Anonymous wrote:Living close to a school with a program doesn't mean you'll be admitted to the program.

Also, OP, I doubt you'll have any difficulty in getting into a PEP program. I have heard good things about Bethesda Elementary being inclusive, but it's faced over enrollment and some kids (without IEPs) were sent to Rosemary Hills in the past.

I do think consulting with an advocate would be helpful in coalescing the anecdotal information you're getting as well as being able to highlight the different schools/programs.

Also, if you do decide to do a private SN school, most require a full evaluation by a developmental pediatrician or educational evaluation by a psychologist. Given the age of your kid, you'd probably want to go with a d.p. Probably the easiest route is going through Children's or Kennedy Krieger.

This group hold a SN school every fall at AU: http://www.exceptionalschoolsfair.com

Lastly, and I'm really not trying to stir up any controversy, but MERLD is no longer in the DSM. My kid was not on the spectrum (initially diagnosed with MERLD and fine motor issues), the only IEP designation MCPS would consider was autism for several years. He actually has Specific Language Disorder, but generally getting that diagnosis the kid has to be at least 6 years old (b/c of the testing involved) and don't get me started how long it took with MCPS. Your kid is very young and diagnoses can be fluid, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.

Anonymous wrote:For me,Iwoukd consider a school that is a "home school model" school. This means that all services are do one at your home school, the school your child would attend in your neighborhood. It is inclusive, your child is not bussed to another school and your child has school friends in the neighborhood. If your child needs more supports, another school might be necessary. For example, our home school is Kensington Parkwood. It is not a home school model. So they do not have the resources for my child so my daughter has to be blessed to another school. The home school model lets your child stay in the neighborhood and get the services they need.

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dcgrl15 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What services does your child need? It would help to know. If he is ED, there is an amazing ED program at various schools in the county that are excellent. There are programs at certain schools for kids with learning disabilities. There's a school for highly gifted but learning disabled students. Some schools have programs specifically geared toward kids on the spectrum. Schools without specialized programs are often times woefully unprepared for kids with special needs. They simply do not have the appropriate staff with training and experience to be able to handle certain situations.

Thanks for your reply. My son is a preschooler who has an IEP- receives speech and OT. A private eval identified his speech issue as "mixed receptive/expressive language disorder" and he has sensory processing issues. So he requires extra prompting in the classroom. Its so hard to pick a house not knowing if the schools will end up being good for him! Ahhh, so tough.

My DS was diagnosed with MERLD prior to K. MCPS refused to give any IEP or services until K. It took me three meetings. I had to pay for private assessments. Then, even when we demonstrated that he was significantly behind (which he wouldn't have been if he'd gotten services in K) and had additional diagnoses like ADHD and dysgraphia and reading disorder, etc., he still didn't get the special instruction he needed. What MCPS provided was more support and prompting in the regular general ed classroom with the general instructional materials. What he needed (and we kept asking for) was a explicit, repetitive instructional program in reading and spelling and writing.

We finally gave up in 4th grade and moved DS to a special private school for kids with language-based learning disabilities. DS improved and we were able to go back to MCPS for MS. MCPS doesn't fight any more about giving him an IEP, but we still have difficulty getting accommodations. It's always a fight to get the teacher to do what is on the IEP. In addition, we've given up on "specialized instruction". We just provide private tutoring in reading and spelling and writing for DS.

FWIW, Bethesda Elementary has one of the better reputations for special ed.

But, what you get will vary with the specific facts of your case. Our school system was terrible to us, but another student who had a terrible accident during the year and needed accommodations due to the lasting effects of the medical issues, was treated very well. Of course, that child had a sympathetic situation and a demonstrated track record of being a "smart kid".

OP here- I think I may have forgot to login. Thanks for sharing your experience. Ugh sorry its been a tough road. I can relate in terms of our experience (not in mcps) so far. It took me all winter to get my son the preschool services he needs. Im a little confused about how MCPS works. I know some of the schools have special types of programs but do all the schools have special ed teachers and paras to provide in class support etc? I definitely do not know what my son will need from kindegarten and beyond because I dont know how his needs will evolve with age and if his current speech, processing, fine motor skills issues are tied to something else we dont know about yet but will realize once its time for reading and writing. I guess we will have to take it all as it comes and hope whatever schools we end up at will be a good resource.

OP here again. I just read this again and thought about it more. Do you mind sharing which public schools you are at? No worries if you dont feel comfortable sharing that. What kind of support was given to your child at the private school? I can see us going down a similar road as you in terms of the needs our son has. Have you found that most kids with MERLD need to be in private language based schools? Or does it just depend on the individual case? Sorry my son is 3 1/2, so Im still trying to understand everything.

If I had it all to do over again, I would focus all the resources I had on early intervention. That means arranging for private speech therapy and tutors in reading (for a dyslexic appropriate reading instruction if that is a diagnosis) and writing (including explicit handwriting instruction, grammar and spelling as well as language organization). Some (speech therapy) might be covered by insurance.

