Private Schools and What Each One is Best For

[Anonymous]

How about we start a list of private schools and what they are known to be good for.

For example, what is Lowell good for, how about Mclean, Lab, Ivymount, etc...For example which school is good for ASD children, how about SPD children, and where is the best school for ADHD children? etc....And does anyone know of any regular private schools that also handle children with milder issues? If so, which schools and what do they handle? Not looking for what they say on their web site because some may say they can handle milder issues but they can't.

[Anonymous]

McLean is a regular school that handles kids with mild issues. It is not a special ed school and will not take kids who need that sort of support but for the kids with mild issues, its fantastic.

[Anonymous]

As a parent, I've heard administrators and parents at Lowell and McLean both say they are not special needs schools, which they are not. But further, I've heard them deny that they have ASD children in the mix and I know several at both. So, I don't understand the fine line they are trying to walk. Are they worried about being overloaded with special needs kids? Of course, they don't have serious autistic children -- they are not that kind of school, but they have PDD kids and Asperger kids and ADD and ADHD kids. So, I'm not sure those are considered "mild" issues.

[Anonymous]

19:23 PP here. My son has Aspergers and is at McLean. He doesn't have learning disabilities and is perfectly able to attend to what is going on in the classroom. He does not need a special ed school, which is why he is at McLean and not the Aspergers program at Ivymount, or Lab or one of the others. He does benefit from the structure and small class size at McLean. There are very few kids, as far as I can tell, at McLean who are on the spectrum and those who are there are extremely high functioning.

I'm sorry but I get annoyed with this idea that somehow my son's presence makes it a special education school. Its as if the fact that he is there poisons the environment for everyone else's child. When the fact is that he is a great student, a nice kid, has lots of friends and contributes a positive element to his class. His classmates appear not to have any issues, but I know that at least some have ADHD, and some have nothing at all but flourish, as my son does, with the small classes and nurturing environment.

My son could function in any number of schools in this area. Would his presence make them special ed schools? Oh and there are kids with ADHD at every school in this city, including the Cathedral schools and Sidwell (my other DC attends a Cathedral school, has ADHD, and gets straight A's -- and I know there are others). Are these special ed schools as well.

[Anonymous]

I don't think people were saying they are "SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOLS" but when you accept children with Aspergers and then tell parents that you don't accept special needs children, that's a mixed message to parents. My daughter has Aspergers and is incredibly bright and I still consider her special needs.

[Anonymous]

I consider my son with Aspergers as having special needs as well. But there is a difference between saying it is a special needs school and a school that accepts kids with special needs. They've never told us they don't accept kids with special needs -- when we visited they said half the kids have a diagnosis. I can't imagine anyone would believe them if they said they didn't accept kids with special needs. But they aren't a special needs school, just a school that can handle kids with mild things going on because they teach to the individual child. I know it sounds like splitting hairs but if my son went to public school, it wouldn't be a school that was special needs but rather a mainstream school teaching a child with special needs. This distinction is important because the true special needs schools do something McLean doesn't, and teach a very different population of kids.

[Anonymous]

What private schools accept children with mild mental retardation?

[Anonymous]

I think Ivymount is the best school for kids with MR, even mild MR. There are kids like that, I've heard, at Deiner but I think they kind of slipped through and don't represent the intended population. I know a family with a child with mild MR who is thriving in a MCPS.

[Anonymous]

The Director of Maddux flat out told us there were no ASD children in the population. I don't know why she lied, but it truly was a misrepresentation of the school. I do suspect that while they know they accept special needs kids they don't want to be overloaded with severely affected children, but nevertheless it sends a mixed message to parents. At least that was my experience at lowell and Maddux, and I have a mildly affected daughter.

[Anonymous]

What about Katherine Thomas for mildly mentally retarded? Does anyone have a child there?

[Anonymous]

Lowell is not a special needs school. A child with very mild issues, such as treated ADD/ADHD or learning differences for which good working strategies have already been found, maybe. But the progressive schools, such as Lowell, Green Acres, and Burgundy Farm are not a good place for special needs. These schools require kids who can self-direct, work collaboratively, self regulate their behavior, and so forth. It is not a free for all. These are great schools and their small class size and hands-on learning can be a good match for some SN kids, but probably not most.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by 'treated' ADD/ADHD - medicated kids? So then where are the kids who truly have mild isssues? If they are medicated, then theylikely are not even exhbiting any issues right?

I agree pr ogressive schools require a child to be even more self directed. How on earth an adhd can be more self directed than at any regular school is beyond me. If they're medicated I can see how that would happen. Otherwise how would that happen?

[Anonymous]

I think manyparents of childrenwith milder issues are afraid that if they admit their school also caters to kids with moderate issues, it'll open the floodgates to these children and their school will get the kind of reputation they are hoping to avoid.

I understand I do. But these kids are human beings. We need to be compassionate towards them rather than try to avoid them. Schools that are worried about keeping their reputation free of that special needs label are sending an awful message to all special needs kids.

[Anonymous]

Whoa, there are "mildly affected" kids with ADHD at every school. My DC is one of them -- at a cathedral school and doing extremely well. There are some kids with ADHD for whom medications aren't completely successful,and they need more supports but I don't think admitting there are kids at your school with ADHD means a whole lot since they are everywhere.

[Anonymous]

All of the private schools (Sidwell, GDS, Congressional etc) have some kids with ADHD and mild LDs, but may not be ideal place. Here's my take...
McLean School/Burgundy Farms -average to gifted on IQ test some have very mild LD, mild ADHD, mild ASD
Lab-low average to gifted in IQ test-claim no ASD on website, but have kids on spectrum, mild to moderate LD, lots with dyslexia
Oakwood- mild-to significant LD-good with language issues
Katherine Thomas and Kingsbury-low av to gifted-moderate-to significant LD
Ivymount-range in IQ, may take MR moderate to significant LD
Diener-range in IQ may take MR, moderate to sigificant LD claim they don't accomodate ASD, but seem to, small self-contained classes