Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a preschooler who progressed enough with the county special education services such that he no longer needed any services by K? I'm trying to gauge the effectivesness of county services.

My son was in PEP for 3 and 4. During his annual review in PK 4, he was given an academic assessment. Based on the results, he would no longer eligible for his IEP. I had significant concerns about going to K without an IEP. He has ASD/AnxietyADHD and Mood Dysregulation.

My kid was not ready to function in a classroom but no longer fell below the county determined threshold. We transitioned to after school social skills and
CBT therapy. This worked ok for K and 1. He fell apart in 2 and it was a disaster. We now have our IEP again and he is in a self contained classroom.

School therapies are designed to help a child function at school. So if there's a specific issue that therapy could address, then they qualify, but if not, then you should find private providers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are reading too much into OP's question.

I think he/she meant she was trying to gauge whether her child would be able to enter K without services (and that this would be a good thing) if they used county services or if they should go without or use private.

OP: Yes. Thank you.

And the honest 9and frustrating) answer is 'it depends.'

Usually county services are only available to children who have pretty serious delays; not every child with some sort of delay even qualifies, and most continue to need some help when they enter school. This doesn't mean the services were ineffective, but rather that there may be a gap which was reduced but not quite closed. And some children never fully close the gap.

And some do get services as a preschooler and never need them again.

My child qualified for speech and OT via the county as a toddler. DC continued to receive school services in elementary school but by middle school didn't need them / didn't qualify. I think that's pretty typical.

Our approach was to throw as many therapies and resources at our child as he/we could handle when he was young in hopes that when he was older, and probably less compliant, they would not be needed. I will never know whether that was a good or bad strategy but i will say that he barely remembers the years spent going to speech or OT now (as a teen).

This is all true, and the bold is good advice. If you have time and money now, start aggressive with county AND private services.

I agree with this earlier is better approach. We waited to long (at the encouragement of the school system) to provide intensive reading/writing support for our DC. I asked for the first IEP prior to K; we did not get the IEP until the beginning of 3rd grade. In between, as the demands for reading and writing increased each year, there were negative ripple effects of not intervening enough early enough. There were negative academic, interpersonal and self-esteem impacts. I am convinced if we had intervened earlier and harder, both in terms of what we forced public school to do and piling on top effective outside private support, we could have avoided many of the negative ripple effects.

Instead, we were penny-wise and pound-foolish. What we didn't spend in legal fees and private tutoring by not fighting early, we ended up spending later, finally pulling our DC from public and spending 2 years at private.

YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are reading too much into OP's question.

I think he/she meant she was trying to gauge whether her child would be able to enter K without services (and that this would be a good thing) if they used county services or if they should go without or use private.

OP: Yes. Thank you.

And the honest 9and frustrating) answer is 'it depends.'

Usually county services are only available to children who have pretty serious delays; not every child with some sort of delay even qualifies, and most continue to need some help when they enter school. This doesn't mean the services were ineffective, but rather that there may be a gap which was reduced but not quite closed. And some children never fully close the gap.

And some do get services as a preschooler and never need them again.

My child qualified for speech and OT via the county as a toddler. DC continued to receive school services in elementary school but by middle school didn't need them / didn't qualify. I think that's pretty typical.

Our approach was to throw as many therapies and resources at our child as he/we could handle when he was young in hopes that when he was older, and probably less compliant, they would not be needed. I will never know whether that was a good or bad strategy but i will say that he barely remembers the years spent going to speech or OT now (as a teen).

This is all true, and the bold is good advice. If you have time and money now, start aggressive with county AND private services.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are reading too much into OP's question.

I think he/she meant she was trying to gauge whether her child would be able to enter K without services (and that this would be a good thing) if they used county services or if they should go without or use private.

OP: Yes. Thank you.

And the honest 9and frustrating) answer is 'it depends.'

Usually county services are only available to children who have pretty serious delays; not every child with some sort of delay even qualifies, and most continue to need some help when they enter school. This doesn't mean the services were ineffective, but rather that there may be a gap which was reduced but not quite closed. And some children never fully close the gap.

