Reply to APS & diagnosing learning disabilities

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am sorry your child's learning disabilities weren't identified earlier and it's great he is now getting the support he needs. That said, I would be surprised if  most parents (who are lucky enough to have the resources to do so) didn't already know how important private testing can be. You blame APS and you are so "livid at their ignorance" that you are warning other parents to "lawyer up" but perhaps deep down you are angry at your own ignorance and failure to advocate for your child as strongly as you could have. Teachers aren't diagnosticians who can tease out every special need, as much as we wish this were the case. Given your own concerns, you should have requested an evaluation from the school, which they would have been required to do. Without that, you don't know if and how they could have accommodated your child. I know schools can and often should do better but I don't think it's fair or helpful to lay blame in thie way that OP has done.[/quote]

NP. My kid’s story is similar to OPs. And yes, I am angry at myself for not being a better advocate but I am also angry with APS. My kid has a lot of issues that get tangled together and it is not the school’s job to fix them all but teaching him to read should squarely fall in their wheelhouse. He’s behind in reading- failing SOLs and all assessments below grade level but not enough to qualify for extra help, which he hasn’t received at APS since 1st grade. He’s extremely behind in writing and can barely write at a level about 3 grades below grade level. When we requested special education assessment, we were told he just didn’t try hard in the sections he didn’t pass (something we heard consistently all through elementary).

When we paid for  a private assessment, we were told they wouldn’t accept it and that they would need to redo it themselves. Every advocate and experienced parent we talked to said that we shouldn’t even bother trying to get APS to remediate dyslexia. So our options are either paying $100+/hour for private tutoring multiple days a week after he has already struggled through school all day or is all the money we have saved to send him to private school that costs more than most university tuition.

I think the teachers and administrators don’t mean to harm but way the system is set up let’s a lot of kids fail. It is completely justified to blame APS for that.

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I'm sorry for these stories regarding APS dropping the ball on learning disabilities. It really makes me wonder why APS is held in such high regard. Why are house prices so extreme, aside of the proximity to DC and great (although incredibly expensive) neighborhoods, what is the draw for families? I have friends in other areas of the country that are getting a much better quality education, assistance with diagnosing disabilities and collaborating on an IEP/recovery measures, etc. Especially since COVID, APS has been consistently going downhill. So many families have left for private education. Why pay Arlington prices if you need to send your kids to private school? All of this makes no sense to me, but maybe I'm missing something. [/quote]

I don't think you're missing anything. APS is held in high regard because the families are generally wealthy. Children whose parents are wealthy do better in school. There is nothing great about any APS school.[/quote]

and of course wealthy parents of kids with learning differences send them to private schools. APS loves it that way.[/quote]

Or they pay for private testing, tutoring and services.
APS doesn't want to pay for reading tutoring because they said it's too expensive and tutors for reading charge $100 per hr. So they are ok with parents paying for it and for those who can't well those kids just don't learn to read [/quote]

This is false. APS has many OG trained educators and reading specialists on staff in every school  and many children are regularly identitied for reading interventions. I'm speaking as a former staff member.[/quote]

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