Educational consultant for school placement

[Anonymous]

We hired an educational consultant to explore public school options in the greater DMV area for our HFA child. Of all the money we've spent over the years on SN services, this was our greatest waste of time and money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most of the literature says that a student with dyslexia needs specific reading instruction in an Orton-Gillingham based program. That can be hard to get in any public school setting, and especially at a Montessori school unless they are willing to commit to pull out or push-in tutoring in a specific program to augment the standard curriculum.

The other way to go is to pick a school that works for your child in everything but reading, and do intensive tutoring at your own expensive after school or weekends, and during the summers.

My similar child was in a Montessori charter school, and they had a Wilson-trained reading specialist work with him 1:1 3 times a week per the IEP. It still wasn't enough, so we supplemented outside of school as well. The regular reading instruction in the classroom was basically worthless.

This is really useful information. I was thinking that one (possibly good) option would be to keep him in the public Montessori school and do the tutoring for dyslexia primarily after school and on weekends. While this will be expensive, I imagine it should be much less expensive than a private school. Did your child do well in the public Montessori otherwise? I mean, was he/she happy with school and able to learn other subjects such as math and science? And did he/she have any attention issues? It's the attention issues that are a flag for me with the Montessori environment. But again, confusing, because his K teacher thinks that he is most likely to thrive in Montessori since he is very independent minded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

OP, On behalf of this board, I apologize for PP's rudeness. Most of us are nice and helpful. A few, well, just ignore them is the best I advice I can give.

The Auburn School is an SN School in Silver Spring with a tuition around $35,000 and they offer financial aid as well. Also, part of SN school tuition may be tax deductible as a medical expense. If you choose an SN school, be sure to ask the school or your accountant about the tax deduction.

I agree with the PPs who recommend against Montessori or Waldorf. The problem with both of them is that they are very "child-directed" in that they allow the kids a lot of freedom to decide what kind of work they want to do. That's great for highly motivated children, but a child with ADHD and dyslexia is probably going to avoid reading, which of course means he will not improve his reading skills very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Most of the literature says that a student with dyslexia needs specific reading instruction in an Orton-Gillingham based program. That can be hard to get in any public school setting, and especially at a Montessori school unless they are willing to commit to pull out or push-in tutoring in a specific program to augment the standard curriculum.

The other way to go is to pick a school that works for your child in everything but reading, and do intensive tutoring at your own expensive after school or weekends, and during the summers.

My similar child was in a Montessori charter school, and they had a Wilson-trained reading specialist work with him 1:1 3 times a week per the IEP. It still wasn't enough, so we supplemented outside of school as well. The regular reading instruction in the classroom was basically worthless.

This is really useful information. I was thinking that one (possibly good) option would be to keep him in the public Montessori school and do the tutoring for dyslexia primarily after school and on weekends. While this will be expensive, I imagine it should be much less expensive than a private school. Did your child do well in the public Montessori otherwise? I mean, was he/she happy with school and able to learn other subjects such as math and science? And did he/she have any attention issues? It's the attention issues that are a flag for me with the Montessori environment. But again, confusing, because his K teacher thinks that he is most likely to thrive in Montessori since he is very independent minded.

My child was diagnosed later with inattentive ADHD -- didn't really become an issue until middle school. The rest of the school was good for him -- we stayed through 5th.

Two friends had kids with ADHD combined type who left our Montessori after 2nd. The school tried but never really figured out how to support them. They were both very bright and didn't struggle academically but were constantly interrupting other students and having to be re-directed, even with one being on stimulant medication. Both moved to traditional classrooms and did better with the more predictable routine and structure.

I don't think I would have chosen Montessori if I were dealing with both ADHD adn dyslexia unless you know your child will be placed with very strong teachers with successful experience teaching numerous children with that profile over their career. 1st-4th grade is such a critical time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

OP, On behalf of this board, I apologize for PP's rudeness. Most of us are nice and helpful. A few, well, just ignore them is the best I advice I can give.

The Auburn School is an SN School in Silver Spring with a tuition around $35,000 and they offer financial aid as well. Also, part of SN school tuition may be tax deductible as a medical expense. If you choose an SN school, be sure to ask the school or your accountant about the tax deduction.

I agree with the PPs who recommend against Montessori or Waldorf. The problem with both of them is that they are very "child-directed" in that they allow the kids a lot of freedom to decide what kind of work they want to do. That's great for highly motivated children, but a child with ADHD and dyslexia is probably going to avoid reading, which of course means he will not improve his reading skills very much.

auburn is mainly for kids on the spectrum. sienna is for language based issues, but it doesn't start until 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

OP, On behalf of this board, I apologize for PP's rudeness. Most of us are nice and helpful. A few, well, just ignore them is the best I advice I can give.

