Reply to DC charter school for 3rd grader w/IEP for ADHD, sensory processing, social skills

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here

Thanks to those who gave some suggestions for schools! To clarify, we won’t move unless we get into a school we think is a good fit. I do plan to visit some schools but was hoping for some help in narrowing it down. We’re just starting to look into this and it’s quite overwhelming! Thank you to those who named some specific schools you recommend checking out! Particularly 13:58 and 14:36 and 20:45 – thank you!

The reason we’d be looking to leave Arlington (beyond the fact that we’d just love to live in the city!) is that although Arlington “sounds” like a good school district, we’re finding that it’s great for the “good” kids (who can sit and do worksheets, etc.), but NOT great for the kids who don’t fit into the mold. (Note we live in North Arlington – I suspect some of the South Arlington schools are better resourced since they have a higher number of IEP kids). The IEP for our older one technically is only for the ADHD. The sensory stuff is just something we’re aware of and I have personally pushed for him to be allowed to wear a hoodie or headphones at lunch when it is noisy, and to not have to sit in the hallway before class starts since it is so noisy there and starts his whole day off on a bad foot. So they have been accommodating in these situations, but I imagine most schools would be. And he’s not getting any support for social skills – I just mentioned it to give a sense of what challenges he has. There has even been talk that he could have high functioning autism (if so, it is very mild – mostly challenges around social skills).

His actual IEP is focused on support with executive functioning mostly but has not appeared to help at all. I feel like we just need to try having him in a different environment where he can do more hands on stuff and not be forced to sit at a desk all day which is making him crazy. The reality may be that no charter school even exists that will be hands-on enough, but we wanted to at least explore it. In Arlington our only other option is private school….

Oh, and Arlington does basically nothing for gifted kids other than a summer camp, so it’s not like we’re walking away from anything there. I was hopeful that maybe charter schools have more flexibility in that regard to allow some kids to accelerate if they’re ready (not sure if that is true).

I will say that I’m grateful for the IEP we have for the younger one. But again I hope he will not need it in a year when he starts kindergarten.
 
15:09 – thanks for letting me know there is a way to look up statistics for openings  - I didn’t know this data was available. This is a huge help (but scary to see these numbers!). Related to this – since I’ll have a DS entering K that year, does that mean his older brother would get in if he did? I imagine they can’t do it that way since the slots for the older kids wouldn’t be available?

15:17 – I actually had the same thought on bilingual! His biggest strength is language, and like you said, he’s kind of ahead in math anyway so I do feel like bilingual could be a cool challenge for him that would make him pay attention more. I’m intrigued by Mundo Verde. One issue though is that our younger one isn’t looking to be as good with language so it might not turn out to be a good fit for him and I would not want them at different schools! But definitely something to look into...

09:06 – thank you for the swimming comment! He actually does love swimming and I have been thinking to try to find a place for him to do that year-round.

09:17 -  thank you so much for this perspective and these resources! BTW Arlington Schools did do the neuropsych testing on him which is how we learned of his IQ – so grateful to have all of this really well-documented as I know it will be important if we switch schools.  
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OP, if you do move to NoMA you won't be far from Rumsey Pool (near Eastern Market) which is one of the practice sites for the DC Wave team https://dpr.dc.gov/service/dc-wave-swim-team and it's not a bad metro ride to the other site at Takoma.

If you really want a lot of movement and hands-on time you might want to look for the cheapest housing you can bear and do a private school like Burgundy Farm. But I will say I was impressed with the special ed coordinator at Inspired Teaching and also liked the people I've met from Capital City.[/quote]

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