How to select a specialized private school

[Anonymous]

DS is an ADHD middle schooler just diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and executive function disorder. The struggle with our school/county has been exhausting and has left us with little faith in the public system, and we are ready to move him to a specialized private school. I can do all the reading online about these schools, but for those of you who have placed your kiddos in one, what other criteria did you look for or find important. The last time I had to "choose" a school, I was going to college and that seems really different. Looking for advice on how to narrow down the list and how to choose. I assume we need to visit many of them, talk with admissions to see if the fit is right, but what else? How did you know you found the right school?

[Anonymous]

Where are you? How severe are his diagnoses? We did private for years and had to supplement and depending on how impacted he is you may be in the same boat. So don’t go in thinking it’s a one stop shop / it’s often not. We are in public this year still doing OG tutoring and math tutoring and executive function coaching in 7th grade. We were at a really good private before too it just wasn’t enough.

[Anonymous]

There are not that many. Tour all of them. Where do you live? What are your DC’s academic strengths?

[Anonymous]

You will not have so many options. You will be lucky to have two acceptable options to choose between. If you tell us where you live, we can probably tell you what those are.

[Anonymous]

OP here - we are Fairfax County on the border with Arlington and would like to stay in VA/DC if possible. We have an OG tutor and a math tutor, who are really helping, but he needs a school setting with a smaller class size and more specialized instruction throughout the day. Still awaiting a full run through of our neuropsych report with the testing team to understand how severe the diagnosis truly is, but we know we cannot leave him in his current setting. As for academic strengths, I think the fact that he still likes school (math specifically) and is willing to work hard are his academic strengths.

[Anonymous]

Hire an advocate to help you. They can assess your kid and facilitate the process. A good one is in the schools often and should be familiar with current administration and students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - we are Fairfax County on the border with Arlington and would like to stay in VA/DC if possible. We have an OG tutor and a math tutor, who are really helping, but he needs a school setting with a smaller class size and more specialized instruction throughout the day. Still awaiting a full run through of our neuropsych report with the testing team to understand how severe the diagnosis truly is, but we know we cannot leave him in his current setting. As for academic strengths, I think the fact that he still likes school (math specifically) and is willing to work hard are his academic strengths.

Hmm. I would consider Lab, Nora, and
Siena. But you will still be supplementing.

[Anonymous]

Also realize nothing is going to be perfect but it will be better than public and yes it’s ungodly expensive. These schools will also help with the college process which is extremely valuable.

[Anonymous]

I’d definitely look at McLean, with the caveat that depending on the extent of his needs with regard to dyslexia, they may not offer enough in the way of support in that domain. (I’m the parent of an ES kid there with ADHD/dyslexia).

[Anonymous]

You really need to wait to see where he falls. Do you know his IQ? My kid is significantly impacted and so too dyslexic/special needs for schools like Lab and Nora and Siena. For him, the options are very intensive support schools like Diener and KTS - which he found too restrictive - and private. We have also found he really only learns one on one so no matter what will have to intensively supplement. If his needs were not so intense we would consider those schools. I do not think Mclean will be enough for what you are describing - it will be like public just maybe smaller cases. But it totally depends on the scope of his needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really need to wait to see where he falls. Do you know his IQ? My kid is significantly impacted and so too dyslexic/special needs for schools like Lab and Nora and Siena. For him, the options are very intensive support schools like Diener and KTS - which he found too restrictive - and private. We have also found he really only learns one on one so no matter what will have to intensively supplement. If his needs were not so intense we would consider those schools. I do not think Mclean will be enough for what you are describing - it will be like public just maybe smaller cases. But it totally depends on the scope of his needs.

Sorry, typo - very intensive schools or public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - we are Fairfax County on the border with Arlington and would like to stay in VA/DC if possible. We have an OG tutor and a math tutor, who are really helping, but he needs a school setting with a smaller class size and more specialized instruction throughout the day. Still awaiting a full run through of our neuropsych report with the testing team to understand how severe the diagnosis truly is, but we know we cannot leave him in his current setting. As for academic strengths, I think the fact that he still likes school (math specifically) and is willing to work hard are his academic strengths.

You can ask the testing team - our neuropsych had suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Look at Oakwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is an ADHD middle schooler just diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and executive function disorder. The struggle with our school/county has been exhausting and has left us with little faith in the public system, and we are ready to move him to a specialized private school. I can do all the reading online about these schools, but for those of you who have placed your kiddos in one, what other criteria did you look for or find important. The last time I had to "choose" a school, I was going to college and that seems really different. Looking for advice on how to narrow down the list and how to choose. I assume we need to visit many of them, talk with admissions to see if the fit is right, but what else? How did you know you found the right school?

For my child we considered Lab and Sienna.
We looked online at McLean but did not go any further because we thought our child needed more remediation than McLean offered (it was not their sweet spot)
Considerations - logistics for getting to and from school each day. Sienna was going to be hard but we looked at it as an option anyway as something to compare.

Start with taking a tour of Lab. Look around and see if your can imagine your child there.
There are a lot of Lab students from your area and a shuttle bus.
Look at what a typical schedule it.
Do not assume that you will only be there for 3 years and your child will be fully remediated. After being in small classes, I can not imagine my child moving back to public school successfully.

[Anonymous]

Commonwealth Academy might be worth investigating.