Maddux or McLean for K

[Anonymous]

Current McLean parent here. I think you need to look beyond the bus vs dropoff issue when you are looking at the school and exactly what they have to offer (whether it would be the proper fit for your child). The busing situation is actually not bad at all FWIW. Also, you should know that McLean has therapists (mostly ST) not affiliated with the school who do come to the school. My DS is in ST with an outside therapist who comes to the school. So, rather than taking whatever ST is at McLean you can control the pull outs. As for the longer day, it's 1 hour longer. I originally thought it would be a HUGE issue for my DS, but it turned out to be fine. They have PE daily as well as recess and several short breaks throughout the day.

[Anonymous]

Hi! As previously stated they are 2 diff schools. Take a close look at what your childs needs are. Maddox goes up to grade 2 while McLean you can stay with till college. Look how the classes are broken down and what the other kids are lie. Will your child be able to make friends, does he/ she need help with social skills? Which school offers the best chance at working on this skill? Some kids need more structure whie others need more freedom, which best fits your child? Maddox uses a typical curriculum but the students that go there have some form of special need . The needs of the students vary but the child needs to be able to learn in their environment in refer to be accepted. Def go on tour of both schools to make the best choice for your child

[Anonymous]

Other schools you can look at are Diener, Auburn and Kingsbury.

[Anonymous]

who does deiner take? are they considered a special needs school? what are they like? any current families have any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Do a search on Deiner. Any time someone discusses the school someone gets very offended and the thread goes downhill from there. I may get shot down for this, but my impression of Deiner is that it offers small class sizes and low student teacher ratio and they incorporate social skills, speech and OT into the curriculum. I think like almost all of the schools in the DC area that work with special needs they follow the regular school curriculum. It seems to have some things in common with Maddux, but I believe it is newer and smaller. I think the childrens's needs vary and not all of them have language issues, whereas my impression of Maddux is the school works with language issues mostly. I have visited, but I don't know anyone with a child there.

[Anonymous]

This has been really informative. Could one of the McLean parents give some figures on the upper school enrollment? How many kids are in each grade year?

[Anonymous]

About 20 for each grade give or take a few.

[Anonymous]

Diener parent here. First, it is spelled "ie" but also search "ei" because it is often misspelled. I love the school. I also suggest that if you are interested you visit to see what the population is like in your child's grade level. Wide range of academic levels (some on grade level, some below, some above in one subject and below in another). They definitely work on social skills. I think some of the threads have gone downhill because there is one poster who continually discusses her visit from several years ago when the school was very small and there was a child with a significant behavior issue. That child is no longer there and the school has grown significantly and now has 41 kids. So, her impressions are out of date. It's a great program. There are more learning issues at Diener than at McLean and class sizes are even smaller. Also, most of the kids at McLean are socially typical with mild learning differences. McLean doesn't work on social skills like Diener does. I don't know enough about Maddux to comment but have friends with children there who are very happy. They are all great schools and like a pp said, there is no reason to bash any school. The best course of action is to visit the schools and ask detailed questions to find the right fit for your child.

[Anonymous]

thanks your info is helpful. I should schedule a tour so I can see it and figure out if it's right for my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diener parent here. First, it is spelled "ie" but also search "ei" because it is often misspelled. I love the school. I also suggest that if you are interested you visit to see what the population is like in your child's grade level. Wide range of academic levels (some on grade level, some below, some above in one subject and below in another). They definitely work on social skills. I think some of the threads have gone downhill because there is one poster who continually discusses her visit from several years ago when the school was very small and there was a child with a significant behavior issue. That child is no longer there and the school has grown significantly and now has 41 kids. So, her impressions are out of date. It's a great program. There are more learning issues at Diener than at McLean and class sizes are even smaller. Also, most of the kids at McLean are socially typical with mild learning differences. McLean doesn't work on social skills like Diener does. I don't know enough about Maddux to comment but have friends with children there who are very happy. They are all great schools and like a pp said, there is no reason to bash any school. The best course of action is to visit the schools and ask detailed questions to find the right fit for your child.

This is helpful but gosh I'd hate to be the parents of that one child "with a significant behavior issue" you mentioned. I've been there when my child was much younger. I think it's a bit of a stretch for 1 child to just change the reputation of a school. My heart goes out to the parents of said child. If they are reading this-keep your chin up, hang in there and don't let the Diener parent who blamed your child get you down. I hope your child is thriving in his/her new environment!!!!!

[Anonymous]

McLean boosts about doing lots of pragmatics and social skill work at open houses. No idea if it is true. McLean also claims 50 percent of their students have no learning issues.

[Anonymous]

In the lower school at McLean are the kids sensory delayed, ADHD, ld, PDd? I would love to know what type of student the school tends to accept. Do they work on social skills and pragmantic language? If your child needs ot and slp do you have to pay extra?

[Anonymous]

Many have ADHD, executive function and mild learning issues.

Schools accepts mild learning issues, no behavioral issues, no heavy learning disabilities.

Social skills and pragmatics are discussed weekly but not heavy.

ot and slp are for extra pay

It is a pretty narrow band of kids they are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I visited Maddux and Diener and St. Andrews, but ended up at a public school. I did not visit McLean. I thought Maddux was a good option, but they would not continue with a pre-existing Montg. County IEP. They would put together their own plan, but review the current IEP to see how they could assist my child. Diener works with 1:1 or 2:1 ratio and would be great if your child was very easily distracted and/or had difficulty staying on task.

St Andrews works with small groups of kids within a larger classroom 18:2 (there is a teacher plus assistant). They have a wonderful science program. They provide bagged lunches approved by a nurse. Issue was they don't allow outside lunch or provide hot lunch. And do not allow peanutbutter. My child has some sensory issues and rigidty with meals.

[Anonymous]

You would be able to tap into Ivymount's OT, SLP at the end of the day for private, 1 on 1 tutoring if you were at Maddux (for a fee of course).