And some do get services as a preschooler and never need them again.

My child qualified for speech and OT via the county as a toddler. DC continued to receive school services in elementary school but by middle school didn't need them / didn't qualify. I think that's pretty typical.

Our approach was to throw as many therapies and resources at our child as he/we could handle when he was young in hopes that when he was older, and probably less compliant, they would not be needed. I will never know whether that was a good or bad strategy but i will say that he barely remembers the years spent going to speech or OT now (as a teen).

Anonymous wrote:I think people are reading too much into OP's question.

I think he/she meant she was trying to gauge whether her child would be able to enter K without services (and that this would be a good thing) if they used county services or if they should go without or use private.

OP: Yes. Thank you.

I think people are reading too much into OP's question.

I think he/she meant she was trying to gauge whether her child would be able to enter K without services (and that this would be a good thing) if they used county services or if they should go without or use private.

DONT SIGN ANYTHING. if you disagree fight it. For example if your is kiddo has ASD that is category that qualifies for services point blank.

Story time: my now 6 yr 1st grader was in DC charter school for PK3 that was supposedly one of the better ones for special ed. the therapists were great, the folks running the special ed department not so much. at the end of PK3 when we already were accepted at another school for Pk4, they said he didnt qualify for services any more and didnt qualify for an IEP anymore. I strongly disagreed. I didnt sign anything. the following year in PK4 he has services they changed a little but still similar services for behavior and more social supports. Come kindergarden everything changed and he had a very hard year. We got a full neuropsych that year, got him on ADHD meds modified his services a few times. Now for 1st grade have made even more services due to challenges in K. Hes doing great and has more services that wouldn't have be even thought of in PK3. Some kids may not struggle academically but may still have behavior or social challenges, they still qualify for services.

the next few years will change greatly and is going to be very hard to get services back. if you feel your kiddo need services fight for them. they will evolve over the next few years, if then it looks like your kiddo doesnt need them, consider it then. do not let them try to push you from an iep to a 504 or similar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a preschooler who progressed enough with the county special education services such that he no longer needed any services by K? I'm trying to gauge the effectivesness of county services.

I know many young children who use Early Intervention services and go on to "graduate" into normal lives and completely mainstream schooling experiences. However, that is not a judgment of the effectiveness of country services. For every such child, who might need only a little bit of help with a few skills, there is a very severely disabled child. Early Intervention is crucial for such children as well, and effective, even if the disabled children do not age out of services.

Gauging the effectiveness of EI by such a standard is unfair. What are your child's needs? Perhaps a combination of EI and private would be best.

Agree. This is kind of a weird question. OP, do you have a child with SN? What are you trying to decide by "gauging the effectiveness" of EI services?

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a preschooler who progressed enough with the county special education services such that he no longer needed any services by K? I'm trying to gauge the effectivesness of county services.

I know many young children who use Early Intervention services and go on to "graduate" into normal lives and completely mainstream schooling experiences. However, that is not a judgment of the effectiveness of country services. For every such child, who might need only a little bit of help with a few skills, there is a very severely disabled child. Early Intervention is crucial for such children as well, and effective, even if the disabled children do not age out of services.

Gauging the effectiveness of EI by such a standard is unfair. What are your child's needs? Perhaps a combination of EI and private would be best.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. MCPS told me my preschooler was “within normal limits”. Uh no. He was (and still is) autistic, and not “HFA” either.

Get an advocate b/f you sign anything. They MSU be trying to wheedle of survices

Yes. MCPS told me my preschooler was “within normal limits”. Uh no. He was (and still is) autistic, and not “HFA” either.

Are you trying to figure out the effectiveness or just milking MCPS tax payers for services that a regular parent should pay for? It’s really unclear.

Depending on your school, the services are not worth much starting in K.

Anyone have a preschooler who progressed enough with the county special education services such that he no longer needed any services by K? I'm trying to gauge the effectivesness of county services.