It is not the place for an autistic child. They will stand out. Parents unacceoting.

We loved it. Dd went for 2 years. Met the director, but never said more than hello. The teachers are wonderful, truly fantastic. My dd was supported, nurtured, cared for, taught, and she thrived and learned and grew, and had fun doing all of it! Her classmates were lovely children. I met nice families, the facilities were wonderful, smart, caring, committed educators. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. I never noticed any of the junk people are writing about, never.

Go with caution. It's run like a high school. If the director likes you she will kiss your feet. If not you are blacklisted. Parent involvement is very cliquey and it is hard to be accepted. Parents used to have a voice. Now there are two leaders who can't lead. The sense of community is lost

Anonymous wrote:We are considering our son for Temple Rodef this coming fall. Our son is high functioning on the Autism Spectrum. We want to hear from any parents who have had a child on the spectrum and attended Rodef. We like that Rodef allows shadows as we want to ensure our son is getting the support he needs to meet his goals. We also see the large dollar signs that follow and want to be sure this is worth the money! All experiences and comments will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

I am a Rodef parent, I am not on the parent committee and I barely even know the principal. Nobody asked me to write this. (Nobody I know would admit being on DCUM anyway.) Now that that's out of the way, let me say that we absolutely love Rodef. In the 3 years I have had a child there I have only had a few minor complaints, and those all had to do with logistical or administrative issues, not how they treat the children. My kid has absolutely flourished there and we have loved getting to know the other families in the community. The Reggio approach works really well for my kid and fits in with my own philosophy, and the teachers are extremely nurturing and experienced. I also think Rodef has a dramatically nicer facility than most other preschools in the area, including the outdoor spaces, which are a huge deal for an active boy like mine. The ratios are wonderful, usually no more than 13-14 kids in a class, with one lead teacher and two assistants at all times. We love the music teacher, the art program, and the new STEAM lab.

All of that being said..... I'm not sure that it is the right place for a child with more than mild special needs. And maybe HFA qualifies as mild special needs, I admit I don't know. But I can say that there is really no special education program at Rodef or any mention of special education, and as far as I have seen in 3 years, my son has never had a child with evident special needs in his class. I say "evident" because of course I don't know, but I have gotten to know most of the kids pretty well so if there was anything that would stand out I think I would have noticed. I don't know what your priorities are, but I am speculating that if I were in your shoes I would be looking for a community my child will not stand out as the only child or one of a very few with special needs. This is something I do not like about Rodef and I think it would be good for all of the kids if they were more inclusive. I am just sharing with you what I have observed, which may or may not be an accurate reflection of the school's capabilities, but since you are looking for feedback from current parents I thought I would share.

Anonymous wrote:We are considering our son for Temple Rodef this coming fall. Our son is high functioning on the Autism Spectrum. We want to hear from any parents who have had a child on the spectrum and attended Rodef. We like that Rodef allows shadows as we want to ensure our son is getting the support he needs to meet his goals. We also see the large dollar signs that follow and want to be sure this is worth the money! All experiences and comments will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

PP, go with Child Find preschool instead. They are more prepared to deal with SN children.

We are considering our son for Temple Rodef this coming fall. Our son is high functioning on the Autism Spectrum. We want to hear from any parents who have had a child on the spectrum and attended Rodef. We like that Rodef allows shadows as we want to ensure our son is getting the support he needs to meet his goals. We also see the large dollar signs that follow and want to be sure this is worth the money! All experiences and comments will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

I have 2 kids at Rodef and we love it. I find the posters here (I'm assuming there are one or two of you who keep coming back and posting the same thing over and over again) speaking about some mysterious evils over the top and not credible. And I'm not a paid spokesperson for the school, so I find that conspiracy theory hilarious as well. If it were a terrible school, it wouldn't be popular. It's clearly not struggling to fill its classes, so do what you will with this info. If you listen to the crazies on DCUM rather than seek the opinions of your friends/peers/neighbors, then I guess you deserve what you get.

