School ideas: ADHD combined

[Anonymous]

DS is newly diagnosed with ADHD combined. He's high IQ, but his executive function skills are really poor. We are looking into medication and accommodations, but we really know that we need to switch schools. (At a very inflexible catholic school now) Kid is in 7th grade.

If we move him for 8th grade, can anyone point me to schools in the NW DC/Montgomery county area that have learning specialists and actually teach executive function skills? I've identified McLean and Burke. What about St Andrews? Where else can we look?

If we wait until high school, I think St John's Benilde program might be suitable. Any other good programs to look at if we can muddle through 8th at his current school?

Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't look at St. Andrew's for a NT kid or one with learning differences. There have been extensive conversations on the private school forum about behavior and bullying there. The conversations get negated or shut down by school supporters, but the issues are very real and hurt kids of all abilities that they admit.

[Anonymous]

Not too many schools actually teach the EF skills. Your best bet is to ask each school very specifically "How do you support EF skills starting in 7th grade?"

[Anonymous]

Executive functioning also improves with age and maturity. My son is presently in 10th grade and he is progressively improving at executive functioning. He was horrendous in middle school but every year I see some amount of improvement all on his own. I don’t think it will ever be a strong skill for him but he is passable at this point (with no outside help). We parents try to guide and supervise but he is very stubborn and resistant to our help

[Anonymous]

May be too far but Sandy Spring.

[Anonymous]

Is there a specific reason why you don't want public? Tilden MS (MoCo) may be a good fit. If he doesnt have EF, he needs an IEP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a specific reason why you don't want public? Tilden MS (MoCo) may be a good fit. If he doesn't have EF, he needs an IEP

We aren't zoned for Tilden. But honestly, we pulled him out of public a few years ago because he was not challenged at all. One of my older kids went to our local middle school for a while and then moved to private as well. We have not found the public school curriculum to be thorough or challenging. And this particular kid would LOVE to go public -- because all of his public school friends have zero homework and no academic demands on them. It would kick this attention problem down the road into high school, where the stakes are so much higher.

Thanks for the other suggestions. I had Sandy Spring in my mind, but haven't looked into it much.

[Anonymous]

McLean School. EF instruction and support has been great there for my son. I would say there's less of it in 8th grade though....by this point more kids are better/independent (but they've been there a few years). But you should at least explore and have a convo because there are always new students coming in at older grades, and I'm sure they are getting good levels of support b/c they are new to McLean..

[Anonymous]

McLean has good support for this in middle school.

[Anonymous]

People from Montgomery go to Commonwealth

[Anonymous]

How did Burke end up on your list?!? It’s a mainstream school. Every private school has a learning specialist.


I would look at McLean which is a school designed for the profile you describe. Your child could be a whole new version of themselves medicated. My experience with my young ADHDer is that they were not even available to take in any therapies without medication.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t think he’s challenged enough in public I really don’t think you will be happy with McLean. Though I know people like the environment. Most catholic schools are not particularly academically rigorous either. When did you leave public? You might be surprised what is available at the higher grades once enrichment starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People from Montgomery go to Commonwealth

…but it’s a d*mn long way!

We couldn’t make it work.

Fortunately, McLean School saved the day for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not too many schools actually teach the EF skills. Your best bet is to ask each school very specifically "How do you support EF skills starting in 7th grade?"

With adhd combined if they don’t listen to your tips for organizing, planning, time Mgmt you will have to get a coach and tie in the advisor. Talk all the time as a team

[Anonymous]

My child with ADHD combined is at a mainstream independent school where they teach EF skills (the ones related to school work) as part of the middle school curriculum. It’s been very helpful for DC to be taught how to manage home work, how to use a planner, how to take notes, how to organize papers for their classes/their binder, organize files on their computer, etc. DC has been able to maintain the good habits after the teachers stopped checking to see if the kids were doing it.

My child went to therapy to work on EF skills like self-regulation, flexible thinking, etc. Medication was actually the key to these for my DC, who is now able to focus at school and can plan assignments. After school/homework is going well, too, even without a booster (DC does an extended release which reward off around 4 pm).

If you are applying for 8th grade, I think you need to ask if schools will go back and teach your child these skills - my sense is that most independent schools do it in middle school. You may want to find a coach to work on helping your child develop a system.

My DC has pretty severe ADHD combined - apparent since preschool. We tried public and DC struggled significantly since teacher punished DC for significant hyperactivity. Independent school has been much better, but we went mainstream as DC is very bright and we felt could handle a rigorous curriculum with the right supports. It was the right decision - early elementary was very challenging academically for DC but as they developed their EF skills DC now a very strong student.