On a parallel track, I would try for an IEP with school. You can get an IEP even with good grades. For an IEP. you need to demonstrate 1) disorder 2) adverse impact and 3) need for specialized instruction. For a 504 plan you need to demonstrate #1 and 2 but not #3. With a 504 plan, you get just accommodations (extra time for tests, class notes, use of graphic organizers, etc.) but no specialized instruction (just the same as all other students get).

Depending on your funding situation, you can try to get the school to do the assessment. As others note, schools often do a crappy job, hoping that the parent doesn't realize it. Without an appropriate assessment, there is no data and no way to counter the school if they say there is no problem. Of course, you do have the right to ask for an Independent Edcuational Evaluation, which the county must pay for, but that is a long process.

Another alternative is just to pay for the private assessment yourself and present it for consideration at the IEP meeting.

I can't make generalizations about what MERLD kids need. I think the range of the diagnosis is so wide (mild to highly impacted). If your son is only 3 1/2, I would focus on a language-rich environment, doing a lot of reading and talking to him, enrolling in a language rich preschool environment, accessing speech therapy, etc.

We used to live in DC, but moved to MCPS expressly because we thought DCPS even less capable of dealing with learning differences than MCPS. MCPS has a wider variation in the types of programs needed. But, at 3 1/2, I think it is very hard to predict what is needed in kindergarten. Is the MERLD severe enough that you think that the child might have access to early intervention services? I don't know much about those in MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:
We moved near downtown Bethesda specifically because the Bethesda Elementary School had a good reputation SN-wise.
We were not disappointed. They agreed to create an IEP, they lined up services I wouldn't have dreamed of asking, they cared for him.

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Anonymous wrote:PEP has a very good reputation in MCPS. You may have a tough time keeping the IEP for elementary if it's just for OT and speech but the PEP folks may be able to help you keep those services for K.
We were told MCPS does not provide OT for sensory issues. IME they only provide in very serious cases of kids with physical disabilities.
Unless he has really serious delays or issues speech is also very difficult to get.
It may be easier to get in the less wealthy part of the county but I would not count on it if you're looking at places like Potomac, Bethesda, Chevy Chase. The schools expect you to go private and if you fight them you'll end up spending thousands on advocates to get the services. The speech services they provide are often also in a group so it may not be exactly what your child needs although your child will have his or her individual goals. So you may as well go private because of this anyway.

Thank you so much for this info. He also gets OT for fine motor skills. His fine motor skills are pretty delayed. We are targeting Rockville for housing. Thoughts on that?

Well, from a livability standpoint, Rockville has great libraries, parks, restaurants, and depending on where you are metro access. I feel like it's so hard to generalize about school experiences since b/c they seem to be all over the place in MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the NEC and have gone through ES, MS and most of the way through HS. I am happy with the services and now that my son is almost ready to graduate I can see that what we did worked.

Anonymous wrote:It all depends. Are you talking Infants and Tods, PEP or MCPS? Staffing changes every year. We live in Bethesda now and moved here from the eastern part of the county for other reasons but I routinely hear people say that there are better services in the western part of the county and that's why they moved or want to. I don't agree. I thought there were more services in the eastern part of the county in part because there are a lot more people needing them. In Bethesda I feel very weird as the parent of a kid with an educational disability. I don't think you can pick a school ahead of time. Reputation is not everything. People change jobs. Placements change and so do kids. Other than Bethesda ES, which I don't have any experience with but is highly reputed, I think you should make yourself happy with your house first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all depends. Are you talking Infants and Tods, PEP or MCPS? Staffing changes every year. We live in Bethesda now and moved here from the eastern part of the county for other reasons but I routinely hear people say that there are better services in the western part of the county and that's why they moved or want to. I don't agree. I thought there were more services in the eastern part of the county in part because there are a lot more people needing them. In Bethesda I feel very weird as the parent of a kid with an educational disability. I don't think you can pick a school ahead of time. Reputation is not everything. People change jobs. Placements change and so do kids. Other than Bethesda ES, which I don't have any experience with but is highly reputed, I think you should make yourself happy with your house first.

I have to agree with this. I've struggled for years in MCPS to just get my kid basic services for ST and OT despite having gone through PEP, already having an IEP, and presenting the many independent evaluations we'd done.

Find a house, then find an advocate. I wish I had done this b/c it probably would have saved me and my kid a lot of time not to mention aggravation.

Anonymous wrote:What services does your child need? It would help to know. If he is ED, there is an amazing ED program at various schools in the county that are excellent. There are programs at certain schools for kids with learning disabilities. There's a school for highly gifted but learning disabled students. Some schools have programs specifically geared toward kids on the spectrum. Schools without specialized programs are often times woefully unprepared for kids with special needs. They simply do not have the appropriate staff with training and experience to be able to handle certain situations.