The Auburn School is an SN School in Silver Spring with a tuition around $35,000 and they offer financial aid as well. Also, part of SN school tuition may be tax deductible as a medical expense. If you choose an SN school, be sure to ask the school or your accountant about the tax deduction.

I agree with the PPs who recommend against Montessori or Waldorf. The problem with both of them is that they are very "child-directed" in that they allow the kids a lot of freedom to decide what kind of work they want to do. That's great for highly motivated children, but a child with ADHD and dyslexia is probably going to avoid reading, which of course means he will not improve his reading skills very much.

auburn is mainly for kids on the spectrum. sienna is for language based issues, but it doesn't start until 4th grade.

Auburn will take kids with ADHD as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hired an educational consultant to explore public school options in the greater DMV area for our HFA child. Of all the money we've spent over the years on SN services, this was our greatest waste of time and money.

Same. We got such bad advice that we would have been better off with no advice. Initials RH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

OP, On behalf of this board, I apologize for PP's rudeness. Most of us are nice and helpful. A few, well, just ignore them is the best I advice I can give.

The Auburn School is an SN School in Silver Spring with a tuition around $35,000 and they offer financial aid as well. Also, part of SN school tuition may be tax deductible as a medical expense. If you choose an SN school, be sure to ask the school or your accountant about the tax deduction.

I agree with the PPs who recommend against Montessori or Waldorf. The problem with both of them is that they are very "child-directed" in that they allow the kids a lot of freedom to decide what kind of work they want to do. That's great for highly motivated children, but a child with ADHD and dyslexia is probably going to avoid reading, which of course means he will not improve his reading skills very much.

auburn is mainly for kids on the spectrum. sienna is for language based issues, but it doesn't start until 4th grade.

Auburn will take kids with ADHD as well.

Perhaps, but its main interventions are around social skills. Going to a school that specializes in something other than your child's main area of need is silly, even if your child's diagnosis qualifies him for admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

OP, On behalf of this board, I apologize for PP's rudeness. Most of us are nice and helpful. A few, well, just ignore them is the best I advice I can give.

The Auburn School is an SN School in Silver Spring with a tuition around $35,000 and they offer financial aid as well. Also, part of SN school tuition may be tax deductible as a medical expense. If you choose an SN school, be sure to ask the school or your accountant about the tax deduction.

I agree with the PPs who recommend against Montessori or Waldorf. The problem with both of them is that they are very "child-directed" in that they allow the kids a lot of freedom to decide what kind of work they want to do. That's great for highly motivated children, but a child with ADHD and dyslexia is probably going to avoid reading, which of course means he will not improve his reading skills very much.

Auburn is closer to $42K/year -- 1-2% less if you can pay up front; nearly $1K more if you need the monthly payment plan. Newton is closer to $30K.

[Anonymous]

When we got DC's edu psych eval the Doc helped us with this. I think that would be your best bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are looking for an educational consultant that can help us decide the right type of school placement for our SN child (inattentive ADHD and dyslexia). I know of some educational consultants that help with navigating the school system and securing accommodations. But this would be more of someone who knows the local area schools (advantages/disadvantages), understands SNs, and can help us decide what type of schooling (traditional, Waldorf, Montessori, private) would be best for our child with his particular profile. Any recommendations?

If you live in DC, try E.V. Downey . We used her and got our #1 lottery choice. Her fee is extremely reasonable. FYI-- she said Montessori is NOT ideal for SN kids.

https://downeyschoolconsulting.wordpress.com/about-2/

[Anonymous]

Ok. NP here. We are a SN family that lives in DC, has some frame of reference for non-SN independent schools, and we hired Suzie Keith Blattner. I'll jump in and see if I can help you.

We worked with Suzie on placement. She did not steer us toward only special needs private schools. She recommended two schools for DC: a DCPS school with an HFA program, and a SN private. There were several schools I expected her to recommend that she did not. When I inquired, she gave very specific reasons as to why each particular school would not be be a good fit for DC specifically. I felt very confident she'd "done her homework" on our DC, so to speak.

When we were considering our options, Suzie had helpful insights about navigating DCPS. She is very knowledgeable about how the system works. For many reasons, we opted not to pursue the DCPS option. Despite DC's diagnoses, we still had to go through the lottery system as a starting point. We got a terrible lottery number, which was fine with me because I was really gravitating toward the SN private. Also, I had no desire to jump through the legal and bureaucratic hoops it would have taken to get DC placed in that DCPS program.

