Best schools in Northern Virginia for Autism Inclusion (Reston, Leesburg: versus, centers)

[scarp]

Hi All,

We are in the process of relocating to NoVA and have a kid with autism (7 yrs old.) He is partially verbal and goes for an hour or two every day into general ed class room these days. We need to go to a place where he can continue that.

Please let us know which schools are best for inclusion in the following areas -

a) Loudoun county
b) Herndon
c) Vienna
d) Reston
e) Others

We really appreciate your help.

Regards,

Scarp

[patriot201]

Are you looking for a public school or a private school?

If you are looking at a public school, you aren't going to find a huge difference in inclusion among schools in Fairfax County and Loudoun County.

The number of hours of inclusion versus self-contained is an IEP decision that is made by the IEP team (parents included!). In Fairfax and Loudoun, the schools seem to aim for inclusion in general education as much as possible (in the "least restrictive environment"). However, the "least restrictive environment" is not always in a general education environment. Again, this will have to be a decision made as an IEP team.

[scarp]

We are looking for public schools. Please let me know which specific schools encourage inclusion programs and have good support services. I know IEP process would determine LRE goals etc. In our experience, things vary greatly from school to school.

[mlv311]

I suggest that you reach out to the Parents Of Autistic Children of Northern Virginia. The officers are very knowledgeable about schools and resources in the area.

[tgbwc]

Here is a list of schools with ABA resources/autism centers in Fairfax County:

http://www.fcps.edu/dss/sei/ABA/pdf/...by-cluster.pdf

[kmkat]

Hello-my 8 year old HFA son is mainstreamed fairfax county and doing great. Sounds like you have a current IEP? From my understanding, they must follow that until a new IEP is created. There are self contained autism classrooms in fairfax that PP provided. My son goes to his local school and is mainstreamed and I'm really happy with his education and progress. My son gets over 20 hours of help a week including some OT, Speech Therapy and 5 hours pull out a week. They have social skills groups too.

Each school handles the mainstreaming different. In my son's school all the IEP kids are in one class and that class is alot smaller than the other classes. That room there is a special ed teacher in there alot of the time helping multiple kids so its not like there are one to one aides. My friends child its different--the IEP kids are spread out amongst the classes. So each school different in how they do things.

My take--each school is quite different and its hard how things would work out for your child. I have found that you better go in with all the ammunition you need. I asked for evaluation for services twice in K before they agreed. Same child but suddenly now that I have a formal eval with diagnosis then they are willing to play? So be prepared if you have not yet done the official "medical" diagnosis.

That said, I feel like I received all I asked for for my child and the IEP team has been really responsive. I have alot of special need mom friends for support and even within same school, some parents not as pleased as me. But overall, FCPS are great and fully support inclusion. Good luck with your search. If you have not checked it out already there is a special needs forum with really nice folks at www.dcurbanmom.com

[Kulus]

Our son – is 11years old diagnosed autistic at 20months , following which he has since then been engaged in various forms of therapy- ABA, PECs, Speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, auditory training, adapted autism spectrum programs, music therapy and biomedical interventions .

He now speaks in short sentences (mostly functional rather than conversational), has improved attention, goes to a mainstream Montessori school and has a facilitator in school.

We are looking at moving to the DC area next year and looking for schools that have facilities to help him develop further. We can move a bit further from DC if we find the best facilities there - we would prefer a school with boarding (residential) facilities.

Can anybody recommend ? Thank You.

[Noblespine]

You want to be in Fairfax county, not in Loudoun county, for best outcome. Herndon or Fairfax are better options with schools having resources to address teaching students with autism. My cousin had similar issue for his son and after much research ended up in Herndon. The kid is making good progress.

[Dtdj13]

Hello Noblespine ,

Which school are you talking about please, we are in the loudoun county areA and we are in the same ordeal, althought we are determined to look for either public or private, but it's gotta be a great autism ABA program. ( we are in the Va area) not near Virginia beach at all.
Fair fax, loudoun, Herndon , Reston .sterling, Leesburg. We are open to those areas and more.

Resources, names . Please thank you so much!!

Md.tanya@gmail.com

Thank you.

[Noblespine]

Originally Posted by Dtdj13

Hello Noblespine ,

Which school are you talking about please, we are in the loudoun county areA and we are in the same ordeal, althought we are determined to look for either public or private, but it's gotta be a great autism ABA program. ( we are in the Va area) not near Virginia beach at all.
Fair fax, loudoun, Herndon , Reston .sterling, Leesburg. We are open to those areas and more.

Resources, names . Please thank you so much!!

Md.tanya@gmail.com

Thank you.

Hi - Just noticed the post, will get the answer and email you back.