Schools for gifted dyslexic kid in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lab and Siena are going to only focus on the dyslexia and not her strengths. That’s why we picked McLean after visiting all 3. They can accelerate on the strong academics and she will be able to stretch more in her strengths. We have similar situation with our son - very bright in math and he struggles with reading. I think your daughter might find the academics unchallenging at lab and Siena. McLean knows exactly how to support and challenge that profile - we couldn’t be happier there for what it’s worth.

I wouldn't rule out Lab--they have kids on more advanced math tracks and challenge kids in their areas of strength. I know McLean likes to say other schools only focus on deficits, but it's not true in our experience. A friend who started teaching at the McLean upper school is really frustrated with the low level of the curriculum and doesn't feel like it prepares them to be independent.

[Anonymous]

It's really kid dependent -- (1) how impacted is your daughter (i.e. how bad are her percentiles on the dyslexia-specific sub-scores), and how does she compare to grade-level on reading and writing? (2) how committed would she be to remediation, and 'working the program' at a dyslexia-specific school? It's not easy getting a private tutor -- particularly once 5x a week -- so dyslexic schools are appealing in building in that remediation. It's also a big burden to commit to those additional tutoring hours before and after school.

Our daughter might have had a similar profile -- high intelligence, extremely strong and interested in math, ADHD, not that behind based on grade level assessments but clearly very impacted. Given Covid--public school never even tested her, hard to get in-person tutors--we sent her to a dyslexia school for several years. It's hard to evaluate, in hindsight, how she might have fared with public school and tutoring, but some disadvantages to a dyslexia-specific school that we saw: (1) While they focus on remediation, they're not going to "push" your daughter (especially if she's not "that behind"), creating challenges if she doesn't want to do the (admittedly boring) OG remediation work. After four years, our DD was essentially level with where she started-- ~ 6 months off from grade level. (2) "Everything else" academic is going to be watered down. Initially, given the open placements, DD was immediately moved up one year in math, but they couldn't continue to accommodate past sixth grade. (3) Notwithstanding specific executive function accommodations built in, given the general watering down of academic demands, there will be a (potentially rough) transition when they move to a new public/private school, with increased homework and studying demands. (4) There will be many rambunctious boys (dyslexia=ADHD).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really kid dependent -- (1) how impacted is your daughter (i.e. how bad are her percentiles on the dyslexia-specific sub-scores), and how does she compare to grade-level on reading and writing? (2) how committed would she be to remediation, and 'working the program' at a dyslexia-specific school? It's not easy getting a private tutor -- particularly once 5x a week -- so dyslexic schools are appealing in building in that remediation. It's also a big burden to commit to those additional tutoring hours before and after school.

Our daughter might have had a similar profile -- high intelligence, extremely strong and interested in math, ADHD, not that behind based on grade level assessments but clearly very impacted. Given Covid--public school never even tested her, hard to get in-person tutors--we sent her to a dyslexia school for several years. It's hard to evaluate, in hindsight, how she might have fared with public school and tutoring, but some disadvantages to a dyslexia-specific school that we saw: (1) While they focus on remediation, they're not going to "push" your daughter (especially if she's not "that behind"), creating challenges if she doesn't want to do the (admittedly boring) OG remediation work. After four years, our DD was essentially level with where she started-- ~ 6 months off from grade level. (2) "Everything else" academic is going to be watered down. Initially, given the open placements, DD was immediately moved up one year in math, but they couldn't continue to accommodate past sixth grade. (3) Notwithstanding specific executive function accommodations built in, given the general watering down of academic demands, there will be a (potentially rough) transition when they move to a new public/private school, with increased homework and studying demands. (4) There will be many rambunctious boys (dyslexia=ADHD).

What school was this?