Why are all ASD schools in the suburbs?
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Anonymous
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This is part serious question and part vent -- by why are all of the private schools for kids with HFA or even ASD in faraway suburbs?
We're beginning to explore middle school options for our child with HFA, who's presently well-placed in a DCPS school. But I feel like we can't even consider private school, since the mainstream ones wouldn't take her, and the SN ones are all too far away from DC to be feasible. Yes, we could move, but that would uproot other kids who are happy and doing well, and make our commutes miserable. We're also by the way at a loss for summer camp, since the few SN camps in DC are all for super young kids, and driving out Rockville or some such place is also unfeasible. Why are there so few resources in DC proper? Vent over. |
Anonymous
| It really is annoying. We happen to live on the DC/MD border which makes a couple of the ASD schools feasible for us. If you get publicly funded, you likely could get busing. If you’re private pay, you can try to find families to carpool with. |
Anonymous
| How do you know the mainstream privates will not take her? What kind of supports and accommodations does she need? Which SN private schools are you considering? I can guarantee you that there are kids going to them from DC. |
Anonymous
| Some families hire a driver and/or carpool. |
beckmom2015
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| ASD mom here - looking for a new school for my son - where are you currently enrolled? Also which private schools are you looking at? |
Anonymous
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If you get funding, transportation will be included.
So many of the SN schools in DC itself have closed recently: Kingsbury, ECC. I assume it's related to DC's unwillingness to fund non public placements and most families in DC can't afford to pay themselves. |
Anonymous
| How old is your child? |
Anonymous
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OP here. We’re located on Capitol Hill, so a car pool or whatever to Ivymount, Auburn, KTS, Diener, etc., are out of the question.
DCPS won’t fund us, as our child is having a good year — but aging out soon of current program. Commonwealth is on the list, but even that’s a schlepp. Other schools tbd together with our neuropsychologist and developmental pediatrician. But the pickings are slim, slim, slim. |
Anonymous
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On Capitol Hill, you are actually reasonably close to ivymount, kts, diener, lab.
Auburn is a disaster after being sold to a for profit. Most people have to drive really far to get to these schools, much farther then capitol hill to lab. |
Anonymous
Are you crazy??!! With the exception of Lab, which won’t accept ASD kids, those schools are an hour away. |
Anonymous
To clarify— they’re an hour away one-way. So if I drive my kid there it would take 4 hours in the car per day. Maybe that’s reasonable to you but it’s a non-starter for me. |
Anonymous
| Many kids that get services outside their current school district set up the IEP to include door to door pickup and drop off, typically paid for by the school system and usually a mini van / taxi type service rather than a bus. |
Anonymous
Yes, as already discussed, that’s when they have a publicly funded, private placement, which we won’t get. |
Anonymous
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I know it was a hypothetical question but all these schools are relatively new (compared to established privates) so they went where they could afford the land. But to put it into perspective, we live in the suburbs and my feeling is that they are also impossibly far away. (The one serving the wrong need might be close, the one we would use is even farther from me than from you...)
I think the point is that there aren't enough of these schools. Also, they are too expensive for most of us! |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks — the new school going where they could find the land explanation makes sense for why SN schools are so far from DC.
I will say, we’ve never had trouble finding services near us, such as OT or speech. In any case, we’re not set on a special needs private. We just want to explore all our options for middle school and feel like our choices are limited by geography. |