Need special needs lower elementary

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure I've gone through the list already, but I need a Montgomery County private special needs school for kindergarten (maybe 1st grade). My youngest child is high anxiety and ADHD-combined type. We are trying medication for both.

Most of the schools I know about don't deal with behavioral issues at all. She has anxiety attacks which present at this age like tantrums or willfulness. She does beautifully right now if she has someone right there with her helping her when she goes through these moments, but she has a very small class this year and the teacher can handle it. Academically, she is reading and doing math at a second grade level, but her anxiety and ADHD make it very difficult for her to cope in other ways.

Does anyone have any suggestions? We are looking at the Lourie Center but I don't think we can afford $68,000 a year. They seem to specialize in anxiety issues. Worried we would get kicked out of some of the other privates (Maddux, etc.). We have not ruled out public school and getting an IEP ahead of time, but she is not my first kid with anxiety and I am not so sure I have been thrilled with the results from MCPS for my other two (even though one of them took the magnet route).

[Anonymous]

Multiple needs program at ivymount but it's not cheap either.

Have you tried working with a iep consultant or even a lawyer for private placement?

[Anonymous]

OP. Arguing with the public school system for private placement would mean starting her there and going through several months of attempting to make everything with that option work. Not sure I want to even attempt that route yet.

We also have the option of joining a homeschooling coop that happens to be run by someone we know and like. Uses a curriculum we like. Lots of kids her age, some with similar needs.

I am in the position where that would work for our family. But I also want to continue to look at as many options as possible.

[Anonymous]

Maddux won't take a kid with behavioral needs. It's really an SN lite school. Katherine Thomas maybe. Also go to the Mansef home page and look up schools where you can see profiles of what kind of issues they accept.

[Anonymous]

What grade is your child in now—PK4 or K? If you’re still in preschool, getting an IEP is much easier then if you’re already in K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Arguing with the public school system for private placement would mean starting her there and going through several months of attempting to make everything with that option work. Not sure I want to even attempt that route yet.

We also have the option of joining a homeschooling coop that happens to be run by someone we know and like. Uses a curriculum we like. Lots of kids her age, some with similar needs.

I am in the position where that would work for our family. But I also want to continue to look at as many options as possible.

Not necessarily. We got funding at a SN school after a few years of being out of the public school. But you need to at least get her an iep. Initiate this process. Do you have comprehensive private testing? This would be the other piece to work on.

[Anonymous]

Where is she now? When my daughter was in PK, her anxiety presented as behavior problems. We switched to Maddux for K, and they have such a lovely structured program that the anxiety was no longer a problem and therefore there were no behavior problems (we still had social skill problems, etc., but nothing Maddux couldn't handle well). My point is that behavior problems in a school that doesn't specialize in these issues may not be indicative of behavior problems in another, better setting.

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn't Maddux take a child with tantrums or willfulness due to anxiety? I know several kids who have regular tantrums who went to Maddux recently and did great there. Their tantrums are short-lived, though, so it depends on what you mean by tantrum. If it's some stomping around, making faces and crying for a few minutes that might be okay. A full on screaming fit would work.

[Anonymous]

Try the Auburn School in Silver Spring. They will take kids with behaviors as long as they feel they can manage them. If your kid can be coached through difficult behaviors, you are likely a good fit for them. Tuition is something like $40,000 and they offer financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't Maddux take a child with tantrums or willfulness due to anxiety? I know several kids who have regular tantrums who went to Maddux recently and did great there. Their tantrums are short-lived, though, so it depends on what you mean by tantrum. If it's some stomping around, making faces and crying for a few minutes that might be okay. A full on screaming fit would work.

The op said she does okay if someone is right there helping. Maddux won't do that. Auburn or diener won't. There are limited options for privates. Eventually she may not need this, but she probably wouldn't make it through a school visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't Maddux take a child with tantrums or willfulness due to anxiety? I know several kids who have regular tantrums who went to Maddux recently and did great there. Their tantrums are short-lived, though, so it depends on what you mean by tantrum. If it's some stomping around, making faces and crying for a few minutes that might be okay. A full on screaming fit would work.

