School with smaller classes in NW DC or close in Maryland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try looking at small religious schools (not the big name ones). They may be able to offer you some type of financial assistance. I have heard wonderful things about Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda.

Honestly a lot of the religious schools have huge class sizes. From OLL's website: "Maximum enrollment is 26 in kindergarten, 28 in first and second, and 30 in third through eighth.." So you may luck out and have 18 or not. More likely, not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other things schools can and do provide: allowing the student to enter the classroom early or wait in a quiet area instead of in the cafeteria or hallway before class, allowing them to leave early to board the bus, allowing them to eat in a different room during lunch, allowing them to skip assemblies or observe from a quieter area. These things are all free.
In addition, many schools provide headphones or quiet areas for children with sensory needs to retreat to when they get overwhelmed, movement breaks.
In terms of services, they can provide OT and-or social skills lessons to help the children deal with sensory issues.

These are all very common accommodations and services.

Anonymous wrote:PP clearly is in the wrong forum bc s/he doesn't have anything to add...

The school can do a number of things: have a smaller table at lunch for your child and others with sensory issues, have an aide available, my kiddo comes in to the class after the other children are seated, DC also sometimes can eat in the front office...

A school that wants to can accommodate children with sensory issues.

But OP isn't asking for any of those things, which honestly probably are not on tap in a private school. She's asking for a small class size. I'm not sure how you get that in a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP clearly is in the wrong forum bc s/he doesn't have anything to add...

The school can do a number of things: have a smaller table at lunch for your child and others with sensory issues, have an aide available, my kiddo comes in to the class after the other children are seated, DC also sometimes can eat in the front office...

A school that wants to can accommodate children with sensory issues.

How are these accommodations during lunch and recess related to accessing the curriculum? And getting an "appropriate education?" They're nice-to-haves, not must-haves under IDEA.

Some kids can become so distressed and overwhelmed by the chaos during lunch and recess that they have difficulty transitioning back into the classroom, and lose instructional time. For those kids, supports for lunch and recess are must-haves under IDEA.

[Anonymous]

People are providing alternatives to smaller class size bc many of us have been down this road... smaller class size is the holy grail. Everyone is looking for that school, but it's really hard to find the right place without it costing a fortune and being able to support a child with special needs.

I think that maybe if supports were in place, maybe OP wouldn't necessarily need a different school placement. Impossible to tell without trying some of these no-cost/low cost accommodations for the child. Putting a child in private is an option, a very expensive one.

[Anonymous]

Question on Forest Knolls, are all the physically disabled kids in the same classroom from 3rd grade on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Question on Forest Knolls, are all the physically disabled kids in the same classroom from 3rd grade on?

The physically challenged children are in the same classes as everybody else from age Pre-K(3) thru 5th grade.
There are no special classes just for physically challenged children unless you want to count the special PE class that they had the the 4 year olds in the OH Pre-K when my son was 4. But otherwise there are not special classes.