Best school district for special needs pre-k?

[Anonymous]

To parents of children with ASD, which school district/county have you found to be the best for special education programs? I'm interested both in the quality of programs and availability.

We're in the process of looking for a new home in the DC metro area and will base our decision largely on school district. We'd like to place our two-year old daughter into a pre-k program next year that has experience with special needs children. Our daughter has a provisional diagnosis of ASD, but has been able to interact well with normally developing children in her current daycare setting (she doesn't appear to have any significant sensory integration issues). We're specifically looking at Arlington, Montgomery, Howard and Baltimore counties, but are open to all suggestions.

[Anonymous]

I would like to piggy-back and ask parents in Montgomery County if they know of which particular areas within MC offer the best programs. We're looking at Silver Spring, downtown Bethesda, and further up in Bethesda, along with Spring Valley (in DC), and I'm wondering if parents in any of those areas can comment on their schools' offerings for a child with developmental delays and somewhat mild disabilities. Our son is 4 but is in a 3 yr old program where we are now in NJ, and he currently qualifies for speech therapy, OT and PT through his IEP. Any comments about the quality of the therapists in these areas would be helpful.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I can't speak to which is the best but I can say from experience, stay FAR FAR AWAY from Prince William County. They are awful. My son (almost 5) has high-functioning autism and they refuse to accept his diagnosis. We are engaged in a tug-of-war with Child Find and it is an utterly miserable process. I can't wait to move to Maryland (will be in about 2 years).

[Anonymous]

My son was diagnosed with ASD and is high functioning. He's now 2 1/2 years old. We moved from DC to Arlington last year and found the services in Arlington to be excellent. He was in an early intervention program in which we had OT, Speech, and a child development expert each coming by our home once a week - all provided by the county. This was all through Arlington County's Parent Infant Education program (PIE).

Once our son turned two, we engaged with the Child Find program to see if he'd be eligible for a pre-k special education program. The process worked well and we decided to enroll him in a special education program in the public school system, specifically for children diagnosed ASD. (The pre-k program is referred to as mini-MIP-A -- after pre-k it's simply MIP-A -- and you can get more information on the Arlington Public School website.) There are a maximum of six children in his class with a teacher and two assistants, and visits by OT, Speech and others. The teachers are great. Early intervention is absolutely critical and we've seen a great improvement in him. I recommend the services in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend with a child with ASD in Arlington and she has had similar good comments to the PP about her experience so far. I have also heard comments from another friend with a child with Aspergers who investigated Arlington but ended up choosing a private school.... but she was very positive about the interactions she had with teachers and principals while making her decision.

[Anonymous]

Montgomery County is very good with kids 'on the spectrum', or kids with speech delays. (Not great with kids with gross motor issues) You really can't go wrong in the Mont. Co.

[Anonymous]

Montgomery county is going towards full inclusion with big class sizes.Difficlut for teachers to support children with needs.They do have autism programs,but if your child is on the spectrum or have ld issues they will be mainstreamed with an iep.Curriculum needs to be modified.

[Anonymous]

I *highly* recommend Arlington. We moved here when our son was about a year and a half, and he immediately went into the Parent Infant Education (PIE) program, which was great, because they sent the therapists to our home to work with him. When he turned two, we had the option of keeping him in the PIE program for another year or putting him in the special education Pre-K program. We opted for the Pre-K classroom, and we have been very happy. The teacher to student ratio is quite high, so they get a lot of attention. In our son's 2-year-old classroom, there were six children, with one teacher and a couple of aides full-time, plus the speech, occupational and physical therapists were often in the class as well. We don't get to work as closely with his therapists this way as we did when he was in PIE, but the interaction with other children has been great, and the teachers, aides and therapists at school are all very dedicated. He has made so much progress.

BTW, we recently looked at moving to another county--Fairfax and Alexandria also have good school districts and are supposed to have good special education as well--but I think Arlington is the only county around here that offers the full-time 2-year-old Pre-K--i.e., five hours a day every day except Wednesdays when they only go for three hours because of "early release". (I believe in the other school districts they offer part-time Pre-K (fewer days and fewer hours per day), perhaps supplemented by home visits and other kinds of support. Anyone from those districts with first-hand information please correct me if I am wrong! )

Good luck with your decision and your move! There are some great school districts around here and lots of wonderful teachers and therapists.

[Anonymous]

If you are limiting your search to pre-K /K, I have heard some great things about Bridges Public Charter School in DC

http://www.bridgespcs.org/

But after that - I don't know what DC has to offer.