Goding SWS Aspergers program and Francis Stevens SWW Aspergers Program

[Anonymous]

Do I understand correctly that

1. SWS serves Grades 1st and 2nd; and

2 SWW serves Grades 3rd-5th?



How big are the classes in each case?

How difficult is it to get into SWS? I assume very difficult

Anyone have review on either of them?

Thank you

[Anonymous]

I don't think so. At least this year, both have a 3rd grade class. SWS is now starting a second, younger cohort to move through the program.

When we were looking at the programs last year, the biggest difference was that SWW/FS was a more self-contained classroom, while SWS was more inclusion with pull-outs. The SWS class I observed was 6 kids in a social skills group; I don't know how they were distributed in class.

[Anonymous]

There's a very recent chain about SWS at Goding. My child is enrolled there for next year (1st grade, part of new cohort of perhaps K-2). It's an inclusive program with a social skills pull out, I think with eight or so kids total (some of whom were already at SWS, so not all new admits, though my child will be new to the school). I understand the other program at Francis Stevens as being for kids who need more support.

[Anonymous]

Reviving this thread. DCPS may refer our child to the HFA program at SWS at Goding. We know nothing about it. Any info current or recent parents can provide would be amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread. DCPS may refer our child to the HFA program at SWS at Goding. We know nothing about it. Any info current or recent parents can provide would be amazing.

OP, we’ve been part of the SWS/Goding program for many years. Overall it’s been amazing. And the school is great too.

Next year they’ll be back in their newly renovated building, which will be a huge improvement.

I’m happy to answer general questions. Or if you have more specific questions send me a dummy email and we can correspond offline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread. DCPS may refer our child to the HFA program at SWS at Goding. We know nothing about it. Any info current or recent parents can provide would be amazing.

OP, we’ve been part of the SWS/Goding program for many years. Overall it’s been amazing. And the school is great too.

Next year they’ll be back in their newly renovated building, which will be a huge improvement.

I’m happy to answer general questions. Or if you have more specific questions send me a dummy email and we can correspond offline.

m
Thank you! I’ll stick to general questions till I know if it’s a fit and there’s room for him.
Is the program push in, pull out or both? What kind of support is provided? Where do the kids go from the supportive classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread. DCPS may refer our child to the HFA program at SWS at Goding. We know nothing about it. Any info current or recent parents can provide would be amazing.

OP, we’ve been part of the SWS/Goding program for many years. Overall it’s been amazing. And the school is great too.

Next year they’ll be back in their newly renovated building, which will be a huge improvement.

I’m happy to answer general questions. Or if you have more specific questions send me a dummy email and we can correspond offline.

m
Thank you! I’ll stick to general questions till I know if it’s a fit and there’s room for him.
Is the program push in, pull out or both? What kind of support is provided? Where do the kids go from the supportive classroom?

SWS has an inclusion program. Kids are fully integrated into a regular general education classroom. They get pull-outs for regular (perhaps twice weekly, I've lost track) "Strategies" lessons. Other pull-outs are based on a kid's IEP. For example, my kid also has a weekly pullout with a social worker. Other kids with IEP (but not necessarily ASD) are part of that.

The program has an autism expert (with a BCABA) with a maximum caseload of eight (though in practice the caseload has often been less). In addition, there are a number of excellent aides assigned to the program, who push-in daily into the classroom. So, for example, even though my kid's IEP does not provide for a 1:1 aide, in practice, there's always someone around if my child needs a break.

The only caveat to the above that I'll note is that I'm not familiar with the preschool level program SWS has set up in recent years. I believe that classroom receives more support, but it's more recent and I have no familiarity.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "where do kids go from the supportive classroom?", so if I failed to answer that part of your question let me know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread. DCPS may refer our child to the HFA program at SWS at Goding. We know nothing about it. Any info current or recent parents can provide would be amazing.

OP, we’ve been part of the SWS/Goding program for many years. Overall it’s been amazing. And the school is great too.

Next year they’ll be back in their newly renovated building, which will be a huge improvement.

I’m happy to answer general questions. Or if you have more specific questions send me a dummy email and we can correspond offline.

m
Thank you! I’ll stick to general questions till I know if it’s a fit and there’s room for him.
Is the program push in, pull out or both? What kind of support is provided? Where do the kids go from the supportive classroom?

SWS has an inclusion program. Kids are fully integrated into a regular general education classroom. They get pull-outs for regular (perhaps twice weekly, I've lost track) "Strategies" lessons. Other pull-outs are based on a kid's IEP. For example, my kid also has a weekly pullout with a social worker. Other kids with IEP (but not necessarily ASD) are part of that.

The program has an autism expert (with a BCABA) with a maximum caseload of eight (though in practice the caseload has often been less). In addition, there are a number of excellent aides assigned to the program, who push-in daily into the classroom. So, for example, even though my kid's IEP does not provide for a 1:1 aide, in practice, there's always someone around if my child needs a break.

The only caveat to the above that I'll note is that I'm not familiar with the preschool level program SWS has set up in recent years. I believe that classroom receives more support, but it's more recent and I have no familiarity.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "where do kids go from the supportive classroom?", so if I failed to answer that part of your question let me know.

Wow. This is so helpful. Thanks! By where do they go, I meant what comes next for the kids who are in the program?

[Anonymous]

The SWS/Goding program feeds into SWW@FS for middle school. That said, to date, very few kids have opted for SWW@FS. Rather, many have opted for lottery-based charters, to include Latin, BASIS and Inspired Teaching. Others have gone to private schools, like Commonwealth. Others have attended their IB school. And still others have been determined to need more support than SWS can provide and been placed in either self-contained classrooms or received private placement.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for all of this information!

[Anonymous]

We have been told that the program is only available if you are already enrolled to the school via lottery, which doesn't make sense. Can anyone confirm that this is indeed a placement that DCPS can assign to kids who need it?