Forum Index
»
Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities
Special ed schools in MOCO
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Excuse me, I've seen those schools, and I think Stephen Knolls didn't have much light coming into the classrooms as compared to the other two I saw. Have you seen those same classrooms? You can certainly disagree. Let's see, I was told by the administrators of Stephen Knolls that all the children at that school are special needs. There is not a Head Start program in the school. (There used to be a Head Start Program there, but it was moved to Forest Knolls where the children lived.) The MCPS website it is listed as a special school. Parents of Stephen Knolls Students please clarify for me(and the person who says "wrong wrong",) is there an opportunity for your children to interact with typical children during the school day? I'm not sure if you are disagreeing that the school has been renovated, but as I remember Potomac Elementary was renovated in the 1960's. 1980's and 2000's As have many schools. I don't see that Stephen Knolls has had that opportunity to get renovated. |
Anonymous
| Just a thought as my dc is now in elementary school and it has been awhile since we did the PEP equivalent (in another state). All I heard in preschool was that I had to get dc exposed to "typical" kids and I even went so far as to put dc in a "typical" preschool along with the PEP equivalent for the final year before K. I ultimately stopped the PEP type preschool and just kept dc in the regular one and got itinerant services at the school. The best was a therapist who would come to the preschool to teach play skills. But I sometimes wonder if dc would have been better off finishing the year in the special ed preschool where dc would have been more comfortable socially and gotten more intensive services (although we did plenty of private therapy too). DC has adhd (not diagnosed until later) and major anxiety along with auditory processing. DC had a terrible type in MOCO elementary socially and we ended up switching to one of the special ed preschools where dc now has friends b/c the kids have the same issues and they like the same kind of quirky things. My point is that being with the typical peers wasn't always a great experience and I would look for a class that has kids at your child's level. That seemed to me to be the best option both socially and academically. It sounds like there are wonderful PEP programs here and I wouldn't run away from one that didn't have typical peers if the makeup of the class is otherwise a good fit for your child. Just my two cents. |
Anonymous
I'm not going to continue to reason or argue with you, as Jeff has posted here specifically asking this to stop. Have a wonderful day, and drop by Stephen Knolls sometime. By the way, there is no such thing as Head Start in Montgomery County anymore. |
Anonymous
Where did you become the expert? There are Head Start programs all over the county. There is one in the school that my child attends a SN preschool. http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/earlychi/prekhsregistration.shtm |
Anonymous
|
There def is head start in the county. It's kind of sad this parent moving from out of state got caught in the this triangle of a mess. The PEP programs are all very different. PEP PILOT and collaboration are the 2 that blend typical and IEP kids. Classic and beyond may integrate at times but they are self contained programs. EVERY SCHOOL and teacher is different so one class might do diff things with typical peers at certain times in the school year. For ex. my son would watch assemblies with the typical kinder though he was only 3 in a classic class. This county has many types of programs to support all kind of needs including those kids with financial disadvan.
To the parent(s) who are upset about the Stephen Knolls issue. Stop it. You are not helping this family. |
Anonymous
|
Another perspective on PEP and inclusion:
DC attended one of the PEP Collab classes (Mont Knolls), and while the spec ed teacher was fantastic (and just won a big award in MC for being an outstanding special educator), the reg ed teacher was only so-so. The "collab" aspect meant that DC spent alternate weeks with the spec ed teacher and the reg ed teacher, so while he had A+ teacher for some of the time, I would say he had a very mediocre (C+) teacher for the other amount of time. He formed no close relationships with any of the Head Start children (nor did any other of the classified children), and whenever there were birthday parties, it was only the special ed children who were invited to the spec ed child's parties (and presumably vice versa). In our view, we loved Mont Knolls for the spec ed teacher and the wonder spec ed class, but if we could have had ALL spec ed teacher and ALL spec ed students, we would have been even happier. The weeks in the "pre-K" class (Head Start) were done doing boring drills and worksheets, whereas in special ed it was all learning through games, songs, play, etc. I've closely read the research calling for inclusion, but as an educator myself, I'll take an excellent teacher in a special ed environment over a mediocre teacher in an inclusion environment any day of the week. |
Anonymous
| We loved the PEP Classic program at Stone Mill. Fabulous teacher. |
Anonymous
|
To the OP: If you read the entries which have nothing to do with Stephen Knolls, which apparently causes a lot of discussion. There are links to Montgomery County Public Schools, suggestions of private school. There is a preschool at Univ.of MD called LEAP which is specifically for speech and language issues.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/specialed/infomcps.shtm On this page, 4th link down dated 8/20/10 it lists all the schools and their specialties. My understanding is that there is a speech school that is not PEP (regular mild to moderate special needs) that is available. You will really have to call Child Find and get the information. They don't really explain it online and there is a lot of confusion even from the parents who have a child in a special needs school. The county will find the best school for your child to attend and then provide transportation to and from home or to and from daycare... all free of charge. So given that you really don't know what services or school or even type of school MoCo will offer, I would choose a neighborhood based on what was affordable, family friendly and offered the services and location you want. Does your child have an IEP? If so see if that can be tranferred to the county, or maybe your child will have to meet and be evaluated, I'm not sure, but certainly you will be better off if you move earlier than later because there will be lag time in straightening out where your child would best go, from when you move to the county. You can ask, but I doubt that they would give you any evaluation or services before you move to the county. Go to he Mo.Co Schools website and search for special needs, pre-k, preschool, PEP (preschool education program) and speech dalay, speech school, see if any of those turn up information. But remember probably the information you want will come from talking to someone in the schools system. Good luck. I would also print out the link (4th down) and circle programs you think your child might be suitable for (just by the name). There are many programs and I don't think everyone knows all the programs. The program my child got into, was only known by 1 of the 4 therapists who came to our house for the infant and toddlers program. There are some pretty small programs that may just be the best program for your child. |
Anonymous
|
NP.
Inclusion can be pretty over-rated. Everyone hypes it as though it's appropriate for all SN students. It is not. What it IS, is the LEAST EXPENSIVE ENVIRONMENT. |
Anonymous
|
Do you mean least restrictive environment???
It's where you look at the program with the least amount of special ed support your child can do well in. (lame man defintion). There is a more technical def for it |