Best private MS/HS with Dyscalculia
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Anonymous
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My daughter attends a private school in the area and was diagnosed with dyscalculia (a math learning disability). She is very social and athletic and happy where she is but I am concerned that moving forward she may need to switch schools to one that may be more accommodating.
If anyone has experience with this, I'd love to hear of it. |
Anonymous
| Do you think she needs accommodations or remediation? Are you/she considering tutoring? |
Anonymous
| A few things, what grade, how severe is it and is she currently at grade level, are there any co-morbidities? |
Anonymous
| Agreed with poster asking about severity. I have it. I attended a very rigorous prep school. I did end up making a b in one advanced math course, probably due to this. I definitely reversed a few answers on the sat, certainly because of it. But it wasn't diagnosed until much later in life (I don't even think people really knew much about the disability then). I wouldn't trade my rigorous school, nor did I need to. And now, I would have been given the very small supports I likely did need but didn't get, so it would have been even less of an issue. |
Anonymous
she is working with a highly skilled tutor and does have some accommodations but I don't feel the teacher is acting as a supportive partner in this. |
Anonymous
She is in 6th grade and also has ADD. No hyperactivity. |
Anonymous
| My 3rd grader has it. May I ask where you found a highly skilled tutor?? It is sooo hard to find tutors experienced with this! I Donnie about Marilyn Zelcher. |
Anonymous
| Correction: I do know about Marilyn Zelcher. |
Anonymous
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It would be highly unlikely ( practically impossible) to find a general education math teacher that knows the intricacies of dyscalculia. The only place that you will find that in the DC area for middle and high school is at Siena. However if your child is not dyslexic that school won’t be a good fit for her/you.
I have a child in public school with dyscalculia and it’s alarming the lack of knowledge surrounding it. Ultimately we decided it’s the best place because of the social aspect, community, extracurricular. We have a tutor but the hit to her self esteem in an environment where the LD is not understood is a real concern. Unfortunately, there isn’t a good option. |
Anonymous
Same experience here. We have our DD getting tutoring virtually from a special Ed teacher who is out of state and she’s terrific but I’ve not found anyone in DC who was all that educated about dyscalculia. |
Anonymous
| I thought the mcos Ms and Hs near darnestown, md specialized in this and dyslexia. Get an iep and check it out. |
Anonymous
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Our DS attends a selective (big 6 depending on how you look at schools) school and was diagnosed in 6th grade. I’m very concerned about it for older grades. We are reteaching him math using Ronit Bird books. It’s eye opening. I thought the easy games would be too simplistic for him but I realized that he really needed the basics. We now work through Ronit Bird on the weekends and school work during the week. As parents, we are spending at least 30-45 minutes with him per day on math. The teacher does not understand dyscalculia but has been very accommodating in terms of classroom and testing accommodations. Our DC also meets weekly with the teacher during office hours plus an out of school tutor. The goal is not to fail this year. I am very concerned about algebra and higher level math because there aren’t options for remedial math at private schools. Our goal is that our DS gets a C and has enough of an understanding of math to maintain a banking account.
In our case, the goal is to show the school that we are in partnership with them. We also are trying to find a summer program (haven’t found one yet). That being said, there is no remedial math and I’m petrified about what will happen in algebra. My DS has strong grades in everything not math related, and I think that is why the school is working with us, but it is becoming harder to keep up with the work for all of us. We have kids in different schools and without naming my other kid’s school (a top 6), there is no way that should would have accommodated our other kid. |
Anonymous
| As a parent with a dyslexic child, I send you my support! None of this is easy to navigate. I second the idea that staying in a mainstream school but getting frequent (like 3-4x/ week) outside support can be the best fit as long as other subjects are going well. |
Anonymous
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What is the specific process for testing and diagnosing a child with dyscalculia? Honestly wondering about our kid who struggles tremendously with math concepts and has a very poor number sense. It’s still a challenge despite outside tutors for extra help. She’s in 8th grade and I worry about high school because she just can’t seem to retain foundational concepts to build on for more advanced math. It almost like math is a foreign language she can’t seem to comprehend.
When did parents here recognize there was a problem and in what grade was your child diagnosed? |
Anonymous
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What is wrong with these schools with the “small class sizes” not flagging the struggling students better. Can’t a private school teacher tell when a student is faking it or barely guessing at the answers?
We are embarking on assessments and maybe even diagnoses alone as the school keeps saying, “middle of the pack” and skips right to word problems instead of building a foundation. The Covid 2 years didn’t help either but we all noticed ZERO refreshing on last years math, which was only 2-3 times a week. |