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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've read this thread a couple of times and would be interested in any constructive input.

We currently have an IEP for our son, but the school seems to be unable to meet those expectations and realistically, given our son's condition, it seems unlikely that they will be able to. The school administration has been great in trying to accommodate his particular needs, but he is not advancing and we are coming to the conclusion that we will need to explore private options.

He has an aide, but they come from a company that contract’s with the DCPS and will never have the appropriate educational or medical background.

Our son has an ill-defined form of catastrophic epileptic encephalopathy. Ill-defined means there's no cause that can be identified despite going to Georgetown, Children's, Johns Hopkins, and NYU for evaluations.

He has frequent seizures that are resistant to conventional therapy and there is a waxing and waning cognitive component (has had a number of neuropsychological evaluations) on top of the difficulty associated with trying to think after recovering from multiple seizures (post-ictial) before and during school.

There's a lot more, but given the educational challenges and significant health risks (we take turns sleeping with him so that we can give him rescue medication to stop seizure clusters and monitor out of concern of Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP)), I'm looking for thoughts regarding private placement.

My questions are:
So many of the stories here and elsewhere are heartbreaking, but is the health risk and issue that is considered for getting private placement?

We know families who go to the Lab School and have great things to say about it, but are there any recommendations or thoughts on alternatives?

Has anyone had similar experience with these kinds of health issues, frequent seizures, and were you successful in receiving private placement? And if so where did you go and why?

Are there any thoughts on anything else?

I'm just coming from another heartbreaking experience at his school and Would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Thank you
[/quote]

I'm not sure about your private placement chances, but I just wanted to say I wish you the very best of luck.  Your situation is very complicated and I could see it going either way in terms of private placement.  On another note, please search the DC and local counties court record databases for each aide who comes into contact with your child.  The aide agencies seem to have a different level of what they think is acceptable in a background check.  Anyway, I would definitely contact a lawyer who deals with a lot of due process, placement cases and get an opinion.  The thing is, I don't know that the schools that deal with learning disabilities and autism and such would necessarily be able to deal with such a complex medical issue.

Anyway, just wanted to send good thoughts your way.  I have cried more than my fair share of tears about school and DC.  It's not easy and it's never-ending.[/quote]

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