Ironically Maddux is not certified as a special needs school. They are an early childhood center with a lot of services!

Anonymous wrote: Public schools SHOULD be able to handle children like this but they often make the problems worse with their inability to handle small problems and end up stigmatizing these kinds of children.

Yes exactly. With a teacher who likes and understands them, a lot of these kids would do fine in a public school environment. But it's hit or miss. Our experiences varied substantially.

I also don't know what "less restrictive" means in this context and don't care to have a semantic argument. And I have no idea whether the kids at Maddux are more or less "disabled" than anywhere else. I don't like that word. Certainly there are plenty of kids there with significant challenges, including mine. When I met the other parents, the first thing they said to me was "don't worry, you'll find that Maddux parents are very humble," which has proven to be very true. The kids are a very diverse bunch, including some whose primary challenge is ("just") anxiety, some who struggle with expressive language, and some whose issues are mostly social. We have loved it and have been very pleased with the progress we've seen, but of course everyone's experience is different and we have seen a few families leave.

What I really liked about Maddux when I visited was that it just felt like a happy little school community. The therapy and social coaching seemed unobtrusive, they were genuinely excited about the literacy and art curriculum too, and everybody (kids and staff) seemed to be having a great time. I didn't visit Kingsbury, but some places I visited just felt more like a therapeutic environment, and less like a regular school, than Maddux did. I think that if money were no object, Maddux would be a very nice school for a kid with no issues at all. That was just my impression, and I certainly don't mean to put down any other school. Any place that has devoted itself to helping kids who need help is wonderful, and deserves to be celebrated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:<<+1. The severity of the disability is meaningless. I have a mentally ill child in a very restrictive environment (a private special-ed only school). His school is a much more restrictive environment than that of our neighbor's nonverbal son, who is in the general ed classroom in our neighborhood school part of the day. Maddux is a special ed only school, which is a more restrictive environment than any kind of school other than a residential school. However, put the two of them in a room together and our neighbor's son seems "more" disabled. >>

+1. I think this passage gets to the crux of what has been bothering me about this thread. From a LRE standpoint, Maddux is just as ''restrictive'' as a Kingsbury or similar special ed school.

I think what the Maddux posters are trying to say is that they believe the kids at Maddux are less disabled than the kids at Kingsbury or similar schools. If that's what they believe, they should really just say it.

I am a Maddux poster and I only know about the kids at Maddux since that's where we go... So I can comment on what the kids there are like, but not elsewhere. My son would not stand out in a crowd other than being a little less coordinated physically, socially in some environments, and more easily distracted. No idea if that fits the profile elsewhere but Maddux is perfect for him. I think the concept of LRE is an odd one to focus on when thinking about a private school setting where you are selecting for a very specific profile. It seems more relevant to the public setting as a restrictive SN classroom might have a big mix and range of kids and needs.

My kid has a similar profile and he does not stick out mainstreamed with IEP. Most people observing the classroom would never guess he has an IEP and it sounds like most of the kids at Maddux would not be placed in a restrictive SN classroom were they in public school. However, from the description Maddux IS a SN school for kids with issues however mild and by definition in the same category as schools like Kingsbury.

The main difference between Kingsbury, Ivymount, Lab etc and other SN schools like Maddux, auburn, commonwealth, etc is that the students are private pay and not placed and paid for by their respective school systems.

This is an odd but interesting thread. We're not at Maddux but DC has two friends who go there and the description that Maddux poster above gave about her son also describes the two kids I've met.

Both are great, pretty outgoing kids but have mild behavioral issues meaning they sometimes have tantrums and sometimes refuse to their work or otherwise follow directions. I think both parents have told me they have some executive functioning issues as well.

But if you saw a group of kids their age you would probably not be able to pick them out. I think their parents think of them as more delayed or immature than other children their age but I wouldn't be surprised if they left Maddux to go to a mainstream private or general education in public with no IEP. I think that's kind of the point of Maddux isn't it? To give them the extra time and support to learn these skills at a younger age before throwing them into a larger, more chaotic and less understanding environment.

Public schools SHOULD be able to handle children like this but they often make the problems worse with their inability to handle small problems and end up stigmatizing these kinds of children. Maddux seems to offer more understanding about these kinds of issues until the children can learn to navigate the outside world a little better. I don't know if that makes it a "special needs" school in the way that some PPs think.

Anonymous wrote:<<+1. The severity of the disability is meaningless. I have a mentally ill child in a very restrictive environment (a private special-ed only school). His school is a much more restrictive environment than that of our neighbor's nonverbal son, who is in the general ed classroom in our neighborhood school part of the day. Maddux is a special ed only school, which is a more restrictive environment than any kind of school other than a residential school. However, put the two of them in a room together and our neighbor's son seems "more" disabled. >>

+1. I think this passage gets to the crux of what has been bothering me about this thread. From a LRE standpoint, Maddux is just as ''restrictive'' as a Kingsbury or similar special ed school.

