School info for special ed in Frederick and Howard Counties (Baltimore: transferring to, neighborhood)

[Yankeewife]

I will try to keep my explanation brief.
I am looking for school information for Frederick or Howard counties, specifically how autism is supported.

We are a military family(my husband will be transferring to Baltimore with the Navy). School is the primary priority followed by my husbands commute. Due to the high cost of housing we will probably rent. We have two daughters, age 14 and 11. My 14 year old daughter has been diagnosed with Aspergers & ADHD. She has attended private school since grade 5. Currently she is mainstreamed for the majority of her classes but has support through the Resource Room. Although she is chronologically 14, emotionally she is probably around 10 but very smart.
I do not want her to be in the secluded classroom but she does need supports. School size is important. Again, because of the high cost of housing, we will probably not be able to afford private schools.
Has anyone had experiences(good or bad) within these counties in the public sector? Are there schools that go above and beyond? Any to stay away from? Any with specific Aspergers programs?
We have the choice to live in PA or MD, and are concerned about the cost of housing. I have looked on the GreatSchools website but that doesn't offer much assistance giving perspective on special education services.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Don Delulio]

If I were to guess, I would say Howard County. Have you considered Montgomery County?

[Yankeewife]

My husband feels that Montgomery County would be harder to commute from to go to where he'll be working near Ft. McHenry. If they offer the best support for Asperger's it may need to be considered. Any specific High Schools in Mont Co?

[J_Lurk]

I have a daughter with PDD-NOS but she is at the elementary school level. We've been happy with her support in Howard County, but I'm too new to be able to refer you to a specific high school. You might want to look at Howard County Autism Society supporting individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families. and get access to their message board to ask them more specific questions.

[carroll4628]

I would definately spend some time to contact someone at the Howard County Public School system. We have neighbers with children in the programs from elementary school through high school. Howard County Public School System In elementary school (depending on the student), they may be mainstreamed with an aide. In our neighborhood an aide will also ride the school bus with the student.

[GS-HOCO]

Look into High Road Academy (Laurel, MD). My wife is a Director for the Type II Program.
[url=http://www.highroadschool.com/high_road_academy/]Alternative Education schools, Special Education Providers - High Road Academy - SESI - Specialized Education[/url]

[GermantownMd]

So far I have heard and known, Richard Montgomery high School is a very good school and has a good program for the Special Education. Good luck!

[LAlva]

I live in Ellicott City (one child gets service for LD), cousins in PA with child w/similar LD. The best thing about Howard's special Ed iss that they are GOOD with making sure that they don't lump everyone outside of the norm as Special Ed. Kids with problems like dyslexia, mobility problems, ADD receive "services" and are well taken care of by the standard staff & aren't considered Special Ed. My son gets "pulled" out to get help from specialists and the specialists give his teachers recommendations are what to stress in the classroom with him. The time that they use to "pull" from are the same times they use to pull for band, chorus...they are not core classes or recess but what is usually refered to as "content" times.

Kids with significant problems are assigned an "Instructional Assistant" who accompanies them to every class, lunch...and helps ONLY the assigned student. The IAs may offer additional help in a class if their "charge" is working on something but their responsibility is to that child only so, a child with a feeding tube that needs to be flushed, will be accompanied to the Health room by his/her IA, they get him/her on & off the bus, get their lunch, walk them around the recess yard and help them interact with other students...

Compared to Balto City (where everyone with a behavior problem, a LD and/or medical problem) is classified as Special Ed and put together, PA is better but, honestly they don't have the set up Howard Co does. Even the private schools can't compete with the public schools when it comes to sPecial Ed (& I am a convert...I used to believe that Special Ed kids would be a disruption to the other kids. It has been seeing how the HCPS handle it that changed my tune).

Not only is the process done and managed well here, the DEPTH of experience that every school has is amazing. They do a great job of teaching the other kids how to work with and associate with the special needs kids while ensuring the safety of the SE kids. There are a LOT of families who move here specifically because they have special needs kids (family up the street was government, assigned to Germany and the mother and kids decided to come back to the states and move here until Dad could get assigned to MD-daughter has host of probs). You will find not only an excellent school system but a Parks and Rec dept that runs programs and camps for the special needs kids plus offers year round bus transport to "extended school year" and Individual Assitance for Spec. Ed kids who want to attend normal camp progs., a large sophisticated medical community and many support and respite organizations.