moving to MCPS with a speech IEP pre-k

[Anonymous]

We are moving to MCPS next summer (planning on Bethesda or Kensington). My youngest child currently has an IEP for a speech delay/articulation issues and communication issues. Right now we live in a small New England town with a tiny school district that has limited services. Because they want her to be in a preschool program (which she was already attending when identified) and it is noted on her IEP, the school district pays her tuition at the private nursery school- there is no publice preschool program here. She gets speech therapy as well each week.

I'm wondering if MCPS will honor her current IEP and provide her a spot in a preschool program based on her speech and articulation issues, or if they will re-evaluate her (she is not up for evaluation when we move as it will only be a little over a year since her initial eval at that time). Or if I should go ahead and try to get a spot in a private pre-k program with the idea that they will provide speech services separately.

Any insight? Since we don't have a house yet I don't know what our home school will be so I'm not at the point of contacting them for specifics.
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Moco has prek programs that provide speech services (PEP). If your child has an IEP already, I would say that she is almost certain to be eligible for PEP.

I would get in touch with PEP now.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special-education/programs-services/preschool.aspx

[Anonymous]

As I understand it, the IEP travels with your child. (Just a mom here, with a child who sounds a bit like yours.) We had pre-K speech services, but speech therapy REALLY kicked in for my child when she started kindergarden, and she could be pulled out twice a week for shorter sessions. LOVE the speech therapist, who worked with the kindergarden teacher; many of the professionals at the school had training in speech, etc. and my daughter (now 9 years old) has made tremendous progress.
I agree with the previous poster that you should get started earlier rather than later. We also moved (from DC), and a lot of people helped us along the way to find the "best" therapist for our child, etc. Good luck and welcome!

[Anonymous]

Flora Singer in Silver Spring has great supports in PK and K-5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flora Singer in Silver Spring has great supports in PK and K-5.

A lot of MCPS have PK (PEP) or equivalent. It is not just one school. My child received speech in preschool at age 3 and 4 in public MC preschool. He continues to receive speech therapy once a week in 2nd grade. Our E.S. has at least one full time speech therapist and a couple part time SLT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moco has prek programs that provide speech services (PEP). If your child has an IEP already, I would say that she is almost certain to be eligible for PEP.

I would get in touch with PEP now.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special-education/programs-services/preschool.aspx

Just be aware that the language is different in MCPS--"Pre-K" is income-based pre-K for eligible four-year-olds. PEP is special education (which includes speech) for 3- and 4-year-olds. Knowing this will make navigating the web site and offices much easier. Highly recommend PEP (I used to teach it!) It is housed in many schools across the county and if your home school does not offer what your child qualifies for, transportation will be provided. Your child may also be eligible for speech services even if you choose not to enroll in PEP, but I doubt private preschool tuition will be paid, since PEP is offered for free. Oh, and the IEP travels with your child. You will have a meeting with the school's PEP team and service providers when your child is enrolled to review and update it (if necessary), but no worries about the IEP going away.

I would check out the Special Needs forum if you have more questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flora Singer in Silver Spring has great supports in PK and K-5.

A lot of MCPS have PK (PEP) or equivalent. It is not just one school. My child received speech in preschool at age 3 and 4 in public MC preschool. He continues to receive speech therapy once a week in 2nd grade. Our E.S. has at least one full time speech therapist and a couple part time SLT.

Great! OP wanted specific recommendations, so that was what I was passing along. It's probably helpful for OP to get school names where people have had good experiences. I'm sure there are others in additional to Singer, but I can only speak to Singer.

[Anonymous]

My child received speech services while she was in preschool, but she did not go to the PEP program. She went to a private preschool (paid for by us), and she was bused once a week to the local elementary school for speech services. I think it all depends on the degree of services needed.

[Anonymous]

No, to what the pp said. YOu choose whether you want your kid to enter PEP or to continue with Childfind and get itinerant services. Most posters on the special needs forum, including me, think that PEP is the better way to go. In addition, there is also a special speech program that focuses on articulation issues only that is not considered part of PEP that you might want to ask about. I recommend googling the doc MCPS Special Education at a Glance and posting further questions on the SN forum.

[Anonymous]

Your IEP will travel with you but first you will have a meeting at Central Office in MCPS to go over placement. The team will review the current IEP documents and reports and will talk about options. MCPS will not offer to pay for private preschool placement. PEP, Speech and Language class or itinerant speech services (which can be done at your new local school or possible at a private preschool that you choose to enroll your DC to) may be the options depending on the intensity of the needs.

[Anonymous]

There are very few private preschools beyond leap that have daily speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

OP here- Thanks so much! I have no idea where we are going to be moving, we have recently decided to also look at FFX and FCC schools as well. We should know more regarding where we will live in mid-springtime and I will contact the school district at that time to get started. I was not expecting they would pay for private for my DD's level of need since the districts are much larger in the DC metro...we only get that here because we are in a tiny district (2 elementaries, 1 middle, 1 HS) that does not have its own preschool program. They pay for 3 day morning nursery school and provide 30 minutes of private therapy and 60 minutes of inclusion therapy each week on top of the nursery school.

[Anonymous]

Once your child is three, they would go to the public preschool for special needs. Every county has them. There are a few private options such as a few inclusion programs and U of MD has a great three am or pm a week preschool for speech delays and issues call LEAP. The kids get 30 minutes of individual speech therapy per session and lots of speech related group activities.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm aware of that PP. My daughter is almost 4 and already has an IEP in place. Because on the IEP it states that she needs to attend preschool, and the public school where I currently live does not have a preschool program, they pay for her to go to a private preschool. I plan to send her to the public option if it is available for her when we move.

[Anonymous]

Also, if you have the means look into the Maddux school. The preschool class is not currently full but they are very selective. Not cheap but worth it--in-class group speech therapy. Some people with four year olds do Maddux in the am and PEP in the afternoon.