Reply to Services for a child with autism in general education -- school recommendations

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[quote=Anonymous]My son was in MCPS and received no support for his mild high-functioning autism per se, but  plenty of solid support for issues that are often comorbid with autism: low processing speed, dysgraphia, inattention, and initially a speech delay.

He had group speech in elementary, coded for a speech delay, which looking back on it, was probably filled with mildly autistic kids like him. He received pull-outs in early elementary so he could have one-on-one help with an aide who wrote for him because he couldn't write fast enough (no laptops at that time).

In 5th grade, I finally overcame my husband's reluctance to medicate the ADHD and he started doing much better academically. He went to the MCPS GT/LD program for middle and high school: Gifted, Talented and Learning Disabled, also probably full of kids with ASD/ADHD like him. IT WAS WONDERFUL. He was able to access all the advanced courses in general education, but with a para in the classroom and a resource class instead of an elective, where he could finish his work and get organizational help. Later in high school, his IEP was changed to a 504. If it hadn't been for the pandemic, they would probably have made the switch much earlier, but the IEP teams were always chose to err on the side of caution and kept him on his IEP "just in case". Please note that 504s and IEPs are confidential and not reported to colleges; however any resource or remedial class show up on the transcript, which is required by colleges.

Outside of school, we tried social skills group at Alvord and Baker's, but it didn't really change anything. I worked A LOT with him at home on narration: explaining people's motivations in real life situations he experienced, or books we read, or movies we watched. I believe that was instrumental to his socio-emotional learning. I would literally pause from our joint reading, or pause the movie, to ask him questions and explain stuff. He had a writing tutor in middle school who, without knowing his diagnosis, zeroed in on his weakness of not inferencing from the text (using context clues to understand unwritten character motivations or social undercurrents). She taught him techniques for close-reading, and also helped him organize his thoughts and transfer them to paper, because he had a LOT of difficulties with writing. This is very common for a lot of kids with ADHD and autism. This tutor was the English coordinator at an MCPS high school, and she was absolutely excellent.

DS did very well academically and graduated with a dozen APs and stellar test scores. The MCPS schools he attended - Bethesda ES, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson HS - never fought us for anything we asked, and all his IEP teams were really good (with a couple of exceptions). But the main driver of success was my son's work ethic and willingness to take direction, despite extreme inattention and daydreaming; and the fact that I was the general manager and daily coach, and I understood exactly what he needed help with.

I have limited experience of Virginia schools, but from 15 years of reading the SN board and talking to various parents at various activities, I understand that MCPS may be the best school system in this regard. The North Bethesda/Walter Johnson, or Tilden/Walter Johnson cluster are particularly well regarded for this type of neurodivergence.

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