The McLean School: ASD kids need not apply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it speaks really poorly of the school that they dont realize that autism and 'social, emotional' challenge are MASSIVELY widespread now. In my kids class at mainstream private, 50% of the kids have some kind of social emotional challenge and therapy. or more. so idk where ANY school gets off thinking they can get away with not supporting that. it's not something you can opt out of in 2023.

There’s no way 50% of the class at your kid’s school would place on the autism spectrum.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the head was telling you what the school does best, not assessing the students. Isn't that what you need to know?

"Here's who we do well serving: Kids with ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, or executive functioning deficits. Here's who we do not service well: Kids on the autism spectrum."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it speaks really poorly of the school that they dont realize that autism and 'social, emotional' challenge are MASSIVELY widespread now. In my kids class at mainstream private, 50% of the kids have some kind of social emotional challenge and therapy. or more. so idk where ANY school gets off thinking they can get away with not supporting that. it's not something you can opt out of in 2023.

Do you understand there are parents of student with only LD who don't want the focus to be on social-emotional and behavioral challenges and time and effort being spent away from remediating reading, writing, spelling, and other ACADEMIC issues? Tuition is around $50,000. For that amount of money many parents of students with only LD's want the school to focus on academics only to give their kid a fighting chance to get to grade level. So actually it is something the school can opt out of because supporting students whose main needs are social, emotional, and/or behavioral is NOT the purpose of the school.

My cousin has a child at McLean and it is such a big sacrifice. Their local public school was no help even though their child had an IEP and couldn't read. He was in 4th grade and we went to a restaurant and he couldn't read the children's menu. It was just unfortunate luck that their child's special education teacher also oversaw a few students with social, emotional, and behavioral needs that took up almost all the special education teacher's time. Consistently when his turn to get reading help the special ed teacher was called away to deal with another special education student with behavioral, social, and emotional needs. My cousin is now thankful that that is not the focus of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way I would apply to a school that stated clearly at an open house that they do not want my child. I would not want my child to have to spend every day at school feeling like they had to apologize for being who they are. That’s bs.

Agree McLean should state this on their website as clearly as they did at the event.

We got this word through the grapevine a few years ago when we were looking for HS for our student with ASD and didn’t even apply to McLean. Our student is attending a mainstream private with absolutely no academic or other school supports and doing well. They still have social challenges but don’t require hours and hours of interventions and aren’t debilitated.

But that is NOT what the school actually said. They said they don't serve that population well. That is different. Its not discriminatory. A steakhouse would not serve vegetarians well, but they would be free to make a reservation there and eat a baked potato.

[Anonymous]

Looks like they will have a new head of school next year so it could change. The head of schools sets the tone and expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it speaks really poorly of the school that they dont realize that autism and 'social, emotional' challenge are MASSIVELY widespread now. In my kids class at mainstream private, 50% of the kids have some kind of social emotional challenge and therapy. or more. so idk where ANY school gets off thinking they can get away with not supporting that. it's not something you can opt out of in 2023.

Do you understand there are parents of student with only LD who don't want the focus to be on social-emotional and behavioral challenges and time and effort being spent away from remediating reading, writing, spelling, and other ACADEMIC issues? Tuition is around $50,000. For that amount of money many parents of students with only LD's want the school to focus on academics only to give their kid a fighting chance to get to grade level. So actually it is something the school can opt out of because supporting students whose main needs are social, emotional, and/or behavioral is NOT the purpose of the school.

My cousin has a child at McLean and it is such a big sacrifice. Their local public school was no help even though their child had an IEP and couldn't read. He was in 4th grade and we went to a restaurant and he couldn't read the children's menu. It was just unfortunate luck that their child's special education teacher also oversaw a few students with social, emotional, and behavioral needs that took up almost all the special education teacher's time. Consistently when his turn to get reading help the special ed teacher was called away to deal with another special education student with behavioral, social, and emotional needs. My cousin is now thankful that that is not the focus of the school.

Exactly. There are schools that serve ASD kids.

But for kids with dyslexia, it’s disastrous if they’re not getting the interventions they need. In that case, schools like McLean are invaluable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it speaks really poorly of the school that they dont realize that autism and 'social, emotional' challenge are MASSIVELY widespread now. In my kids class at mainstream private, 50% of the kids have some kind of social emotional challenge and therapy. or more. so idk where ANY school gets off thinking they can get away with not supporting that. it's not something you can opt out of in 2023.

Do you understand there are parents of student with only LD who don't want the focus to be on social-emotional and behavioral challenges and time and effort being spent away from remediating reading, writing, spelling, and other ACADEMIC issues? Tuition is around $50,000. For that amount of money many parents of students with only LD's want the school to focus on academics only to give their kid a fighting chance to get to grade level. So actually it is something the school can opt out of because supporting students whose main needs are social, emotional, and/or behavioral is NOT the purpose of the school.

