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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't understand why people try to bucket Aspergers and ADHD together. An Aspergers kid is going to be a lot more disruptive, high maintenance, than an ADHD child.  I have a child with ADHD and he is no longer medicated, and is a straight A student in a private high school in DC.  He does get some minimal accommodations like extended time for tests and preferential seating.

As for Aspergers, I know several children with this disorder, and I can tell you it is rare that they would do well in a mainstream environment.  The two disorders are very different.[/quote]

This is the unfortunate spread of ignorance regarding these children.  Yes, some high functioning autistic children (Aspie is no longer a diagnostic category) will not do well in mainstream at young ages, but if the diagnosis is accurate most will do well in mainstream classrooms eventually so long as there is no comorbidity, such as ADD or it is also controlled.  I have seen ADD kids be just as or far more disruptive as some not so high functioning Austistoc spectrum kids, and others well medicated whom you would not guess are ADD.  And I know kids with HFA diagnosis who have brought up the level of discourse in later  elementary year classes and beyond, and to the outside world appear to have essentially outgrown the diagnosis.  An autistic child with severe sensory issues, a need for repetitive behaviors, resistance to changes and very concrete language will have trouble in a mainstream class.  But plenty of HFA kids - especially as they get to mid-later elementary years deal well with issues.  The biggest lingering issue for hen is unstructured social dynamics -- lunch, recess, and - depending on the school - gyms and specials if teachers provide minimal structure.  The classroom for these kids is a safe haven - rules can be established more clearly and expectations. They can do well in mainstream eventually.  Almost by definition, So called Aspie kids are often quite bright.   The bottom line is that children are all developmentally different. Labels can be helpful to the well informed parent, educator or therapist as a heads up of what to look about for, but they can be very misleading when bantered about by those who who are less informed.

[b] Unfortunately, many private school educators are not nearly as well informed about HFA as they should be.  I have seen instances where they have accepted Kids not early as high functioning  on the spectrum and don't know the kids are on the spectrum ( the same may be true for the parents), then turned away far higher functioning kids where the parents were really on top of the child's issues with therapies outside of school. It is ashame. [/quote][/b]

to the PP above : I can tell you why this is happening:

1) parents apply to many NW DC privates either in denial of their child's needs for extensive support or intentionally concealing that info from the schools they apply to

2) the pre-schools often, to a man, do NOT share with the applicant school in an informed way ( sorry, but it is a lie to say a child's social behavior is in  " developing" stage when he self stims all day long and throws tantrums.

3) parents maybe use a hook for one school or look at cost when really what their kid needs is Field or Burke but they are in denial[/quote]

I agree with your explanation No. 1, but I would add that while some parents are in denial, many parents are really just ignorant. This is especially true of first time parents with no basis for comparison and others who just have not spent much time around smaller children in recent years.  As for explanation No. 2,  again I believe many preschool teachers are simply not adequately trained -- at least that was true when our DC was young and from others' posts I take it the problem continues today. Our DC's preschool teachers and principal were still telling us DC was reserved, marched to the beat of his own drummer, but certainly behaved within a "normal" developmental range right up to the point when they expressed dismay that the developmental team at Children's saw our DC as HFA.   I also think some preschool teachers and administrators are reluctant to say anything that might upset a parent (and might result in the loss of a student) .  Perhaps well intentioned, but not helpful.

I take issue, however, with the tone of your third point as needlessly -- and inaccurately -- disparaging to both HFA students generally as well as to typical students who attend the above mentioned schools.  I know young HFA kids who attended other privates and ended up at top ivy league schools, and I know there have been typical kids from Burke who have ended up at top ivy league schools as well.  An ASD child does not necessarily fit better at Field or Burke, and a bright non-ASD child does not necessarily fit better at another school.

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