Can anyone here recommend a good middle school close to SOMA?

Sage Day is worth considering. The therapists are on staff whenever the kids are there. They get two sessions of individual therapy, two sessions of group and one family session every week. The classes are no larger than 10 students and they are not a behavioral school. There is a mix of abilities. My kid and a few others in his grade were moved up a grade in math because they had the ability. Sage mostly serves the anxious, school phobic kids who have been bullied in district. They also serve kids on the spectrum and kids with ADHD and other executive function challenges. The staff there from the principal to the teachers and therapists really get these kids and truly care about the kids and their success.

http://www.educationrevolution.org/store/thetensigns/

@PeggyHannis, sorry to burst your bubble but except for #10 all of those descriptions of "The Ten Signs" are that of a typical teenager!
Seriously. My kids are 14, 17 an 20 and that describes every one of them at one time or another in their life.

kmk said:

@PeggyHannis, sorry to burst your bubble but except for #10 all of those descriptions of "The Ten Signs" are that of a typical teenager!
Seriously. My kids are 14, 17 an 20 and that describes every one of them at one time or another in their life.

no bubble here. Just passing on some, I think, interesting info.

We think about an OOD from time-to-time - DD is quite strong academically, but has anxiety and aspergers. I always assumed that the sending district pays the tuition, but it seemed like Sage was implying that the state pays the tuition, under the Naples Act? Can anyone clarify this?

I think you will love Calais. Make sure you meet Callie!

the Morristown Ronald McDonald house is exceptional.

On Facebook search for NJ Advocacy
Resources for Parents. LOTS of good info about our kids with special needs. Help with IEPs and 504s and MUCH more.

Jmansky, the sending district does pay for Sage. Not sure exactly how Naples act is different. It's a different funding stream or something and mostly matters for the bureaucrats. I got message and will be in touch soon.

We narrowed our selection to two choices. And this really has been an education for me. I've done so much research, interviewing, and if a school looks promising after researching them online and over the phone, I will do site visits.

Our kids' needs can be similar and oh so different. I found the population at Sage to be more at-risk than my child needs--even though he has ODD. At some schools the emphasis was on learning disabilities, and while my son has some, his may not be as deep as the kids and programs at other schools.

I was looking for a school that had a mix of therapy for emotional issues that aren't extreme, and a college tract where learning disabilities are addressed. The learning disability part of the equation, much like the emotional/psych end, ranged from mild to extreme. We are in the middle.

Each kids' needs are different, and the programs need to be individualized for your child. I spoke to my child's case manager, and she said my child could possibly get by in his last year at MMS. She also said he would be totally lost at Columbia HS. I don't want him to waste another year at MMS, so without opposition, we are going to move him out of district.

Our two final choices are The Calais School and Banyan. These seem to be good choices for my child. They might be good for yours--or might not. As I mentioned this is so individualized to each of our kids' needs.

Thank you all for weighing in. I was really upset when I learned that ESS was going away. Now, I think it will be a good thing for my kid since we are taking him out of district. I really appreciate your comments!

good luck

Glad to hear you've narrowed things down. Have you taken the kid to see the schools?

We are going tomorrow. And I want him to meet Callie. I was impressed!

Your son sounds similar to a kid I know who is doing well at Shephard. Good luck with your choices. Make sure you include your son in the choosing. You need to have his buy in when making these big changes. I hope it goes well. You got the biggest hurdle behind you - getting district to agree.

Great! I actually am going to meet with the CST team this week to find out if they will finally do an eval for services.

PeggyHannis said:

I recommend taking a look at http://www.southmountaincoop.org/ (South Mountain Co-Op on Franklin St, Maplewood.) Their philosophy is Democratic Free. This was a new concept to me until a few months ago. My daughter has been suffering at the hands of Public School (not in Maplewood/SO, and after going to an Open House at South Mountain Co-op, I am taking the plunge and enrolling her beginning in the Fall. They are determined to keep the tuition affordable too, and have a sliding scale depending on income. In my case, being divorced and having custody, they only consider the custodial parent's income.

As for Newmark, I think the only way to get in there is if your district is paying for it. Not sure if they would be affordable for a regular family??

Peggy, my son started camp there and it was a disaster; for whatever reason, they could not handle his behavioral needs and they denied him admission to the school. Some kids just do not do well with unstructured time.

Also Newmark is presently fully enrolled for this Fall.

michelechollow said:

We are going tomorrow. And I want him to meet Callie. I was impressed!

Callie rocks! So sweet, and such an amazing complement to the academic and therapeutic components of the school!

My son loved Calais and Callie! So, now we are waiting on the paperwork. Thank you again to everyone who weighed in. I really believe our schools here are great for mainstream kids, and that we have good services for elementary school age children. Once they hit the middle school and the H.S., everything drops off. Thank you!

We wish you and your boy all the best. You are on the road to making things better and that's always a relief.

Thank you so much. My son is so excited about going to school in September. This year was so bad that he lost his enthusiasm for school. When we left Calais he said that if he had a choice of going to Disney or Calais, he would pick Calais!

So glad to hear. Good luck!

michelechollow said:

Thank you so much. My son is so excited about going to school in September. This year was so bad that he lost his enthusiasm for school. When we left Calais he said that if he had a choice of going to Disney or Calais, he would pick Calais!

That's so sweet. Best of luck.

For those of us following along but new to this, can someone explain what ESS is (or was) and what Istep is?

Found this on the SEPAC website:
Effective School Solutions (ESS): This service provider has been brought into Maplewood Middle and Columbia High School to provide counseling services to at-risk students—students with psychological issues and needs, such as phobias, depression, or anxiety—with the goal of allowing these students to stay in-district. ESS can provide services beyond what the district can practically provide (i.e. monitoring medical/medication issues, truancy, etc). Students are typically seen twice weekly individually or in small groups.

My understanding is the ESS program was run by an outside company hired by the district (the district may have leased the program from the company). And now the district has decided to create their own program in-house using existing personnel....guess the new program will be called ISTEP. The problem is that many kids were brought back in district specifically for the ESS middle school program. And now the district is offering this untested ISTEP program at the middle school and the parents were just informed of this change last month.

I believe the ESS program is being continued at the High School, with changes taking place only at the middle school level.

Michele.

susan1014 said:

I believe the ESS program is being continued at the High School, with changes taking place only at the middle school level.

Correct. I edited my post.

Yes, it will be at Columbia HS--not a Maplewood Middle. ISTEP is now run by the district of SOMA, and the counselor will be Amy Pertucco (I don't know how to spell her name). While Amy is a good counselor, I don't think she can run the program as well as the ESS staff because it was 2 counselors--not one--and the 2 counselors had access to their outside program. It is a shame. On a positive note, my son will be out of district in September.

Congratulations michelechollow!

susan1014 said:

I echo mestaunton's' request for knowledge about any schools that work well for "twice exceptional" kids who are not thriving in the public school and don't currently have the skills/records to succeed at mainstream private schools.

Are there actually schools in our area that focus on Asperger's and similar populations and do well with gifted kids? Do any of them do better than others at giving the brightest students access to advanced level coursework and the academic expectations that go with it (to the extent that the students are able)?

[edited to delete personal details, as promised...but happy to discuss what I've learned about some of these places]

Names I've heard include Calais, Sage, Newmark, Collier, Hunterdon Learning Center, Yale (proper focus, but too far away), The Children's Institute, Holmstead, Winston Prep (just opening an NJ location this fall).

Many thanks!

I'll give this one bump before I delete the excess detail. I'm going to an open house at Winston Prep tonight, so will see if they go onto our list.