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?

[Skondrad]

This sounds like us, highly able 4th grader who tested into the language arts 4/5 th grade magnet program in MoCo without us knowing she had dyslexia/dysgraphia. But by the first month into school she was having headaches and stomachaches to the point of not getting out of bed. After much testing we discovered the symptoms were somatic responses to being overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. We have a pretty intense IEP to manage the dyslexia but my DD is still exhausted and wants to try a place where her supports are just a natural part of the day. She is two reading levels above grade and on accelerated math. We visited both Siena and McLean but they seem really focused on remediation and I wasn’t getting any feedback about how they engage kids who are accelerated. We would be seeking a special school for the anxiety of having to balance supports and always feeling like the kid who doesn’t have to do all of the work.

I am so exhausted myself trying to decide what is the best move. I just want to find a stimulating environment that provides an opportunity for our DD to not be so mentally exhausted and having headaches most days. A place that caters to the learning strengths of dyslexic students.

Please share any more thoughts and experiences.
kids

Anonymous wrote:My kid is currently in 3rd grade at a DCPS bilingual school, which we love. We just received a diagnosis of dyslexia, along with test results that indicate giftedness in a bunch of areas. I'd love to hear from families with similar kids:

1. If you sent your kid to private school, which one? Tell me why you like it? We can afford private, but hadn't considered it before the diagnosis because we are generally satisfied with our public.

2. Would you recommend a regular private school or a private school specifically focused on dyslexia for an academically talented kid with ADHD and dyslexia? She has no behavior problems and is a rule-follower. She doesn't like chaos in her classroom (though has learned to deal with some amount of it in large DCPS classes). She loves math, problem-based learning, experiments, etc. She also loves books and creative writing, but she struggles with spelling and speed (does great with audio books, but her reading is very slow).

Thoughts on the best path? We live in NW DC (east of the park).

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Skondrad wrote: This sounds like us, highly able 4th grader who tested into the language arts 4/5 th grade magnet program in MoCo without us knowing she had dyslexia/dysgraphia. But by the first month into school she was having headaches and stomachaches to the point of not getting out of bed. After much testing we discovered the symptoms were somatic responses to being overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. We have a pretty intense IEP to manage the dyslexia but my DD is still exhausted and wants to try a place where her supports are just a natural part of the day. She is two reading levels above grade and on accelerated math. We visited both Siena and McLean but they seem really focused on remediation and I wasn’t getting any feedback about how they engage kids who are accelerated. We would be seeking a special school for the anxiety of having to balance supports and always feeling like the kid who doesn’t have to do all of the work.

I am so exhausted myself trying to decide what is the best move. I just want to find a stimulating environment that provides an opportunity for our DD to not be so mentally exhausted and having headaches most days. A place that caters to the learning strengths of dyslexic students.

Please share any more thoughts and experiences.

PP I have heard good things about MCPS' GT/LD programs. I get the idea that MCPS never suggests them to families because spots are very limited. You'd need to seek them out yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS had qualified for full time gifted program in public school despite dyslexia. Your kid would not be the only one like this at Siena.

wa

+1. Our DS as well qualified for gifted MCPS math/science program in MS after spending ES at Siena. I don't think he would have qualified in middle school if we hadn't sent him to Siena because he wouldn't have been able to read without Siena.

IME, Siena was willing to accommodate his above level math skill and interest by placing him in an above grade level class. There was a very good science teacher who had some medical background who really fed DS's interest in medicine. Siena also made art class into something that was more suited to most dyslexic kids (who also often have problems with pencil control and writing) which was a kind of shop/art class where they built things and used more aids to make art rather than just drawing or painting.

There were things that looked simplistic to me, that I recognized weren't taught in our public school -- sentence parts and grammar and how to "dress up" a sentence, handwriting, and more tolerance for audio-books when reading for comprehension. I'm sure the latter looks like "going to easy" but many dyslexic kids find decoding so laborious that they don't have enough cognitive energy to also focus on meaning. When the class work involves understanding and discussing a book, it's preferable to allow a kid to listen to the story rather than read it because then they can participate in thinking about and discussing what they read. Anyway, my kid needed this kind of language instruction. And, BTW, he had never been diagnosed as "dyslexic" but rather as ADHD w/ language processing disorder. Siena could see from testing that he really did need dyslexic-type instruction. I do not think they would have accepted him if he had been ADHD without a reading disorder. Their language instruction is significantly different and would be unnecessary for an ADHD person with a language processing disorder or dyslexia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP, your money management over the many decades of your life is paramount here, for you and your children.

Unless you're so wealthy you can't tell the difference, I strongly advise you to pay for intensive Orton-Gillingham dyslexia tutoring outside of school, and continue with whatever public school you prefer. I prefer the MCPS clusters in Bethesda, Potomac and Chevy Chase, and for "gifted" services, my SN kid was accepted into the MCPS Gifted, Talented and Learning Disabled program at North Bethesda Middle School and Walter Johnson High School. But if you can't move, your NW DCPS will work too.

