Ivymount, Katherine Thomas, or McLean School

[Anonymous]

DL is not working for our SN's DS currently enrolled in MCPS (1st grade). He has an autism and ADHD diagnosis and is currently medicated. He has an IEP but implementation is almost non-existent. He is really frustrated and we are spending more time teaching him and helping him understand the assignments while participating in DL than if we were to give up and homeschool. Unfortunately, we both work full time and committing to homeschooling for the rest of the school year is not possible. Further, even when he attended Kindergarten last year in person, we were called at least once a week because he would have a meltdown and destroyed property or hurt others. When he is at home, we do not have these incidents and based on feedback from our ABA therapist who observed him on multiple occasions during class, the large class is not working for him because he is not able to follow along. When he gets more one on one instruction or small groups, he does not have the behavior issues and is able to do all the assignments. Based on everything I discussed, we would like to enroll him in private school. We are considering Ivymount, Katherine Thomas and McLean School and don't know which one would be best for our DS's needs.

[Anonymous]

He sounds too involved for McLean. Ivy mount primarily serves kids on the spectrum but I don’t know what they are doing for DL. KTS serves a wide variety of peers but is on dL for all but the smallest kids now and dL does require lots of parent help.

[Anonymous]

I've never been a fan but at that are you could also look at Lourie Center.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you should go through the IEP process and see if you can get him a different placement. There are programs that have smaller groups and if those don't work, then he will be placed in one of those schools anyways.

Where is he academically?

However, if you really want to private pay, I agree that he does not sound like a fit for McLean. I think the Laurie suggestion is good and KT might be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Your son sounds like my nephew. Are you near a Fusion School? There’s one in Alexandria VA I think. It’s one-on-one and has worked really well for my highly intelligent ADSD ASD loved one. He’s in HS, not sure whether they do the younger grades.

[Anonymous]

Op,

I don’t think any of these schools are in person yet. It’s possible to get private placement at KTS and Ivymount. Since Ivymount runs most of the year, more expensive than the other two schools you mentioned.

I would get an advocate to help you figure out the best placement.

Personally, I would look into Auburn vs. KTS or Ivymount.

You may also want to try the Newton school in VA—it’s in person or hybrid.

[Anonymous]

Not sure I would count out McLean - if he does fine in the small classroom, he might be fine (class sizes very small).

[Anonymous]

My son is in 5th. We are in a self contained classroom in MCPS. DS has ADHD/ASD/Anxiety. I never thought I would homeschool but here I am. DL is a clusteref.....

I know you said you could not commit to homeschool for the year because you both work full time. Where is your son doing DL? Is he home with you or is at daycare or in a pod?

I ask because my son does virtual homeschool. It’s asynchronous but takes him no more than 2 hours in total per day to cover 6 subjects. If he’s tired, he starts later. If he gets up earlier, he starts earlier. If he needs a break, he takes one.

It leaves a lot of time for playing Legos and reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in 5th. We are in a self contained classroom in MCPS. DS has ADHD/ASD/Anxiety. I never thought I would homeschool but here I am. DL is a clusteref.....

I know you said you could not commit to homeschool for the year because you both work full time. Where is your son doing DL? Is he home with you or is at daycare or in a pod?

I ask because my son does virtual homeschool. It’s asynchronous but takes him no more than 2 hours in total per day to cover 6 subjects. If he’s tired, he starts later. If he gets up earlier, he starts earlier. If he needs a break, he takes one.

It leaves a lot of time for playing Legos and reading.

Not op, but who is homeschooling him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is in 5th. We are in a self contained classroom in MCPS. DS has ADHD/ASD/Anxiety. I never thought I would homeschool but here I am. DL is a clusteref.....

I know you said you could not commit to homeschool for the year because you both work full time. Where is your son doing DL? Is he home with you or is at daycare or in a pod?

I ask because my son does virtual homeschool. It’s asynchronous but takes him no more than 2 hours in total per day to cover 6 subjects. If he’s tired, he starts later. If he gets up earlier, he starts earlier. If he needs a break, he takes one.

