Anonymous wrote:Your horror stories…your triumphs…what you wish you’d known beforehand if you’ve done it. Tell me everything.

Son is ASD, 5. Advocate has recommended paying for 1 year at school we want him at in the future (Ivy) to avoid DCPS shopping his file around if we secure funding in the future. Then we would sue DCPS next spring for funding going forward.

How likely are we to get funding if no ID or severe behaviors? Any tips? Lawyers you like? Child has only ever gotten private services so has no IEP. How soon would I need to begin that process of suing for next year?

I’m not looking for why I should consider public. I do not have confidence in DCPS for a host of reasons that are irrelevant to the matter at hand. Appreciate your wisdom.

Most people I know who have won cases have been through the school system for years and the system failed them.

Is there a reason your child does not have an IEP or go through the Early Stages process? Talk to a lawyer, but I would think it is hard to make a case that DCPS was not providing an appropriate placement if your child is not in the system.
We have gone through the process - it is exhausting. I do not wish it on anyone. DCPS will say anything for the purpose of winning the case. They will have experts who have never met your child and parade them in front of the hearing officer testifying to substantiate what ever their case is. You will sit their in awe as they make your child out to be someone they are not. It is not easy to sit there and hear this about your child - especially when you know it is all made up.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. It is not an easy path.

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had a self contained placement for dyslexia and or ADD/Adhd. DCPS seems to be proposing self contained options for lots of kids who have had private placement settlements.

We received a SLS placement for our child from DCPS after we won our case for unilateral parental placement
It is fascinating that they can simultaneously argue that the limited services that were provided in gen ed were adequate and that my child's needs were so significant the only way DCPS could serve them was placement in an SLS program. It makes it hard to look at the SLS program objectively.

Anonymous wrote:For the district to even entertain the possibility of a private placement, you need to demonstrate that none of the district programs will meet your child's needs. To do that, you need an IEP and to attend a district school at least briefly. Right now, you have no evidence.

This! You need an IEP. You can't sue DCPS for not providing something you haven't asked for or even tried.

Has anyone had a self contained placement for dyslexia and or ADD/Adhd. DCPS seems to be proposing self contained options for lots of kids who have had private placement settlements.

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Anonymous wrote:Why do you want Ivymount for a child with no ID or behaviors? Most of their students are non-diploma track or have significant behavioral challenges.

This simply isn’t true. Some kids have sensory or anxiety. My kid just needs that really low ratio in order to learn.

Agreed. Not true at all. Did you pull that from your a**??? . My kid is diploma track as are the rest of the kids in his class. He is the classic “little professor”. He’s 2e. DCPS does not have a program for kids with any sort of behaviors who are gifted. What he gets at Ivymount is a small class and 1:1 attention. If public school, he just sat there doing literally nothing.

I assume your kid is in MAP which doesn't exist for kindergarten. But as you said, it's for "kids with behaviors who are gifted" which is not the profile OP described.

Not in MAP or in K. The behaviors he developed in DCPS were too much for MAP to handle. He’s in the autism diploma track program. He happens to be gifted but not all the kids in his class are. They are all diploma track with behaviors that are best suited to having a very very low student teacher ratio and a very small class.

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Anonymous wrote:Why do you want Ivymount for a child with no ID or behaviors? Most of their students are non-diploma track or have significant behavioral challenges.

This simply isn’t true. Some kids have sensory or anxiety. My kid just needs that really low ratio in order to learn.

Agreed. Not true at all. Did you pull that from your a**??? . My kid is diploma track as are the rest of the kids in his class. He is the classic “little professor”. He’s 2e. DCPS does not have a program for kids with any sort of behaviors who are gifted. What he gets at Ivymount is a small class and 1:1 attention. If public school, he just sat there doing literally nothing.

I assume your kid is in MAP which doesn't exist for kindergarten. But as you said, it's for "kids with behaviors who are gifted" which is not the profile OP described.

The self-contained autism classes in DCPS are good. I’m sure they don’t meet the needs of every child (positive) but I’m not sure how you know that without trying it out.

I know you just want the best option for your kid, but you are missing several steps.

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Anonymous wrote:Why do you want Ivymount for a child with no ID or behaviors? Most of their students are non-diploma track or have significant behavioral challenges.

