Testimonials

    "Mrs. Cohen and Ms. Dowd have helped my son navigate his way through high school.  The special education system is not always kind to kids with ADHD and without the help of these two women, my son would not be a senior on his way to graduation.  If you really want to get the job done, these are the people to call.  They have worked with my son for four years...if I could, I would have them go to college with him too!"

               

Gail L.

Parent of Special Ed Student

This page was last updated: January 20, 2011

Serving the Northern Viriginia Area

'Kathy Dowd has been providing professional study skills, guidance, and mentoring for our son who is enrolled in college and has Asperger's Syndrome since he was a freshman in high school.  She has been of great help to him and is truly dedicated to helping him achieve success.  Our son has acknowledged that he is grateful for Mrs. Dowd's attention to his special needs.'

                      Sincerely,

                      Greg & Joy G.

“When our son started working with Kathy Dowd his freshman year, we had serious concerns regarding his ability to graduate from high school. He studied hard, but was extremely frustrated.  His writing skills were poor and his ability to read, comprehend and retain information was a daily challenge.  Over a four-year period, Ms. Dowd showed him how to be successful in school and to understand that he learns differently when compared to most students.  Ms. Dowd helped our son enhance his self-esteem while teaching him how to embrace different study approaches and how to self advocate for himself.  He went on to successfully graduate from high school and is now doing very well at a four-year university. I will never forget the day he called from college to say, “Hey Mom….my final English grade is an A.”  Our entire family is indebted to Ms. Dowd for believing in our son and showing him how to triumph over his learning disability.  We believe in her ability to help students prevail over their learning disabilities and are very grateful for lighting the path for our son’s future.”

Dianne T.

When my son entered high school, I had serious doubts and apprehensions about his ability to do well with a demanding schedule that included several honors courses. His special education services in elementary and middle school were the result of many planning meetings with special education teachers and administrators. The challenge with my son was that he was “twice exceptional”, both gifted and learning disabled. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demands of high school, sports and classes while trying to learn to advocate for himself for the accommodations that he would need. Maxine Cohen attended several “transition” meetings and impressed both my husband and me with her calm, capable manner. She promised that the transition would be seamless…and it was!

Then my son entered the classroom of Kathy Dowd. Kathy has the unique ability to understand exactly what a child needs to succeed whether his disability is mild or major. She “gets” kids with learning disabilities and empowers them to understand how they think so that they can be successful in the classroom. She was very comfortable interacting with students, parents, other teachers and administrators to make sure that each of her students had what he or she needed to do well within his classroom. With Kathy’s guidance, my son did very, very well in high school, and is on his way to an excellent university.  I am pleased to unequivocally recommend Maxine and Kathy very highly.

Dee K.  Parent

Words can’t even begin to describe how grateful we are to Maxine Cohen and Kathy Dowd for everything they have done for our son. They made his transition and adjustment to high school as smooth as possible, carefully planning his schedule and choosing his classes to give him the best chances for success. This guidance began in eighth grade, when Mrs. Cohen joined us at our IEP meeting so that she can get to know him even before he set foot in OHS.  This continued every single day all the way to their last day of school. They helped him manage his anxiety, and dealt with his “meltdowns” with compassion and respect, teaching him how to control his outbursts. They recognized his strengths, and helped him develop the self-confidence needed to overcome his weaknesses. Mrs. Dowd was not just a mentor to my son, but also a friend.  As a parent, there is nothing more reassuring than to know that your child is being guided by people who truly care. I can honestly say that my son's success in high school is largely due to their hard work and dedication. Mrs. Cohen and Ms. Dowd changed my son's  life, and we will forever be thankful.

- Ronnie and Joy M

We had many reasons for feeling that we needed an advocate in our IEP meeting. We had a general idea of how IEPs were granted but felt uncomfortable with our limited knowledge about the system, services and how this could all relate to our child. We were concerned that our child might suffer negative repercussions at school due to our efforts or lack thereof. We were reluctant to accept our school’s recommendations at face value because we feared that they might have a conflict of interest, whereas we would not. We needed someone who knew the territory.

CDM was a good match for us. Maxine Cohen and Kathy Dowd provided us  with the wisdom and experience we needed for fair representation. Their many years in Special Education gave them an excellent basis from which to advocate for our child. We came to appreciate their “tag team” approach in which both of them attended our meetings and then compared observations. Maxine and Kathy brought professionalism and direction to our meetings. In addition, Maxine and Kathy helped us to understand our child’s learning disabilities and strengths in ways no one else had. The end result is that our child will finally receive the assistance that he needs and is positioned for success. We are absolutely sure that this would not be the case had we not had their insight and support. Words cannot express our gratitude.

                         Greg and Joan W