DCPS/DCPCS roll call: what services does your elementary kid with HFA get?

[Anonymous]

6 year old rising 2nd grader wit an IEP - currently we get: weekly OT; twice monthly social worker; and 5 hours push-in special ed. I'm not entirely sure what the social worker does or if she uses any sort of manualized social skills curriculum. She does do a "lunch bunch" every so often, but not sure what that consist of other than getting a few kids together. The IEP also has testing accommodations, but they aren't really relevant at this point.

[Anonymous]

5 hours special education per week or per month?

We get that per week.

We’re in the HFA program at SWS, where we also get a team of fabulous aides assigned to classrooms.

Plus a daily lunch group, for HFA kids who need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5 hours special education per week or per month?

We get that per week.

We’re in the HFA program at SWS, where we also get a team of fabulous aides assigned to classrooms.

Plus a daily lunch group, for HFA kids who need it.

5 hours per week. Something like a daily lunch group would be #1 on my wish list. Is it only HFA kids? My kid actually probably doesn't need the 5 hours of special ed - I wish I could trade it for more social supports.

[Anonymous]

5 hours of push in special education ought to be all about social supports.

At SWS the lunch group is for kids with HFA, though a few of the kids prefer to eat in the cafeteria most days.

Kids are also allowed to invite outside friends to join, on occasion.

I think most kids at SWS actually get more hours/greater support than what’s in their IEPs. It’s well-staffed. But your IEP sounds fairly similar to my kid’s wrt hours and services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5 hours of push in special education ought to be all about social supports.

At SWS the lunch group is for kids with HFA, though a few of the kids prefer to eat in the cafeteria most days.

Kids are also allowed to invite outside friends to join, on occasion.

I think most kids at SWS actually get more hours/greater support than what’s in their IEPs. It’s well-staffed. But your IEP sounds fairly similar to my kid’s wrt hours and services.

I'm honestly not sure what they do during the 5 hours of push-in. My guess is that the special ed teacher does a lot of support of other kids in the class. My kid needed the push-in more in K when he was transitioning to the more demanding curriculum, but now I think he pretty much just does the work without needing direction. As far as I am aware he also does OK interacting with kids in the classroom (because it's all so routine-based and hence low stress for him).

[Anonymous]

That sounds good to me. We got no social work support or lunch bunch and 30 minutes of group speech a weekly only. I asked for reading help per comments by the teacher who agreed and was denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 hours of push in special education ought to be all about social supports.

At SWS the lunch group is for kids with HFA, though a few of the kids prefer to eat in the cafeteria most days.

Kids are also allowed to invite outside friends to join, on occasion.

I think most kids at SWS actually get more hours/greater support than what’s in their IEPs. It’s well-staffed. But your IEP sounds fairly similar to my kid’s wrt hours and services.

I'm honestly not sure what they do during the 5 hours of push-in. My guess is that the special ed teacher does a lot of support of other kids in the class. My kid needed the push-in more in K when he was transitioning to the more demanding curriculum, but now I think he pretty much just does the work without needing direction. As far as I am aware he also does OK interacting with kids in the classroom (because it's all so routine-based and hence low stress for him).

Also for the lunch group ... I think lunch time is currently the ONLY time he really has the opportunity to use and develop his social skills in a natural setting, because the classroom is so structured, and at recess he tends to talk to teachers or observe. So lunch is the only time he's actually in the mix. But I know it's stressful for him, and has lately led to some stuff that sounds like bullying. What I'd really like is for there to be a balance, maybe lunch with all the other kids, then the option to have a more mediated group during recess? Is this too much to ask?

[Anonymous]

30 min weekly OT + 30 min weekly counseling
Still no IEP; no academic impact of disability
Lots of classroom accommodations

DC is in 4th

[Anonymous]

Last year, when my child was in 5th, we got 8 hours a week of special ed time (combination of push in and pull out, for academics), a weekly social skills group co taught by the speech therapist and social worker, and additional push in hours by the social worker and SLP (separately).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year, when my child was in 5th, we got 8 hours a week of special ed time (combination of push in and pull out, for academics), a weekly social skills group co taught by the speech therapist and social worker, and additional push in hours by the social worker and SLP (separately).

Does the SLP do just pragmatic language, or does your child have other language challenges? What did the SLP and social worker do during push-in hours, do you know? Was the social skills group "manualized" (eg based on something like Unstuck and On Target) or just ad hoc? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, when my child was in 5th, we got 8 hours a week of special ed time (combination of push in and pull out, for academics), a weekly social skills group co taught by the speech therapist and social worker, and additional push in hours by the social worker and SLP (separately).

Does the SLP do just pragmatic language, or does your child have other language challenges? What did the SLP and social worker do during push-in hours, do you know? Was the social skills group "manualized" (eg based on something like Unstuck and On Target) or just ad hoc? Thank you!

Just pragmatic language. When the SLP pushed in, it was to help with group work, especially with book clubs, which were challenging for my child. The social worker pushed in during recess (not every day, but many days) to help with social interactions.

In 4th grade the social skills group was based on Unstuck, but in 5th grade it was ad hoc and very targeted to my child's needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, when my child was in 5th, we got 8 hours a week of special ed time (combination of push in and pull out, for academics), a weekly social skills group co taught by the speech therapist and social worker, and additional push in hours by the social worker and SLP (separately).

Does the SLP do just pragmatic language, or does your child have other language challenges? What did the SLP and social worker do during push-in hours, do you know? Was the social skills group "manualized" (eg based on something like Unstuck and On Target) or just ad hoc? Thank you!

Just pragmatic language. When the SLP pushed in, it was to help with group work, especially with book clubs, which were challenging for my child. The social worker pushed in during recess (not every day, but many days) to help with social interactions.

In 4th grade the social skills group was based on Unstuck, but in 5th grade it was ad hoc and very targeted to my child's needs.

That sounds really good! Is that a DCPS or a charter? And why is this stuff all so ad hoc, with no central "prescription" for what HFA kids should get ....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, when my child was in 5th, we got 8 hours a week of special ed time (combination of push in and pull out, for academics), a weekly social skills group co taught by the speech therapist and social worker, and additional push in hours by the social worker and SLP (separately).

Does the SLP do just pragmatic language, or does your child have other language challenges? What did the SLP and social worker do during push-in hours, do you know? Was the social skills group "manualized" (eg based on something like Unstuck and On Target) or just ad hoc? Thank you!

Just pragmatic language. When the SLP pushed in, it was to help with group work, especially with book clubs, which were challenging for my child. The social worker pushed in during recess (not every day, but many days) to help with social interactions.

In 4th grade the social skills group was based on Unstuck, but in 5th grade it was ad hoc and very targeted to my child's needs.

That sounds really good! Is that a DCPS or a charter? And why is this stuff all so ad hoc, with no central "prescription" for what HFA kids should get ....

DCPS. We started in a SN private, so when we were transitioning to DCPS we had a good track record of what my child needed.