Acorn Hill or Wash Waldorf Preschool for boy with SN?

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if anyone out here has sent a child with moderate SN to the Acorn Hill preschool or to the Wash Waldorf School for preschool. Our son will be 5 next fall but more like a 3.5 or 4 yr old so we want a play-based program for him. All of the public schools in MD and DC want to send him to K, and this is not appropriate, so we're looking for an alternative. We did not get in to St Columba's for their 4 yr old class for next fall and though we are waiting to hear from NCRC, I don't think we could afford it even if we did get in. I am wondering whether one of the Waldorf schools might be OK. We are moving to the area from out of state so could move either to DC or MD depending on what school we chose.

We like the Waldorf philosophy but aren't sure whether either school is set up to handle a child who will need help integrating into the class. Our son has apraxia (major speech delay) and dev delays, but no behavioral problems at all. He tends towards shyness around children though can be very outgoing with adults. He really is just incredibly young, more than anything else. He is still parallel playing rather than engaged playing, so we want him to have good typically developing models around, though.

Thanks for any feedback anyone can give.

[Anonymous]

Not Waldorf, but have you considered CLC in Rockville?

[Anonymous]

I don't know anything about CLC. We're coming from out of state so I obviously don't know about a lot! I will do some digging about it...though if anyone wants to share, I'm all ears (or eyes, as it may be!)

I am finding that nearly everyone had deadlines back in Jan so it's unlikely we will get in anywhere...feeling very despondent about this whole thing.

[Anonymous]

CLC definitely takes kids during the year, see this thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/44826.page
They have a rare open door policy so you could visit anytime that worked for you. They have an excellent reputation but are not as talked about because they are farther out.

I looked into Washington Waldorf but didn't think they would take my particular kid
Washington Waldorf http://www.washingtonwaldorf.org/LD_policy__Feb_09.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CLC definitely takes kids during the year, see this thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/44826.page
They have a rare open door policy so you could visit anytime that worked for you. They have an excellent reputation but are not as talked about because they are farther out.

I looked into Washington Waldorf but didn't think they would take my particular kid
Washington Waldorf http://www.washingtonwaldorf.org/LD_policy__Feb_09.pdf

CLC is also not mentioned by the greater parent community because it has a strong Jewish focus. For families like ours (non-religious) we considered several Jewish schools, but this one had a VERY strong religious curriculum.