Maddux versus Public School with IEP

[Anonymous]

OP, if you are willing to post contact info I'd be happy to share our experience with you.

[Anonymous]

22:31 You can write to me at [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

I would be careful with Maddux - it's not just that they are so directive. I agree with a PP who saw a problem in the WAY that much of the staff interacts with the children. There is a very harsh and punitive tone in addition to them seeming really intrusive. Some kids might not be too fazed by it but others may be made quite anxious. The founders of the school and some of the staff come from Ivymount, which has a strong ABA focus. They portray Maddux as being quite different, but I'm not sure that it is. ABA is not appropriate for kids who are not on the spectrum but who may have attention issues, dyspraxia or SPD, etc.I had really wanted to like it and was looking for a more typical school with extra help. Despite their claims, they are very big on time outs, minutes off and other punishments, rather than working with kids in a more positive or proactive way. Kids who have a hard time sitting still may have all or most of their recess taken away for example, which is not too enlightened or too effective. They are not supportive of Floortime, supplements, a GFCF diet, etc., which are valuable for many children, just behaviorist techniques. To a PP, Floortime is not a part of their program because they do not believe in it. They want your $ and your fairly easy to manage child, take anything a private school that still has openings has to say with a very large grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

to 16:37 -- where are you getting your information? i observed a very positive time out for a child who just needed to chill, not a punitive one. the teachers seemed firm, but loving, in what i observed. did you have a child who attended maddux? and how can a school be supportive/not supportive of diets or supplements? are there schools who provide those supplements? does maddux refuse to respect parents' requests about diets? they simply ask that you provide an alternative snack for your child. where does your child attend?

[Anonymous]

At my child's school, where a lot of kids are on GFCF diets, they occasionally plan GFCF cooking projects as pert of cooking class. Some schools have people like Kelly Dorfmann come and speak about supplements and diets as a perent ed talk. Some schools incorporate both floortime and ABA techniques and are more open to the exchange of info about alternative therapies. It sounds like 16:37 thinks that Maddux is more "old school" or more focused on behavior mod.

17:36 is your child going to be attending Maddux or are you a current Maddux parent?

[Anonymous]

pp here -- my child will be attending maddux. i agree that maddux' approach is a bit more "old school," but i wouldn't characterize it so negatively as 16:37. but i guess that's to be expected since i decided to send my kid there. we do floortime at home, and have found it useful, but i have to say that jake greenspan and dirss have not been that helpful as we approached "bumps" in the road. and he was very negative about anything that he regarded as not in his camp, including our ot who has been a godsend and has done UNBELIEVABLE work with our child. i guess i'm not a fan of any doctrinarian approach to all of this -- my child responds well to structure in a learning environment, so dc can focus on learning; dc does well when we do floortime in a more casual setting, because floortime IS learning for dc.

[Anonymous]

I like the pria school

[Anonymous]

I would not worry so much about "old school" or "new school", but rather look at the science. What has been proven to actually work?

[Anonymous]

I like the Pria school

[Anonymous]

what is pria school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what is pria school?

I suspect some nut may be spamming the board.

[Anonymous]

Someone has been posting about the Pria School in other threads too.

22:06 I believe that there is research in support of both ABA and Floortime. I haven't seen anything that supports taking away recess from kids with ADHD who have trouble sitting still.

[Anonymous]

I just read somewhere about a longterm study about kids with ADHD. It said that the reason they are constantly moving, etc is to regulate themselves to be able to do whatever activity they need to do at the time. So, to try to make them stop and sit still is pointless since they are actually moving, etc so that they can pay attention.

[Anonymous]

Interesting 22:54. So making a kid sit in timeout all during recess would perpetuate the problem they were having with staying still earlier. 22:06, I guess that there is your answer.