Anonymous wrote:You’ll never know unless you try. Ivymount is the gold standard for ASD around here. Have them call the school and ask if their kids fit the profile. Laura Solomon is the most successful advocate for getting students placed at Ivymount. If they can afford it, their best bet may be to agree to pay out of pocket for a few months while going through the placement process.

She's also rigid and unpleasant. Many families hated working with her and were not happy with the results. Strongly do not recommend.

I'm pretty sure they will want to start the 14 year old in either the ED program, given the behavior has improved recently, or RICA if you argue for that. The 10 year old will probably be recommended for ED. They will want to watch to see how the children do and if things get worse then you can start the private placement process. It can take a really long time, a year sometimes. MCPS like to see children fail badly before they consider private placement.

Shepard Pratt and Lourie School are probably your best shot for a private placement if RICA isn't a fit. Prior posters indicated that Ivymount and KTS won't take a student with violent outbursts, and they are correct in my experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - does anyone have knowledge of other MD counties? PG, Howard, Frederick, Anne Arundel?

It’s going to be the same anywhere. No school district is going to place your kids in these schools instantly when you move because you think it’s best. They are easily $80-120k a year plus transportation. You’ll have to move, enroll the kids, get the iep and work through the process.

I definitely get that. But I have a sense that in some places it's a little easier than others (less wait time, less bureaucracy, etc). Because MCPS is so big I know it has a reputation for being super slow.

They will fight you not to place your child except in a rare exception. Lots of parents have to hire advocates and/or sue to get what their child needs. Its not going to be easy.

KTS doesn’t take “behaviors” and is generally below grade level. So no on that.

Ivy mount is also turning away behaviors… Sheppard Pratt - Not sure.

noted by PP -FB special needs groups are the most active place for current info in DMV area. Lots of advocates too.

Private placements have wait lists these days…and are not the miracle they are made out to be. Good luck.

You’ll never know unless you try. Ivymount is the gold standard for ASD around here. Have them call the school and ask if their kids fit the profile. Laura Solomon is the most successful advocate for getting students placed at Ivymount. If they can afford it, their best bet may be to agree to pay out of pocket for a few months while going through the placement process.

9:49 PP here— FWIW my has an ASD dx and has been successful at RICA. He also has anxiety and adhd. I truly cannot imagine a better environment for him. No school is going to be perfect. But my kid enjoys school, has friends, and is doing well both socially and academically. I’m not sure what more you can ask for.

Anonymous wrote:Why are we recommending RICA for autism profile? The kids I know w/ ASD that tried RICA had disastrous results. Really, really bad.

DP. I think the concerning factor for the kids is their violence in schools and towards the teachers specifically. OP is
Going to be hard pressed to find any school agreeing to take that on even if the county agreed to fund it. That doesn’t leave many options.

I know people whose
Kids have gone to RICA including two close friends whose Kids were periodically violent and one whose diagnosis was ASD. All loved RICA. A big thing they discussed was the medical management and family therapy - all of which came with no OOP costs. As hard as medical care can be to find and as expensive as it is, it was a relief to these families to have it so readily available.

I’m sure that some families had less satisfying experiences. But again it’s hard to find a good alternative in many cases so RICA can be the only option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rica would be a good fit for the 14 year old and is better than many private placements.

HUH??? Spoken like someone who has never step foot in RICA.

I'm not sure what your experience with RICA is (I've heard good things), but some of the private placements are scary. Being better than many private placements is not a very high bar.

Why are we recommending RICA for autism profile? The kids I know w/ ASD that tried RICA had disastrous results. Really, really bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - does anyone have knowledge of other MD counties? PG, Howard, Frederick, Anne Arundel?

It’s going to be the same anywhere. No school district is going to place your kids in these schools instantly when you move because you think it’s best. They are easily $80-120k a year plus transportation. You’ll have to move, enroll the kids, get the iep and work through the process.

I definitely get that. But I have a sense that in some places it's a little easier than others (less wait time, less bureaucracy, etc). Because MCPS is so big I know it has a reputation for being super slow.

Nowhere in the DMV area will it be easier than any other area w/in the DMV area. Source: alllll the facebook groups where we're all fighting w/ all the counties the same

Anonymous wrote:Rica would be a good fit for the 14 year old and is better than many private placements.

HUH??? Spoken like someone who has never step foot in RICA.

For non public placements, all the school districts around here use the same schools. They all require getting to the county central office for placement. None of them are any faster or slower than others. It just takes time. Honestly, the real problem isn't going to be getting in front of the central placement office; it's going to be getting an admission from the schools.

It’s not going to be fast or easy to get a private placement anywhere. And given that for kid 2 the only real issue was a some behaviors, I can’t imagine you’ll get one. The older one might depending on how the suicide issues affect education. By the behaviors are going to make that difficult.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - does anyone have knowledge of other MD counties? PG, Howard, Frederick, Anne Arundel?

It’s going to be the same anywhere. No school district is going to place your kids in these schools instantly when you move because you think it’s best. They are easily $80-120k a year plus transportation. You’ll have to move, enroll the kids, get the iep and work through the process.

I definitely get that. But I have a sense that in some places it's a little easier than others (less wait time, less bureaucracy, etc). Because MCPS is so big I know it has a reputation for being super slow.