This approach will come out cheaper than SN privates, and the remediation will be more targeted to your child, so it will probably be better. Families at SN privates often need to supplement too. You'll be able to save/invest the money you'd have spent on years of private to grow her college fund, pay for graduate school, car, or downpayments on housing, whatever else that's needed in the future.

I would be very careful about NW DCPS. I say this as a parent who moved from NW DC to MCPS, although I would have preferred to stay in DC to live. There are specific gifted programs in MCPS that DCPS simply does not have -- magnet programs for gifted students some of whom also have IEPs or 504 plans, the N. Bethesda Gifted and Learning Disabled program which is a program you can be placed into as part of your IEP from any MCPS school, an elementary gifted and learning disabled Barnesly ES (I think this still exists).

As a tutor I regularly find undiagnosed dyslexic kids in MCPS and DCPS. My experience is anecdotal, but I have found kids that are more seriously affected and either unidentified and unmediated or parents have been told the student is remediated when it is obviously not true. This has been over the past decade or so, and recently US DOE Office of Civil Rights found, after investigation, that DCPS violated the civil rights of special education students through service removal, denial of FAPE and evaluation delays and denials.

MCPS is far from perfect, but I do think that systems have more potential.

[Anonymous]

+ 100 to the parents saying really depends on the kid and level of dyslexia. If your kid is on a path to be OG-3 ok reading by 4th or 5th grade, then there’s not much more remediation to do at at dyslexia specific school and it then is about what supports and accommodations they might receive. For instance at Lab or Sienna kids can often use integrated tech or verbal/oral and many thrive using these alt ways to achieve potential. DC (ADD dyslexia and dysgraphia) went to Lab and was beyond miserable- and so at a “regular” private now and not super thriving grade wise but as many of these kids are with 2e factors, kid is doing fine-ish grade wise and will always be slower at reading and writing but still super bright and learning etc. I wish there was that magic school but think it’s more about working a set of supports for your own kid that works best. So took us recalibrating our priories and expectations and understanding based on the kid we have.
I don’t know many people with kids with LDs that end in really satisfied with school options - there really aren’t any I’ve heard of having now tried so many things and talked to so many parents. So pick the priories for what fits your kid. We prioritized getting to independent reading and fine ish for school at a place where kid feels better and know kid will be fine in the real world. This included is pushing the OG hard to get to that core reading level.
The best places I’ve heard about of are BCC WJ Churchill or Fairfax and Arlington schools - not the privates.
I also am an adult with dyslexia from the era where we just slugged it out and once reached core reading just did school and I did really well in school (cared more than my DC but we didn’t have a COVID factor) and have a nice professional DC life now.

[Anonymous]

Tip from a teacher, OP. Never call you kid "gifted." I mean that in the gentlest way possible and parents do it all the time. It's just not a good look. You can say your child has dyslexia. That will help inform strategies and best practices. When your child is bright, we will know it intuitively without you saying it.

[Anonymous]

If you are happy with your current school and your child is thriving why would you consider moving her? I'd stay put and just get some outside reading help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are happy with your current school and your child is thriving why would you consider moving her? I'd stay put and just get some outside reading help.

The MoCo elementary school is working hard to understand what she needs and is intellectually stimulated, but it comes at a cost for her physically and emotionally - as we have to medicate to manage frequent headaches and stomach aches and anxiety of using her accommodations. She has asked to try a school where the accommodations are just part of everyone's day and I wonder if the headaches would be less frequent if she was in a place that knows how the dyslexic brain works best? But it is hard to "just try it out." On the flip side i have also seen the impact of her boredom at school.

[Anonymous]

Lab has a lot of enrichment (theater, arts, engineering etc) and hands on learning and some very bright kids.

MCPS was horrible for our kid with dyslexia and others in our circle, so I don't recommend moving.

[Anonymous]

Also, Lab will probably have her do a visit day at the end of the admissions process. You'You're late for this admissions cycle, but you could call and ask of they would have space.

[Anonymous]

Honestly if it were me, I'd move out towards Annapolis and send my kid here: https://www.thesummitschool.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tip from a teacher, OP. Never call you kid "gifted." I mean that in the gentlest way possible and parents do it all the time. It's just not a good look. You can say your child has dyslexia. That will help inform strategies and best practices. When your child is bright, we will know it intuitively without you saying it.

Maybe? Our kid’s giftedness masked her dyslexia in early elementary. Her teachers said she was on grade level and on track, meanwhile she was crying at night trying to do minimal amounts of homework. We suspected dyslexia because it runs in our family, but we were surprised to find out she was gifted too after a private evaluation.