxiety and sensory issues.

He does very well in his mainstream preschool, but the classes are very small so he gets plenty of attention. I'm not sure how well he would do in a large public school classroom even with an IEP. We are considering private school but I'm not sure what would be good options for him.

I've heard good things about Oakwood in Annandale and plan to contact them for a tour. We live in Alexandria. Are there other good options for him for elementary school? We are willing to move if we have to.

We had a really bad experience in his prior preschool (large classes and he was pretty much ignored) so we want to make sure his next move continues to be positive.

[Anonymous]

You might want to look at Auburn. They work with ADHD, anxiety and sensory issues. Maybe Newton as well, though I don't know as much about their focus.

[Anonymous]

My oldest (now in 3rd) and my youngest (rising K) sound like your DS. Prior to his diagnosis and development of IEP in K, my oldest also struggled and since he internalizes things rather than acting out, the school declined to evaluate even though we had numerous private evaluations documenting delays and challenges. Having said that, once we were able to get them evaluate (thanks to our 'consultant') and got a good IEP in place, DS1 has done very well. About half his time is in special ed classes and the other have in general ed. The teachers are very good with him and use appropriate instruction. DS2 has more challenges than DS1 and has been in a FCPS special ed preschool for the past two years (in addition to private therapies) and will enter K this fall. Of course, we have some concerns but based on our experiences with DS1 (and a very good consultant who helps us with crafting excellent IEPs), I think he'll be okay. I don't have private school experience but I don't think I could find one that could do a better job than what our local school has been able to do. For us, paying a private consultant is acceptable and far more cost effective than going the private school route. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I think you probably need to see if your child gets service hours ( and how many) or otherwise from the public schools. For friends of mine whose children have Ieps but did not receive the ncse service hours, those families were happy to choose private, but my son could never receive as much service from a private and he qualifies for tons of service hours on top of all his pull-outs.

[Anonymous]

I think the recommendations may depend on your child's strengths and weaknesses. One option is to do an extra year of preschool which a lot of people do for boys. There are a lot of private schools in VA and MD but most that accomodate special needs have somwhat of a niche in terms of what level of support they can give and what types of issues are a good fit.

[Anonymous]

PP again...wanted to claify...I think it's a matter of degree of needs and deciding which schools can accomodate those needs. Plenty of regular private schools have kids with ADHD, LDs, etc but they are mild.

Have you though of meeting with an educational consultant. That person could look at the child's paperwork, meet with the child and you and give some ideas of what schools are good matches. Good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

Newton School in Sterling

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all of the really helpful information. We are in the process of getting and Education Consultant which should certainly help steer us in the right direction. In addition to the private option we certainly love to find a good public school and have the right IEP in place. So good to hear others have had success going this route. As I mentioned we are willing to move so in addition to private schools, I would certainly appreciated any public elementary school recommendations! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

bump
any more ideas on inclusion K-5 programs out there for speech delay n some sensory issues? we live in no. va and public might not be an option.
TIA

[Anonymous]

looked at oakwood in va, but they are not having a k-5 class this year, as not many people applied. at least we were told that

[Anonymous]

To 20:14:

Are you saying Oakwood isn't having any classes in kindergarten through 5th or did you mean to say they just won't have a Kindergarden this year?

[Anonymous]

just k, guess not enough kids between ages 6 to 7 years applied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of trying to figure out where to send our DS to K next year. He is currently in a private preschool and doing well. The preschool is very small and he also has an IEP in place. His main issues are speech delays (he gets private speech therapy on top of the IEP), likely ADHD, some gross motor delays, anxiety and sensory issues.

He does very well in his mainstream preschool, but the classes are very small so he gets plenty of attention. I'm not sure how well he would do in a large public school classroom even with an IEP. We are considering private school but I'm not sure what would be good options for him.

I've heard good things about Oakwood in Annandale and plan to contact them for a tour. We live in Alexandria. Are there other good options for him for elementary school? We are willing to move if we have to.

We had a really bad experience in his prior preschool (large classes and he was pretty much ignored) so we want to make sure his next move continues to be positive.

?P, I am currently on a lookout for a preschool with small teacher:kids ratio. If you don't mind sharing, what's the name of your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:just k, guess not enough kids between ages 6 to 7 years applied.

I can confirm this is true. We were told the same thing.

[Anonymous]

i wonder how many kids they needed to apply, i know of 2 plus this othre post is 3. oh well.