My cousin has a child at McLean and it is such a big sacrifice. Their local public school was no help even though their child had an IEP and couldn't read. He was in 4th grade and we went to a restaurant and he couldn't read the children's menu. It was just unfortunate luck that their child's special education teacher also oversaw a few students with social, emotional, and behavioral needs that took up almost all the special education teacher's time. Consistently when his turn to get reading help the special ed teacher was called away to deal with another special education student with behavioral, social, and emotional needs. My cousin is now thankful that that is not the focus of the school.

I didn’t realize McLean is just for students with LDs. Is it all remedial?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it speaks really poorly of the school that they dont realize that autism and 'social, emotional' challenge are MASSIVELY widespread now. In my kids class at mainstream private, 50% of the kids have some kind of social emotional challenge and therapy. or more. so idk where ANY school gets off thinking they can get away with not supporting that. it's not something you can opt out of in 2023.

Do you understand there are parents of student with only LD who don't want the focus to be on social-emotional and behavioral challenges and time and effort being spent away from remediating reading, writing, spelling, and other ACADEMIC issues? Tuition is around $50,000. For that amount of money many parents of students with only LD's want the school to focus on academics only to give their kid a fighting chance to get to grade level. So actually it is something the school can opt out of because supporting students whose main needs are social, emotional, and/or behavioral is NOT the purpose of the school.

My cousin has a child at McLean and it is such a big sacrifice. Their local public school was no help even though their child had an IEP and couldn't read. He was in 4th grade and we went to a restaurant and he couldn't read the children's menu. It was just unfortunate luck that their child's special education teacher also oversaw a few students with social, emotional, and behavioral needs that took up almost all the special education teacher's time. Consistently when his turn to get reading help the special ed teacher was called away to deal with another special education student with behavioral, social, and emotional needs. My cousin is now thankful that that is not the focus of the school.

I didn’t realize McLean is just for students with LDs. Is it all remedial?

No. My cousin's child excels in math and has great listening comprehension and vocabulary. Other students are inattentive and need a smaller class size but are at or above grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to wit:"Our Abilities Model® starts with gifts and helps all students — conventional learners as well as those with challenges such as dyslexia, anxiety, and ADHD, or organizational challenges".

That is not on the spectrum.

NP. I have a DC with ASD (mild, sorry not sorry), who is on/above grade level, and some some executive functioning and organizational challenges. I would read the above and think it would be a good fit for my DC - until they say out loud that they do not take kids with ASD. Okay, then, no. We would walk out then too.

I disagree. I am reading "dyslexia, anxiety and ADHD, or organizational challenges". THAT does not say on the spectrum. Each SN school in the area has its own mission statement. You need to READ the statement and if confused, call. The McLean School has always in my mind been clear on autism. So you go look at Ivymont or the other area schools that specialize in that. For the same reason, Commonwealth Academy clearly states as its mission statement that it is for average to gifted kids with ADHD. It, too, will steer clear of ASD because its teachers are not equipped to teach to that set of issues.

CALL AND ASK THE School first. Don't blast them here.

I have nothing to do with the McLean School but think OP was grossly unfair. She should have read the particulars and if confused call and ask.

OP here: We were on the website. We had a consultant call on our behalf. Admissions said they do accept ASD kids, so long as they are engaged. That's why we went to the open house.

So you got the official info from admissions. You are putting way too muck stock in a brief remark from a person in a very temporary position. There is no need for all this drama.

Yep! Smelling a troll.

NP. No, she’s not a troll. I attended the open house today and heard OP’s comments in person (and I cringed because she was so emphatic about how mild her daughter’s autism is). The co-head said they don’t serve students with autism well. That is not the same thing as saying they don’t accept kids with autism. You are taking this way too personally and you fell down on the job when you apparently agreed with your daughter’s comment that the school doesn’t want her. No one said they don’t want her specifically, they were giving you a heads up that the school typically does not meet the needs of someone with autism. You could have followed up with them one-on-one to discuss whether the school would likely meet your daughter’s needs. Instead you got defensive and then came to rant on DCUM and make some unfair accusations about the school. I wasn’t all that impressed by the open house (so it’s not like I’m trying to prop up the school) but i think you’re being really unfair. You might also want to rethink that educational consultant, they should have a better handle on the area schools.

Boom. and I had a kid who spent three years at The McLean School. In the end it wasn't working for her. Why? because she was aspergers/on the spectrum but the three rounds of testing we had done didn't show that yet. It took another round before getting an IEP at a public school before we would figure that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to wit:"Our Abilities Model® starts with gifts and helps all students — conventional learners as well as those with challenges such as dyslexia, anxiety, and ADHD, or organizational challenges".