Well, Lady, I don't see many other pre-schools vilified on DCUM like TRS unless it is a school where a crime has occured. Your message was nasty and odd, so maybe you are feeling sorry for the wrong person. Personally, I adore my pre-school, my neighbors are incredible and while life has it's ups and downs, I do not "pretty much hate it."

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous posters about some of the positive reviews. The director had the parent committee write them. It is well known at the school that she did this. As for the negative reviews, I disagree that many people would write a negative review about this pre-school for a "random axe to grind". Why would anyone have an axe to grind with a pre-school that was doing it's job well.

LOL. Right, because typically the Internet attracts happy positive people, particularly DCUM.

Lady, if you spend 5 minutes on this forum, you see that the majority of posters (a) are miserable, (b) hate DC/Arlington/McLean/Potomac/GreatFalls, (c) hate their kid's school, (d) hate their neighbors, (e) hate McMansions/shit shacks/ large lots/small lots/ trees/ garages, and (f) pretty much hate life. If you think that these posters (such as yourself) are some true barometer of the larger population, and can't imagine how real life actually differs from this forum, I'm sorry for you. In short, complainers never shut up. The happy silent majority rarely pipes up.

I too, agree that TRS is a wonderful school perhaps not for every child. There are many more amazing schools in the area look a little harder.

Interesting to read this post- I only read first two pages.
As a mom of two kids - one (boy) is currently at TRSNS and another(girl) will start the school this year, I am quite happy with the school. This school may not be perfect, but honestly I could not find any better school in this area.
I visited more than a dozen nursery schools in the area, and by far TRSNS was the best.

I too, removed my son from TRS. I loved the school after touring it and decided to enroll my son in a 2 year olds program. After looking back and analyzing what did not work for my son in a 2 years program I believe was the classroom size. The environment was too stimulating with 15 2 year olds at circle time and playtime 10 of who were active boys. So i agree with the earlier comments about school not being right for every child. There were a few other things that did not make me feel at ease and I prefer not to mention them.
I think over all it's a wonderful school. Music teacher is wonderful! I always hear good things about the school. It just was not right for my son.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous posters about some of the positive reviews. The director had the parent committee write them. It is well known at the school that she did this. As for the negative reviews, I disagree that many people would write a negative review about this pre-school for a "random axe to grind". Why would anyone have an axe to grind with a pre-school that was doing it's job well.

If you've been on DCUM for any length of time you would know that there are lots of people with random axes to grind about everything under the sun, and they are not necessarily logical.

I agree with the previous posters about some of the positive reviews. The director had the parent committee write them. It is well known at the school that she did this. As for the negative reviews, I disagree that many people would write a negative review about this pre-school for a "random axe to grind". Why would anyone have an axe to grind with a pre-school that was doing it's job well.

Anonymous wrote:Disagree with the above. Our two children are very happy at Rodef, as are we. Great teachers, great curriculum. Director is very responsive. Our kids have learned to care about others in a way that I have not seen in the children of our friends. I have also made many friends through school activities. I would highly recommend the school. Check it out yourself.

.

Me too, completely. And since it's our school I notice when it is mentioned on DCUM. And what I have noticed is that someone has been digging up old threads lately with the sole intention of making negative comments about the school. I also notice that many of the negative posters seem to be quite repetitive, based on writing style anyway.

I'm not going to try to sell you on Rodef (although I truly think it is a wonderful, wonderful place)-- they have no trouble filling their slots without my help. But I do hope that anyone reading strongly worded negative or positive about a school takes the postings with a huge grain of salt. There are people out there with random axes to grind and you never know who is credible on an anonymous board. You will learn so much more by visiting the school, talking to the staff, observing the classes, and asking around to live people in the community. If you live in Arlington, Falls Church, or McLean, you most likely know at least one Rodef family. Talk to them. If you're not satisfied with one family, ask them to put you in touch with another family. And so on until you feel you have enough information to make a decision.