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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=dcgrl15][quote=Anonymous]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.  [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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".  [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.

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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.  [/quote]

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