I think what the Maddux posters are trying to say is that they believe the kids at Maddux are less disabled than the kids at Kingsbury or similar schools. If that's what they believe, they should really just say it.

I am a Maddux poster and I only know about the kids at Maddux since that's where we go... So I can comment on what the kids there are like, but not elsewhere. My son would not stand out in a crowd other than being a little less coordinated physically, socially in some environments, and more easily distracted. No idea if that fits the profile elsewhere but Maddux is perfect for him. I think the concept of LRE is an odd one to focus on when thinking about a private school setting where you are selecting for a very specific profile. It seems more relevant to the public setting as a restrictive SN classroom might have a big mix and range of kids and needs.

<<+1. The severity of the disability is meaningless. I have a mentally ill child in a very restrictive environment (a private special-ed only school). His school is a much more restrictive environment than that of our neighbor's nonverbal son, who is in the general ed classroom in our neighborhood school part of the day. Maddux is a special ed only school, which is a more restrictive environment than any kind of school other than a residential school. However, put the two of them in a room together and our neighbor's son seems "more" disabled. >>

+1. I think this passage gets to the crux of what has been bothering me about this thread. From a LRE standpoint, Maddux is just as ''restrictive'' as a Kingsbury or similar special ed school.

I think what the Maddux posters are trying to say is that they believe the kids at Maddux are less disabled than the kids at Kingsbury or similar schools. If that's what they believe, they should really just say it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Maddux less restrictive than other sn schools? Like Kingsbury, which is mentioned above?

I meant restrictive in an LRE context, because it does have kids who are NT in some ways, some kids move on to unquestionably mainstream schools, and all kids are likely to graduate with regular diplomas.

In an LRE context, Maddux is exactly the same as Kingsbury. It is a school that only serves students with disabilities, thus the highest level of "restrictiveness" other than a residential or hospital based program.

+1. The severity of the disability is meaningless. I have a mentally ill child in a very restrictive environment (a private special-ed only school). His school is a much more restrictive environment than that of our neighbor's nonverbal son, who is in the general ed classroom in our neighborhood school part of the day. Maddux is a special ed only school, which is a more restrictive environment than any kind of school other than a residential school. However, put the two of them in a room together and our neighbor's son seems "more" disabled.

<<there were several issues that I thought could have been done better/should have been done differently>>

Such as?

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, we did Maddux for one year and found it not entirely all it was cracked up to be. It was the best option for our DD at the time for the transition between pre-school and K, but we could no longer afford it and sent our DD to a MOCO public school. She has done very well there and in hind sight we are not sure we would go into debt to do that again if we had to do it over again.

We were also at Maddux for a year and basically had a good experience. It is a good school, maybe even a great school, but it is not a magical school. That was the impression I had developed from research on this board and talking to others. In fact, I don't think I heard a single negative comment about it during the time that I was researching options for my kid. It is not a perfect place, there were several issues that I thought could have been done better/should have been done differently. If you don't get in, keep researching your options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Maddux less restrictive than other sn schools? Like Kingsbury, which is mentioned above?

I meant restrictive in an LRE context, because it does have kids who are NT in some ways, some kids move on to unquestionably mainstream schools, and all kids are likely to graduate with regular diplomas.

In an LRE context, Maddux is exactly the same as Kingsbury. It is a school that only serves students with disabilities, thus the highest level of "restrictiveness" other than a residential or hospital based program.

the students who attend Maddux have a range of disabilities . Some students might need support with sensory other speech while others seem to be more learning disabled., Maddux accepts students when they are young so the disability might not apparent when they are accepted but the family knows there are delays. Students seem to be on the milder side and the support ( slp and ot) is provided in groups not individually. The student who attends Maddux must be able to navigate a classroom rather independently. The schools does not provide one on ones nor do they accept students with significant behavioral concerns.

FWIW, we did Maddux for one year and found it not entirely all it was cracked up to be. It was the best option for our DD at the time for the transition between pre-school and K, but we could no longer afford it and sent our DD to a MOCO public school. She has done very well there and in hind sight we are not sure we would go into debt to do that again if we had to do it over again.

I always thought it was about needs for services and whether a child can access the education in a general education/inclusion setting, not about whether the peers are disabled are typical.
If that is the standard, than Maddux is essentially a special ed classroom since everybody is there for a reason, per the message above.
I think the poster should just be clear -- the distinction that the Maddux posters want to make is that the children there, they are saying, are ``less'' disabled than the kids they perceive to be in ''other'' special ed schools.