mainstream private or Sienna/Lab/dyslexia focus for bright dyslexic kid

[Anonymous]

We missed the boat on applying to private schools for next year, so our newly diagnosed kid will be at her DCPS public for 4th grade. Trying to figure out if we should move her to private for 5th? Or make the move for 6th (a bigger entry year)? And should we look at dyslexia-focused schools or mainstream privates? She's great at math, strong reading comprehension when given extra time, excellent auditory comprehension (i.e. loves above grade level audio books, but struggles with at grade level regular books). She can read....but she's a very slow reader and her spelling is totally phonetic. We're starting OG tutoring, and beginning to realize that public school might not be the best place for her (too bad because we moved to our neighborhood for the bilingual elementary school and the path to Deal and JR).

[Anonymous]

What grade does Oyster Adams move buildings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade does Oyster Adams move buildings?

Could be Bancroft

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your kid needs intensive remediation, and once she’s had that she probably wouldn’t need the dyslexia focused school. So I’d go all in on remediation now, with a CALT and at least 3 times a week. Then you can revisit the private/public question later.

[Anonymous]

Lots of people here will say to save your money and just do tutoring. I knew my kid couldn't handle any more of the school day than there already was, so we did one of the SN privates. His dyslexia wasn't even that severe, but it turns out that developing your entire curriculum around teaching for SLD just improves everything everywhere all at once. We moved in 5th and have no regrets at all. He is now almost completely remediated and looking to move back to public for HS.

[Anonymous]

Have family members who had OG tutors for years twice/week and worked all summer. Kids still fell more and more behind. Finally switched to a school focused on dyslexia and kids made more progress in one semester than they had all those years. I think the previous comment re: the exhaustion that happens from being in school all day is an important one. They can’t get that much out of tutoring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people here will say to save your money and just do tutoring. I knew my kid couldn't handle any more of the school day than there already was, so we did one of the SN privates. His dyslexia wasn't even that severe, but it turns out that developing your entire curriculum around teaching for SLD just improves everything everywhere all at once. We moved in 5th and have no regrets at all. He is now almost completely remediated and looking to move back to public for HS.

Private school was worth it for mine because it was more supportive and a confidence booster. He needed a change from the environment he associated with competition and failure. He was able to move back to public school for HS a changed student thanks to the break. And like your child, mine didn’t have the bandwidth for daily tutoring after school. I wanted him to be able to hang out with friends and play sports. While I 100% agree the money saved in public can buy a lot of private service hours, at the end of the day some kids really need a change to a healthier environment.

[Anonymous]

Op I have a similar child who attended Siena for ES and MS for many of the reasons shared above. Now returning to mainstream private for HS.

[Anonymous]

I know a kid who made amazing progress at Chelsea.

[Anonymous]

We applied late to McLean School last year (in april) - they stil had some spots in certain grades. It's been a GAME CHANGER for my dyslexic/adhd daughter. You never know what school's still have openings so you should call and ask.

[Anonymous]

We chose to stay in ur public and get a tutor. My DC is proudly affectionate by dyslexia and the private dyslexia schools cater to more moderate versions. Plus, like your daughter, he was very good in math and our local public school was much better in math than any of the privates.

It is different for each child as each child has a different mix of challenges and strengths. There is no real map to help and unfortunately, there can be quite a bit of trial and error.

[Anonymous]

I'm a tutor and I recently worked with a DCPS student had been completely gaslight by DCPS special ed into thinking that their dyslexic child was "remediated" and was having struggles in high school classes for some reason other than dyslexia. The student literally couldn't read multi-syllabic words. She had no access to the history curriculum -- couldn't read and understand the history material well enough to complete assignments.

So, whatever you do, please do extensive tutoring. IMO, it's better to move to a private environment earlier. There is more benefit in terms of making improvements in reading, and there is more to work on, typically, than just reading: often spelling and written and oral communication are impacted and would benefit from special instruction and a specialized environment.

[Anonymous]

Happy McLean parent. Similar (ish) profile. I have a middle schooler, very strong at math, excellent verbal skills and comprehension, but weak reader. Came in 5th grade (and - we applied in the summer 2 years ago, so I agree with the other poster saying you never know if spaces are still available). There was pretty substantial reading support for him in 5th and 6th grade with teh middle school reading specialist and he was in a literature group that was supported. But at the other end - he was in the most accelerated math groups. I don't feel like we could have gotten that at Lab. (which we did visit by the way). The limited social opportunities there also turned us off. Good luck! FOr what it's worth - I wish we would have come in lower school in 4th grade and not waited till 5th. He would have gotten more intervention.