It leaves a lot of time for playing Legos and reading.

Not op, but who is homeschooling him?

I work from home full time. His computer is in my office. I have enrolled him in an asynchronous virtual online program. I’m homeschooling him using a virtual curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is in 5th. We are in a self contained classroom in MCPS. DS has ADHD/ASD/Anxiety. I never thought I would homeschool but here I am. DL is a clusteref.....

I know you said you could not commit to homeschool for the year because you both work full time. Where is your son doing DL? Is he home with you or is at daycare or in a pod?

I ask because my son does virtual homeschool. It’s asynchronous but takes him no more than 2 hours in total per day to cover 6 subjects. If he’s tired, he starts later. If he gets up earlier, he starts earlier. If he needs a break, he takes one.

It leaves a lot of time for playing Legos and reading.

Not op, but who is homeschooling him?

I work from home full time. His computer is in my office. I have enrolled him in an asynchronous virtual online program. I’m homeschooling him using a virtual curriculum.

Would you mind sharing the name?

Also did you drop his iep?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never been a fan but at that are you could also look at Lourie Center.

Thanks...I will definitely look into the Lourie Center. I see on their webpage they are focused on social and emotional wellness but how are they academically. DS is intelligent but it is very focused on what he likes. At three, memorized hundreds of different types of ocean animals; at 5 he got into dinosaurs and learned everything about them. During class last week, the students in DS's class was asked to name things that started with each letter of the alphabet and for T, one child said Pteranodon; DS turned to us and said Pteranodon starts with a P. He puts together large Jurassic World lego sets almost all by himself. However, like many kids with autism, he will only focus on learning and talking about things he likes. Given that DS is capable of learning and exceling academically, I don't want him to be placed in a program that can't support him reaching his academic potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in 5th. We are in a self contained classroom in MCPS. DS has ADHD/ASD/Anxiety. I never thought I would homeschool but here I am. DL is a clusteref.....

I know you said you could not commit to homeschool for the year because you both work full time. Where is your son doing DL? Is he home with you or is at daycare or in a pod?

I ask because my son does virtual homeschool. It’s asynchronous but takes him no more than 2 hours in total per day to cover 6 subjects. If he’s tired, he starts later. If he gets up earlier, he starts earlier. If he needs a break, he takes one.

It leaves a lot of time for playing Legos and reading.

We will look into the asynchronous virtual programs. I can take two hours a day to homeschool, but they most likely won't be consistently the same two hours. DH can also help support homeschooling; however, like me, we can't always be doing it on a consistent schedule due to meetings and important assignments due with little turnaround time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op,

I don’t think any of these schools are in person yet. It’s possible to get private placement at KTS and Ivymount. Since Ivymount runs most of the year, more expensive than the other two schools you mentioned.

I would get an advocate to help you figure out the best placement.

Personally, I would look into Auburn vs. KTS or Ivymount.

You may also want to try the Newton school in VA—it’s in person or hybrid.

We are in the process of hiring an advocate. We had one IDLP meeting with DS's case manager where we raised all the concerns I mentioned in my original post and we held one separate meeting with the principal. We requested an IEP meeting. I think Ivymount is in person. The McLean school is not yet. DS has no issues wearing a mask and he wears one for two hours each day with his ABA therapist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never been a fan but at that are you could also look at Lourie Center.

Thanks...I will definitely look into the Lourie Center. I see on their webpage they are focused on social and emotional wellness but how are they academically. DS is intelligent but it is very focused on what he likes. At three, memorized hundreds of different types of ocean animals; at 5 he got into dinosaurs and learned everything about them. During class last week, the students in DS's class was asked to name things that started with each letter of the alphabet and for T, one child said Pteranodon; DS turned to us and said Pteranodon starts with a P. He puts together large Jurassic World lego sets almost all by himself. However, like many kids with autism, he will only focus on learning and talking about things he likes. Given that DS is capable of learning and exceling academically, I don't want him to be placed in a program that can't support him reaching his academic potential.

Any of these schools aren't going to place a huge focus on academics and at some point you are talking about interest and he needs the basics.