The op said she does okay if someone is right there helping. Maddux won't do that. Auburn or diener won't. There are limited options for privates. Eventually she may not need this, but she probably wouldn't make it through a school visit.

Auburn camp does exactly that for my kid, and they then accepted her for the school although we chose to stick with public instead.

Any school that caters to ASD has to accept at least some level of tantrums or they would have no students. An ADHD/Anxiety kid will have similar issues and usually will respond to the same behavioral supports as ASD kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't Maddux take a child with tantrums or willfulness due to anxiety? I know several kids who have regular tantrums who went to Maddux recently and did great there. Their tantrums are short-lived, though, so it depends on what you mean by tantrum. If it's some stomping around, making faces and crying for a few minutes that might be okay. A full on screaming fit would work.

The op said she does okay if someone is right there helping. Maddux won't do that. Auburn or diener won't. There are limited options for privates. Eventually she may not need this, but she probably wouldn't make it through a school visit.

It would depend on what the tantrums look like (i.e. whether the child hits or lashes out) and how often, but Maddux absolutely has the staff to work individually with a child who has tantrums/crying fits. If it was something like every hour it might not work, but I wouldn't rule them out without talking to them.

I took Unstuck and on Target at Ivymount with Monica Adler Warner of MAP; she showed a video of how her staff handled a child's crying meltdown and I was so impressed by the staff member's patience and compassion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't Maddux take a child with tantrums or willfulness due to anxiety? I know several kids who have regular tantrums who went to Maddux recently and did great there. Their tantrums are short-lived, though, so it depends on what you mean by tantrum. If it's some stomping around, making faces and crying for a few minutes that might be okay. A full on screaming fit would work.

The op said she does okay if someone is right there helping. Maddux won't do that. Auburn or diener won't. There are limited options for privates. Eventually she may not need this, but she probably wouldn't make it through a school visit.

Auburn camp does exactly that for my kid, and they then accepted her for the school although we chose to stick with public instead.

Any school that caters to ASD has to accept at least some level of tantrums or they would have no students. An ADHD/Anxiety kid will have similar issues and usually will respond to the same behavioral supports as ASD kids.

Maddux won't do a one on one. Auburn camp might and help a child transition to school through fading this. Behavioral supports are different than needing a one-on-one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't Maddux take a child with tantrums or willfulness due to anxiety? I know several kids who have regular tantrums who went to Maddux recently and did great there. Their tantrums are short-lived, though, so it depends on what you mean by tantrum. If it's some stomping around, making faces and crying for a few minutes that might be okay. A full on screaming fit would work.

The op said she does okay if someone is right there helping. Maddux won't do that. Auburn or diener won't. There are limited options for privates. Eventually she may not need this, but she probably wouldn't make it through a school visit.

Auburn camp does exactly that for my kid, and they then accepted her for the school although we chose to stick with public instead.

Any school that caters to ASD has to accept at least some level of tantrums or they would have no students. An ADHD/Anxiety kid will have similar issues and usually will respond to the same behavioral supports as ASD kids.

Maddux won't do a one on one. Auburn camp might and help a child transition to school through fading this. Behavioral supports are different than needing a one-on-one.

Maddux won't do a dedicated one on one, but if a child needs individual attention at a particular time, they can absolutely provide it (i.e. one teacher take a kid out in the hall for a break).

[Anonymous]

OP - it's SO HARD. Kids like ours need more support than they can get even in a good elementary, but they don't quite need Lourie Center.

I don't know what to tell you. We're struggling through with an IEP at our local elementary (which, while they are well meaning and try hard, just isn't adequate); but we constantly think about homeschooling.

Wish I had more helpful answers.