While I agree with PPs about avoiding Montessori and Waldorf schools, there are some progressive options you might consider depending on your DC's profile. I'm assuming your DC doesn't have "behaviors" (i.e., meltdowns or tantrums)?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this information re Suzie, it is very helpful. We may reach out to her for a consulting session/process to help with school placement.

What type of progressive schools might you consider?

I am still struggling with why everyone says Montessori is so bad for children with SNs like my son (dyslexia, mild inattentive ADHD). My child hates structure that is imposed by others. I think he would be miserable in a traditional school (he has been in Montessori for PreK and K). His teacher for the past three years also thinks that he is the 'ultimate Montessori child', who really needs Montessori. This is because he has very particular interests, is very focused on what he wants to work on, doesn't like transitions, and likes to concentrate for long periods of time (hyperfocus). While I do wonder if he would struggle in Montessori to cover all the areas he needs to, and to not wander around aimlessly and waste time, I also anticipate that this child would hate, hate, hate traditional school and would have many more behavior problems.

In general, DC's behavior is okay at the current school (Montessori). He is a little bit defiant and doesn't always want to redirect to the task that the teachers ask him to work on.....but meltdowns and tantrums are pretty rare or non-existent. He can be quite a charmer with his teachers and the other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this information re Suzie, it is very helpful. We may reach out to her for a consulting session/process to help with school placement.

What type of progressive schools might you consider?

I am still struggling with why everyone says Montessori is so bad for children with SNs like my son (dyslexia, mild inattentive ADHD). My child hates structure that is imposed by others. I think he would be miserable in a traditional school (he has been in Montessori for PreK and K). His teacher for the past three years also thinks that he is the 'ultimate Montessori child', who really needs Montessori This is because he has very particular interests, is very focused on what he wants to work on, doesn't like transitions, and likes to concentrate for long periods of time (hyperfocus). While I do wonder if he would struggle in Montessori to cover all the areas he needs to, and to not wander around aimlessly and waste time, I also anticipate that this child would hate, hate, hate traditional school and would have many more behavior problems.

In general, DC's behavior is okay at the current school (Montessori). He is a little bit defiant and doesn't always want to redirect to the task that the teachers ask him to work on.....but meltdowns and tantrums are pretty rare or non-existent. He can be quite a charmer with his teachers and the other kids.

That's the exact reason why Montessori is problematic. My ADHD DD is the same way. She hates structure, but desperately needs it. Her preferred activity is reading. She would read almost 24/7 if we let her. She also wanders around aimlessly and jumps from book to book. We are happy that she likes to read, but sometimes she can get so focused on reading, she can even forget to go to the bathroom. And she isn't always reading what she really needs to learn about. Other times, she doesn't know what to do with herself. If you think your kid would suffer in a traditional public school, then a private school, whether SN or not, might offer the best of both worlds. The smaller class size can give him the individual attention and freedom he needs, while still providing enough structure to ensure he is learning the full curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this information re Suzie, it is very helpful. We may reach out to her for a consulting session/process to help with school placement.

What type of progressive schools might you consider?

I am still struggling with why everyone says Montessori is so bad for children with SNs like my son (dyslexia, mild inattentive ADHD). My child hates structure that is imposed by others. I think he would be miserable in a traditional school (he has been in Montessori for PreK and K). His teacher for the past three years also thinks that he is the 'ultimate Montessori child', who really needs Montessori. This is because he has very particular interests, is very focused on what he wants to work on, doesn't like transitions, and likes to concentrate for long periods of time (hyperfocus). While I do wonder if he would struggle in Montessori to cover all the areas he needs to, and to not wander around aimlessly and waste time, I also anticipate that this child would hate, hate, hate traditional school and would have many more behavior problems.

In general, DC's behavior is okay at the current school (Montessori). He is a little bit defiant and doesn't always want to redirect to the task that the teachers ask him to work on.....but meltdowns and tantrums are pretty rare or non-existent. He can be quite a charmer with his teachers and the other kids.

When kids develop unevenly it's very tempting to let them rely on their strengths and to ignore their deficits. But someday he's going to need to learn how to transition, to do things he doesn't want to do, to work on areas that are non-preferred, and to switch gears. It's easier to learn to do that when you're young and your brain is still developing, and the difference between your abilities and your peers' abilities isn't as big. In a few years other kids will be so far ahead in these areas, and it will be harder to catch up.