That is not on the spectrum.

NP. I have a DC with ASD (mild, sorry not sorry), who is on/above grade level, and some some executive functioning and organizational challenges. I would read the above and think it would be a good fit for my DC - until they say out loud that they do not take kids with ASD. Okay, then, no. We would walk out then too.

I disagree. I am reading "dyslexia, anxiety and ADHD, or organizational challenges". THAT does not say on the spectrum. Each SN school in the area has its own mission statement. You need to READ the statement and if confused, call. The McLean School has always in my mind been clear on autism. So you go look at Ivymont or the other area schools that specialize in that. For the same reason, Commonwealth Academy clearly states as its mission statement that it is for average to gifted kids with ADHD. It, too, will steer clear of ASD because its teachers are not equipped to teach to that set of issues.

CALL AND ASK THE School first. Don't blast them here.

I have nothing to do with the McLean School but think OP was grossly unfair. She should have read the particulars and if confused call and ask.

OP here: We were on the website. We had a consultant call on our behalf. Admissions said they do accept ASD kids, so long as they are engaged. That's why we went to the open house.

So you got the official info from admissions. You are putting way too muck stock in a brief remark from a person in a very temporary position. There is no need for all this drama.

Yep! Smelling a troll.

NP. No, she’s not a troll. I attended the open house today and heard OP’s comments in person (and I cringed because she was so emphatic about how mild her daughter’s autism is). The co-head said they don’t serve students with autism well. That is not the same thing as saying they don’t accept kids with autism. You are taking this way too personally and you fell down on the job when you apparently agreed with your daughter’s comment that the school doesn’t want her. No one said they don’t want her specifically, they were giving you a heads up that the school typically does not meet the needs of someone with autism. You could have followed up with them one-on-one to discuss whether the school would likely meet your daughter’s needs. Instead you got defensive and then came to rant on DCUM and make some unfair accusations about the school. I wasn’t all that impressed by the open house (so it’s not like I’m trying to prop up the school) but i think you’re being really unfair. You might also want to rethink that educational consultant, they should have a better handle on the area schools.

So OP made all these comments in public and then stormed out?

Interesting.

She spoke during the Q&A portion. I think she asked them to elaborate on their point about not serving kids with autism well, and she said more than once that it’s a spectrum and her daughter is mild. It was a civil discussion, she did not storm out, they remained seated for the remainder of the Q&A.

OP or to the other poster that attended the QA session can you pls tell us what the school officials said when they were asked to elaborate on their point of not serving asd kids well ?

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP, this is very stressful.

However, it's no secret that a lot of SN private schools will not take ASD children: McLean, Lab, Norwood, etc.

Same with many independent privates that on paper are inclusive and claim to support socio-emotional development, but in practice will not deal with students on the spectrum.

The choices from here on are: public with IEP or privates that specialize on ASD.

They are not staffed to support ASD, they don't want to be staffed for that - it's more involved and expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child graduated from McLean School last year. He had several friends in his class with ASD and we have known several over our years at the school. Perhaps what the Co-Head of School meant was that McLean serves less well those with ASD who need more support than they have available. I would agree with one of the other posts that being transparent can be helpful in searching for a new school.

McLean does not enroll ASD students who already have the diagnosis.
IF an existing student is newly diagnosed - they are either kept or counseled out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP, this is very stressful.

However, it's no secret that a lot of SN private schools will not take ASD children: McLean, Lab, Norwood, etc.

Same with many independent privates that on paper are inclusive and claim to support socio-emotional development, but in practice will not deal with students on the spectrum.

The choices from here on are: public with IEP or privates that specialize on ASD.

They are not staffed to support ASD, they don't want to be staffed for that - it's more involved and expensive.

Can’t wait to see Norwood parents freak out that you called it a special needs school, lol!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP, this is very stressful.

However, it's no secret that a lot of SN private schools will not take ASD children: McLean, Lab, Norwood, etc.

Same with many independent privates that on paper are inclusive and claim to support socio-emotional development, but in practice will not deal with students on the spectrum.

The choices from here on are: public with IEP or privates that specialize on ASD.

They are not staffed to support ASD, they don't want to be staffed for that - it's more involved and expensive.

Norwood is not a SN private. They are good at accommodating kids with LDs, but they are a mainstream private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP, this is very stressful.

However, it's no secret that a lot of SN private schools will not take ASD children: McLean, Lab, Norwood, etc.

Same with many independent privates that on paper are inclusive and claim to support socio-emotional development, but in practice will not deal with students on the spectrum.

The choices from here on are: public with IEP or privates that specialize on ASD.

They are not staffed to support ASD, they don't want to be staffed for that - it's more involved and expensive.

Can’t wait to see Norwood parents freak out that you called it a special needs school, lol!

No need to freak out. It’s just factually wrong.