Reply to Frustrated with lack of Special Needs schools in this area

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We moved to be inbounds for a public school that had a great reputation with children with special needs. We calculated that since he needed therapies and down the road would need all sorts of coaching and tutoring, we would need to pay for lots of services outside of school anyway, regardless of whether it was private SN or public, so we preferred investing in a house that might appreciate and put him in a good public, and spend the rest of our money on whatever he needed outside of school.

MCPS has autism and Asperger's programs in some of their schools. It also has GT/LD programs for gifted, talented and learning disabled students (most of which have some blend of ADHD and HFA). You don't need to be in-bounds for each particular school for these special programs, but you do need to live in Montgomery County. We chose to live as close as possible, so he wouldn't have a long bus ride.

12 years later, and it's worked out well.[/quote]

I think a lot of families in this area feel similarly. Rather than pay for privates, use resources for outside services. Kids have such different needs with ASD that it is very difficult to have a school (private or public) for every kid. OP, I feel your frustration. It is hard to have $ and still feel like you can't give your kids what they need. My kid has been in MCPS too (we've explored privates at different points through the year). I long ago switched to part time so I could manage outside therapies, etc. Staying in public school has also given us the ability to save $ so that our kid will hopefully not need to worry about saving for retirement.[/quote]

one thing I'll mention is that by and large, the qualities of the services we get in public is really really good.  I have no reason to think it would be better in private.  It's not perfect and I have to fight for it, but no complaints about the dedication and skill of our providers in school.  If I had my dream school, it would be to reduce class sizes and to give more support to the providers so they wouldn't have to rush and would have more time to devote to planning and talking to each other.  but honestly, I would not switch to a private.

and we haven't even mentioned mainstreaming.  mainstreaming is really important for my child.  even if I could afford it, I don't think I'd pick a SN private school.  other parents may feel differently but I'm not alone.  I know plenty of parents who could afford SN privates and chose publics instead. [/quote]

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