If you have a infant, toddler or a child about to start
school, you'll want to look at this page. The County
Intervention Office has been wonderful to our family
in guiding us to the right school for our son. He
attended a small special ed. preschool program in
Arlington when he was three. It was a high
functioning class and it was a good experience for
him. That summer he attended a County summer
school program at a different school. He lucked out
by having his original preschool teacher for part of
that summer session and thrived within the small
class of six students with varying disabilities. The
following year he went back to the county preschool
with his teacher and some new friends and his old
friends. This class was not as high functioning and
slightly bigger. Some of the students didn't speak
and our then very shy four year old son just didn't
know how to handle it. He developed his own
behavior issues. We met with his team teachers and
came up with a plan. It resulted in sending him to
another school that had an opening. The Reed
School, part of Arlington County's Special Education
Program's Integrated Classroom.  He was one of 14
students in the class, 10 were "regular ed." and 4
including our son had some type of special needs,
although I could never figure out who the others
were because it was a high functioning class. I'll
never forget, the first time we visited the school.
We'd never been there or had met any of the
teachers or kids. It was one of the boys birthday and
they had set up a Pinata filled with candy for the kids
to hit. Our son shouts out to the birthday boy, whom
he had just met 30 seconds before, "hit it hard, hit it
really hard!" I was totally shocked at my usually
quiet, shy boy being so spontaneous! After we left, I
asked him if he thought that he'd like to go to that
school and he said yes. I asked why and he said,
"because they all talk." I nearly drove off the road.
Our son has thrived at Reed since day one. I've
often said that he was "reborn into this happy, fun,
loving, confident four year old boy," since he joined
their family.

I can't stress enough the importance of talking to
your County Intervention Office. Their job is to help
you and your family find the best school setting for
your child.

I've listed the State sites to start with. The other
schools are ones that I've heard about and have
been recommended to me by other families.


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