Cabin John/Hoover/Tilden

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm looking for recent input on the above mentioned middle schools in MCPS. My DD will be going into 6th grade next year and current school is already talking about middle school. Diagnosis: ADHD, ASD, dyslexia and a handful of others LDs. She is low average in IQ and neuropsych report states she scores high in some areas and low in others. Some behavior problems with other kids and authority figures. The above schools have been mentioned casually. IEP next week for initial discussions. I find all of this very overwhelming. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Do you think she should be mainstreamed (with supports) or in an autism program?

[Anonymous]

I would ask about an ivymount placement.

[Anonymous]

Are you looking toward a program or fully mainstreamed? Each middle school has some kind of program. At Hoover it is called Bridge but I don’t know much about it. My DD is mainstreamed at Hoover and we have been pleased overall. Great case manager who is really willing to go out of her way to help. Available resource class so that she can get help. That said, there is so much homework- hours a night. It just seems unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I’m bumping this. My apologies for not responding. Had a difficult time during the holidays with family issues and finally feel able to focus on this. My DD will need supports especially in reading , writing and math. What I’ve seen this year is that the schools are teaching the grade level curriculum and my child is 2+ years below grade level. How can she catch up? Right now the folks at the middle school want us to look at Hoover Bridge and Westland autism services. Either may be a good fit but how in the heck does she catch up? Will either of these schools focus on foundational math skills, etc.? Thanks for any and all help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m bumping this. My apologies for not responding. Had a difficult time during the holidays with family issues and finally feel able to focus on this. My DD will need supports especially in reading , writing and math. What I’ve seen this year is that the schools are teaching the grade level curriculum and my child is 2+ years below grade level. How can she catch up? Right now the folks at the middle school want us to look at Hoover Bridge and Westland autism services. Either may be a good fit but how in the heck does she catch up? Will either of these schools focus on foundational math skills, etc.? Thanks for any and all help.

The only way to get off of the grade level curriculum train is to say that your daughter is on a certificate path for now and has Alternative Learning Outcomes. Then the teachers are free to focus on the foundational skills that she needs to catch up on. Otherwise, they have no choice but to continue to present her with the expected grade level requirements. Once you are satisfied that she has "caught up" with the basics, you can move her back to a diploma track. Elementary and MS are the time to do the ALO approach so that by the time she reaches high school she has the basics needed to participate in high school classes--on grade level and graduate by age 21.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m bumping this. My apologies for not responding. Had a difficult time during the holidays with family issues and finally feel able to focus on this. My DD will need supports especially in reading , writing and math. What I’ve seen this year is that the schools are teaching the grade level curriculum and my child is 2+ years below grade level. How can she catch up? Right now the folks at the middle school want us to look at Hoover Bridge and Westland autism services. Either may be a good fit but how in the heck does she catch up? Will either of these schools focus on foundational math skills, etc.? Thanks for any and all help.

The only way to get off of the grade level curriculum train is to say that your daughter is on a certificate path for now and has Alternative Learning Outcomes. Then the teachers are free to focus on the foundational skills that she needs to catch up on. Otherwise, they have no choice but to continue to present her with the expected grade level requirements. Once you are satisfied that she has "caught up" with the basics, you can move her back to a diploma track. Elementary and MS are the time to do the ALO approach so that by the time she reaches high school she has the basics needed to participate in high school classes--on grade level and graduate by age 21.

I respectfully disagree. The likelyhood of a student being non-diploma bound for several years and then being successfully moved to the dilplmoa track is slim to none. The ALO track doesn’t ensure the same level of assessment and monitoring to demonstrate progress in the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I think once a child is certificate bound that it’s hard to get back on diploma. I toured the Bridge program at Hoover. I didn’t like that they had a padded room. Perhaps it’s necessary sometimes but it’s scary.

[Anonymous]

The law changed roughly one year ago. Currently, the school system must ask you for permission annually to keep your child on ALO---you can switch back to diploma track and they cannot deny you.

[Anonymous]

OP here.... interesting about the change in law. If you talk to the transition folks at HQ, they make it sound like you can never change back.