Attention Parents of Special Needs Children

This summer, our family was delighted to discover a special needs school, located in Sterling, specifically designed for children with special needs (autism, ADHD, PDD-NOS, Asperger's). Our son attended summer camp five days a week, from 9am to 3pm, and along with all of the other students who attended, absolutely loved it. The program is designed to assist children with their individual challenges, through various forms of play and exercise. We have noticed a significant improvement in our son's core muscle strength, fine motor skills, attention, ability to transition, behavior, and most importantly, self-confidence. We receive daily logs of our son's activities, which have been most helpful.

We are delighted that our son will continue attending The Newton School, as we have registered him for their after-school program. In addition to daily pick-ups at Cedar Lane, The Newton School will also bus children from Mill Run Elementary. On behalf of the school's director, I am posting the details of the program.

If you or someone you know is looking for such a program, kindly pass the information along. We learned about the school from friends of ours whose children attend the program, so we hope we can assist another family who are searching for something similar. Below is an email sent to current students, and attached is a Word document with details for parents of new students.

See attached file for details of the program.

Hello,

We now have several options for after-school activities to keep all our students learning and engaged as much as possible. These options are as follows:

1) New after-school groups including science, rock climbing, painting, board games, a vocal ensemble and yoga. These will be available to Newton School students and non-Newton students on a first come, first serve basis although we will try to accommodate everyone who is interested. Assistants will be added as needed to keep the student/teacher ratios low. The first session will start the week of September 12th and run for 8 weeks. Complete descriptions, teachers, days and costs are attached.

To enroll, please send me an email with your child's name and class/es they wish to take, and I will confirm with you via email. Payment is due at the beginning of the 8 week session; we will provide a credit for one missed class but there are no make-ups as our schedule does not allow for this.

Our plan is to continue to offer these types of activities every quarter in the school year. Some activities will continue throughout the year and some will be new each time. We appreciate suggestions you may have for future groups.


2) Fun & Fitness sessions: Each day after school, we will continue to offer small groups for physical activities, homework help, snacks, games and art/crafts. The groups are led by our teachers and rotate every 20 minutes throughout our facility. This option is available to Newton and non-Newton students. Prices vary based on the number of sessions your child attends in a given month so if you are interested in this, please let me know and I can provide pricing based on your needs.

If you know your child would like to participate in Fun & Fitness in September, please let me know as I am scheduling these sessions now. I am flexible and last minute additions are fine but advanced planning is always helpful. -


3) Music Lessons: Mrs. Horn will continue to offer music lessons (piano, voice, guitar, recorder and flute) every weekday except Thursday when she is teaching the vocal group. The cost is $25 per 30 minute lesson and we will try to accommodate your schedule as best we can.

If you are interested in music lessons, please let me know (Mrs. Horn does not do any scheduling), with the instrument and your preferred day/time and second choice.


If you have any questions on the above choices, please let me know. I am happy to help!

Allison

View attachment After-school Activities September 2011.doc

 

You can add SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) to the list of developmental dx's that the school caters to. My child has SPD and his OT recommended the school back in early 2009 before it was even open. Mill Run has done a tremendous job meeting my child's specific needs, but we knew we'd always have this option if we needed to look elsewhere.

This is what our OT told us after she visited the open house and immediately thought of our child: It is being started by 2 parents as the dream school for their kids with SID and incorporates movement and social skill development continuously throughout the day. It follows VA state guidelines for curriculum, and Fairfax Co.'s school year schedule, but is located in Loudon close to Costco and Claude Moore Park. I am very impressed with what they are offering, and their after school program looks like it will also be great. The school classes are 8 students max with 2 teachers per class, so it will be small, and expensive. Many specialized therapeutic activities are included in the price and the whole day is basically an ongoing sensory diet.

Thank you for raising their after-school program to my attention. That may be something to look into .

 

I have only praise for the newton school.... our kids went there every saturday during the spring then did camp in the summer...... The teachers and the owner have great energy.. There is nothing like it that we have seen.

If anybody wants to chat about it send me an email.....

 

Do they have any programs for pre-k? I have a special needs child that could really use some help with social development and I have been looking for a program for him. He will be attending the Early Childhood Education program this year through Loudoun County but would love to find something additional.

 

They have accepted pre-k kids in the past, based on the size, age, ability of the child to participate in the activities. Contact Allison Abraham directly for more information about enrolling your child. Best of luck to you!

 

You may be able to find something through Childrens Speech over on Red Rum. We did some summer camps/groups 2 years ago, so I"m not sure what they have these days. http://www.childrens-speech.com/

You can also look into Stepping Stones which offers social & emotional development therapy.

 

We tried Stepping Stones, but with no success. My son was the only autistic kid in his group, and the other children had completely different challenges. I know another family who also had the same issue with child placement. However, another friend of mine had great success with her son. Either way, best of luck to you. I hope you find the appropriate therapy for your child!

 

The woman who owns the little gym type place by safeway (katie) is a great resource to talkto...she shadowed our daughter through preschool

 

That's Katie at JW Tumbles - I've heard great things about her working with special needs children!

 

We've used Dower & Associates for years and they run a summer camp program too. Lots of kids from LCPS there every year and they include typical peers as part of the program for modeling, using the Skillstreaming curriculum. I don't know if they are still doing social skills groups or not as we haven't needed (or had the proper fit) for what was being offered.

http://dowerandassociates.com/index.html

 

+1 for Newton. Our 7yo attended over the summer and we couldnt be happier. Great feedback from the staff, creative and stimulating curriculum and, most importantly, smiles from our jellyman every single day - a nice change from the past. Definately on our radar for next summer...