Best elementary for special needs in bethesda

[Anonymous]

If you could pick any elementary school in bethesda for your child to go to that has the best special needs supports, which would it be? Any to specifically avoid?

[Anonymous]

Public or private?

[Anonymous]

Public or private?

[Anonymous]

Bethesda Elementary School, MCPS.

They are an inclusive school, students with special needs are seated in the general ed classrooms, with appropriate pull-outs when necessary. Contrary to general (illegal) practices in MCPS, they are good about evaluating children and creating IEPs.
Most teachers follow through, some need a nudge or two. But it is vastly better than other public school, and I imagine, general private schools, who have no obligation to cater to students with special needs.

We moved so that DS could go to BE. So far after 5 years of school, it's been good. Educating such children is always difficult and constant adjustments must be made, since they are continually growing and transitioning. We are satisfied.

[Anonymous]

Op. Public.

[Anonymous]

What kind of special needs? Academic, social, behavioral, physical? There is a range of special needs and there is a range of different school that can best meet them.

[Anonymous]

We've also heard good things about Bethesda Elem and pretty poor things about the other schools nearby. The attitude at some of these schools is to urge you to do private therapy since the parents tend to be wealthier than in other parts of MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:
Bethesda Elementary School, MCPS.

They are an inclusive school, students with special needs are seated in the general ed classrooms, with appropriate pull-outs when necessary. Contrary to general (illegal) practices in MCPS, they are good about evaluating children and creating IEPs.
Most teachers follow through, some need a nudge or two. But it is vastly better than other public school, and I imagine, general private schools, who have no obligation to cater to students with special needs.

We moved so that DS could go to BE. So far after 5 years of school, it's been good. Educating such children is always difficult and constant adjustments must be made, since they are continually growing and transitioning. We are satisfied.

[Anonymous]

Not all kids do best in inclusion. The Learning Center at Burning Tree is supposed to be pretty good. There's an autism program at Carderock. It all depends on your kid.

[Anonymous]

It does really depend on the disability and the needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Bethesda Elementary School, MCPS.

They are an inclusive school, students with special needs are seated in the general ed classrooms, with appropriate pull-outs when necessary. Contrary to general (illegal) practices in MCPS, they are good about evaluating children and creating IEPs.
Most teachers follow through, some need a nudge or two. But it is vastly better than other public school, and I imagine, general private schools, who have no obligation to cater to students with special needs.

We moved so that DS could go to BE. So far after 5 years of school, it's been good. Educating such children is always difficult and constant adjustments must be made, since they are continually growing and transitioning. We are satisfied.

+1. We heard this from an attorney who regularly fights MCPS for private placement, that BE was the best for special ed in its cluster.

Personal thumbs down for SPED at CCES. Principal is terrible about special education, and quite a bully. I know people who have filed complaints against her. I know others who have left the school because the principal was so obstructionist and/or because the sped and/or general ed teachers there simply didn't know how to deliver the specialized instruction necessary for pretty simple cases.

However, if you come to the HGC at CCES with an IEP already in place from your home school, then the GT teachers are a bit more knowledgeable and flexible with how to deal with GT/LD or GT/2E issues, and the principal is legal obliged to honor an IEP that comes from another school.

Thumbs down also for RHPS, which in our experience, since it is a K-2 school only, frequently manages to pass the buck to CCES by trying to convince parents that there is really nothing wrong with their child and that they will learn to do whatever by 3rd grade. They get away with this because the developmental window of what is "normal" is pretty wide until about age 8.

By contrast, Bethesda is no longer part of the pairing system in the cluster. If your kid goes to BES in K or 1st and has a problem, it is in their interest to remediate early to prevent themselves having a bigger problem to deal with in the later grades (3-5). The incentive is the reverse for RHPS -- if they can stall an IEP long enough, they can pass the problem to someone else. Plus, at BES, you won't have to go thru a whole transition with the IEP team at grade 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Bethesda Elementary School, MCPS.

They are an inclusive school, students with special needs are seated in the general ed classrooms, with appropriate pull-outs when necessary.

Contrary to general (illegal) practices in MCPS,

[b][i]they are good about evaluating children and creating IEPs.
Most teachers follow through, some need a nudge or two. But it is vastly better than other public school, and I imagine, general private schools, who have no obligation to cater to students with special needs.

We moved so that DS could go to BE. So far after 5 years of school, it's been good. Educating such children is always difficult and constant adjustments must be made, since they are continually growing and transitioning. We are satisfied.

Please clarify this statement. My DS attended Wood Acres, a highly regarded MoCo Bethesda area ES, so I want to understand what you mean by this statement. thanks.

[Anonymous]

BE has the oldest inclusion program in the county. It is regarded as the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Bethesda Elementary School, MCPS.

They are an inclusive school, students with special needs are seated in the general ed classrooms, with appropriate pull-outs when necessary.

Contrary to general (illegal) practices in MCPS,

[b][i]they are good about evaluating children and creating IEPs.
Most teachers follow through, some need a nudge or two. But it is vastly better than other public school, and I imagine, general private schools, who have no obligation to cater to students with special needs.

We moved so that DS could go to BE. So far after 5 years of school, it's been good. Educating such children is always difficult and constant adjustments must be made, since they are continually growing and transitioning. We are satisfied.

Please clarify this statement. My DS attended Wood Acres, a highly regarded MoCo Bethesda area ES, so I want to understand what you mean by this statement. thanks.

Not bashing Wood Acres in particular, PP. I know some people there, and they have not complained about that (displacement because of construction, but that's another subject!). However I have heard complaints again and again from parents of children with special needs on different SN forums and focus groups, who did not get their basic needs met in MCPS schools. As in, refusal to evaluate a child (illegal), refusal to create an IEP after the parent has provided a damming private evaluation from an expert at great expense (illegal), or refusal to follow-through on the IEP once created (illegal). Refusal to comply is most often very insidious and difficult to manage on the part of the parent. Without a clear mandate from the school principal, and a proactive and experienced IEP team, teachers may not understand clearly what to do with an IEP, and may not even be aware they are breaking the law. Stalling is a particularly effective and frustrating tactic - parents are told that their child's issues will resolve with time, that they are still within the range of normal, etc. And they keep punting to the next school until the child's needs are too monstrous to ignore, and far more difficult to manage. Parents are also told that a particular need is not within the school's mandate to accommodate, and parents need to be highly knowledgeable in order to parse the mounds of paperwork and fine print to point out that in fact, it is.
There is a heavy burden placed on the parents to educate themselves on their child's rights, and either negotiate with the school themselves, or hire an expensive advocate (there are plenty being kept in business in the area!) to mediate with the school. It can get ugly quickly if everybody gets defensive and retaliatory, and ultimately the one who suffers most is the child.

In contrast, there is not such an atmosphere of mistrust at BE. Which is not to say that everything is perfect, far from it! Accommodating special needs can never be perfect. However in 5 years everyone has shown themselves willing, within their competency, to do what's best for my child. And that's half the battle already!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of special needs? Academic, social, behavioral, physical? There is a range of special needs and there is a range of different school that can best meet them.

Agree. Different schools have different specialties.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My little one has speech, language and sensory issues.any bethesda elementary recommendations for those specific issues?