Tell me about Burke, VA

[Anonymous]

We live in Silver Spring and have a daughter with HFA that is now doing okay in MCPS with an IEP but it's been a fight all the way. A relative is moving and selling in Burke VA. We have been planning to move because we need a slightly bigger house. Know nothing about Burke (the community, the resources, etc.). Any insight? Do the public schools have good resources for HFA?

[Anonymous]

I live in West Springfield, next to Burke. I like the area a lot. I can't say how good the services are for HFA in FCPS as compared to Maryland. My DD has ADHD and undiagnosed learning disabilities with reading comprehension her primary issue. I would say I think the school she goes to tries, but there has been turnover in the special ed teachers, they haven't always listened to me when I've indicated best practice for her based on experience (such as making her read tests aloud instead of having them read to her) until they went months to figure that out for themselves (again),and they only just brought in an expert to figure out how to obtain a reading program focused on reading comprehension instead of broader reading problems (we all knew a long time that she didn't need to spend any time on phonics). So I would say they are not unwilling in FCPS, but not always on the ball. She does get support, which while not super tailored well to her particular needs, at least exists. She has social issues but has never been bullied or teased and they are working on social skills as a goal too.

But because of her lack of progress in reading comprehension (at least according to their tests) and writing, the constant pressure of standardized tests, and her social immaturity, I'm looking at ADHD/LD private schools despite the staggering costs for the next 3 years, just because we can eek it out and the small environment would be much better. However if we can't manage it or she isn't taken by those schools, I'm not worried about staying in the public system here so much -- it will just mean more work at home, which I'm already used to, and probably expanding on tutoring services beyond what we're doing now.

I do think Burke and West Springfield in general are nice areas with strong schools that are very diverse and not as high pressure as other areas in the region, so I recommend them highly.

[Anonymous]

If you know which school you're looking at in particular, that might help narrow it down for us. FCPS has a lot of resources at its disposal, but every school is different.

Burke is very nice. Where will you/your spouse be commuting to, though?