This simply isn’t true. Some kids have sensory or anxiety. My kid just needs that really low ratio in order to learn.

Agreed. Not true at all. Did you pull that from your a**??? . My kid is diploma track as are the rest of the kids in his class. He is the classic “little professor”. He’s 2e. DCPS does not have a program for kids with any sort of behaviors who are gifted. What he gets at Ivymount is a small class and 1:1 attention. If public school, he just sat there doing literally nothing.

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want Ivymount for a child with no ID or behaviors? Most of their students are non-diploma track or have significant behavioral challenges.

This simply isn’t true. Some kids have sensory or anxiety. My kid just needs that really low ratio in order to learn.

Why do you want Ivymount for a child with no ID or behaviors? Most of their students are non-diploma track or have significant behavioral challenges.

It so important to tour the non public day schools to see what they are like before you go down that road.

What type of data do you have to support this request? Do you have an IFSP? What about a neuropsych eval? Other types of evaluations from the therapists and providers your DC works with. Our advocate recommended we apply to several schools while we were simultaneously doing the IEP process as it could make it easier if a non-public placement became an option. Also, it is important to go into it the process with multiple backup plans because you never know how it will turn out.

For the district to even entertain the possibility of a private placement, you need to demonstrate that none of the district programs will meet your child's needs. To do that, you need an IEP and to attend a district school at least briefly. Right now, you have no evidence.

Many of the prominent lawyers who support families/kids for education services will do a free consultation. Try calling their offices and setting up an appointment. Donna Wulkan, Michael Eig, etc.
Has your child been screened by Early Stages? https://www.earlystagesdc.org/ That would be the first step in dealing with DCPS.
As many have noted above, but I doubt they've gone through the process, DCPS has taken a much harder line about private placement. But if you show a need that you can argue cannot be met, and go to one of their approved schools - there is some possibility. It is very different than stories you hear from people even a few years ago (and very different than 5-10 years ago).
I spent 2 years and you have to pay lawyers up front and if you settle, you don't get lawyer's fees back, and got a settlement, but different circumstances. It was draining and awful process. But do what you think you need to check out options for your kid.

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Anonymous wrote:Your horror stories…your triumphs…what you wish you’d known beforehand if you’ve done it. Tell me everything.

Son is ASD, 5. Advocate has recommended paying for 1 year at school we want him at in the future (Ivy) to avoid DCPS shopping his file around if we secure funding in the future. Then we would sue DCPS next spring for funding going forward.

How likely are we to get funding if no ID or severe behaviors? Any tips? Lawyers you like? Child has only ever gotten private services so has no IEP. How soon would I need to begin that process of suing for next year?

I’m not looking for why I should consider public. I do not have confidence in DCPS for a host of reasons that are irrelevant to the matter at hand. Appreciate your wisdom.

You lost me at "no IEP." Do you even have diagnoses? How on earth is an advocate entertaining your ideas when you've done absolutely none of the procedural steps?

Also, the others are right. You're not getting into Ivymount.

Yes, we have a dx from KKI and Children’s. The child attended the early childhood clinic at Ivymount for preschool before matriculating to a less restrictive setting and failing. He has no IEP because he has not received public education services.

Ask your advocate what lawyer she works with, and talk to the lawyer. You certainly won't be able to get funding without going to due process. Talk to the lawyer now so that you can take the steps you need to create the best case. That will probably include engaging with dcps now to get an IEP written, then rejecting it as insufficient. But talk to a lawyer, not DCUM.

All OP will be doing is wasting money on an advocate and lawyer. DCPS had autism classrooms now for all level of autism at this point and has had them for a decade at this point. OP should ask her advocate how well the strategy to get private funding by placing a child at a SN school and then suing for funding has worked in the past three yrs as another pp suggested.

Many advocates including prominent ones based in MoCo should not be advocating this as a winning strategy. It’s ridiculously outdated.

Is there a list of the DCPS programs?

https://dcps.dc.gov/specialeducation


Programs and resource guide. Don’t focus so much on where or what school the programs are located. A lot of these programs are shifting before SY 2022/2023

Thanks for the link. How do we find out where they are shifting to?