current mclean impressions

[Anonymous]

How McLean lower school going this year? I know they got a new head last year that people seemed excited by. Is she living up to her promise? Are kids needs -- both remediation and acceleration -- being met?

[Anonymous]

We are new to the LS this year and so far we are very impressed. The teachers seem to have a thorough understanding of DC's strengths and needs. There is much more individualization than we are used to. Yes, the LS head is excellent and apparently the MS head is too. Most important is that DC loves the school and her teachers and classmates and is much more academically engaged than previously. Of course we are only in the fourth week but so far McLean has met our expectations.

[Anonymous]

What grade is she in? What about the social stuff? Has your child made friends with the other kids? Are the teachers helpful with friendship building?

[Anonymous]

Yes, DC has made friends and had play dates and invitations. The families and kids have been very welcoming. Social concerns were not a major issue for us going in but we are happy with the lower school's approach to emotional-social development. They have some structures in place to ease social anxieties and the LS classes have pragmatics weekly. The fourth grade is piloting Winner's social thinking curriculum.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing your experiences -- we're excited to tour the school ourselves soon.

Anyone else want to share?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, DC has made friends and had play dates and invitations. The families and kids have been very welcoming. Social concerns were not a major issue for us going in but we are happy with the lower school's approach to emotional-social development. They have some structures in place to ease social anxieties and the LS classes have pragmatics weekly. The fourth grade is piloting Winner's social thinking curriculum.

Hope this helps.

Can you please elaborate on the Social Thinking curriculum? Do you find there is more of a push for this now versus in former years? I was under the impression McLean did not focus on Social Thinking? Is the new lower head focusing on this?

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Hi, this is the PP again. I can't speak to previous years as this is our first, but I can say there seem to be a lot of new initiatives compared to when I first visited McLean before the new head of school and head of lower school arrived. I think the social thinking curriculum is new this year, as it is a lower school pilot program in grade 4. There is now daily mindfulness practice in each grade, I think, and systematic teaching of executive functioning skills school wide. I believe all this is new in the past 2 years so yes, it would track with the leadership changes.

[Anonymous]

I know 2 families with kids with LD who have moved from the school in the last year. They said it no longer had the kind of multisensory, hands on ed needed by their kids.

[Anonymous]

Where did they move to?

[Anonymous]

PP again. If I were looking for lots of hands on multisensory education I would look at Lab. It wasn't a good fit for our child but it seemed great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again. If I were looking for lots of hands on multisensory education I would look at Lab. It wasn't a good fit for our child but it seemed great.

Diener is also good for multi-sensory.