Looking for a private school to accomodate dyslexia...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! How religious is Woods Academy? We are not Catholic.

Very religious and conservative.

This could not be further from the truth. We specifically chose Woods because it is NOT over-the-top religious or conservative. Aprox 40% of the student body is not Catholic.

New poster. Are you kidding? You walk in for the tour and the first thing they hit you with is the new mission statement, with "Catholic" all over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP something to think about is going to public school, which is what we did. We were at a private and the struggle to get them to adjust their mindset about dyslexia/LD's was taking a toll on us and slowing down progress on DCs end.

We took the big leap and went to public. Public schools are required by federal law to make accommodations and give every child FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education). DC uses the Norton-Gillingham method of learning for reading/phonics, sees the dyslexia specialist at school 4 times a week, and goes to his tutor once a week. The results have been amazing.

I have thought about Lab and a few others, which are far out in VA, but we've been happy with the results. DC is happy and is making huge strides, which means I probably shouldn't change what we're doing right now.

Best of luck!
Link:http://ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-rights/what-is-fape-what-can-it-mean-my-child

"A required component of IDEA, FAPE mandates that school districts provide access to general education and specialized educational services. It also requires that children with disabilities receive support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students. It also provides access to general education services for children with disabilities by encouraging that support and related services be provided to children in their general education settings as much as possible."

Can you please share which public school has a dyslexia specialist and has Orton-Gillingham trained teachers? That's awesome.

Public schools with special education departments will have speech and language therapists. "Dyslexia specialists" don't really exist. Speech and language therapists have the training to work with dyslexia, as it is a very common issue. I think you should cold call public schools you're interested in to see if they offer O-G programs if that is what works best for your child.

I was asking because the PP said her kid's school has a dyslexia specialist. Do public school reading specialists typically have OG and other specialized training, do you know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! How religious is Woods Academy? We are not Catholic.

Very religious and conservative.

This could not be further from the truth. We specifically chose Woods because it is NOT over-the-top religious or conservative. Aprox 40% of the student body is not Catholic.

New poster. Are you kidding? You walk in for the tour and the first thing they hit you with is the new mission statement, with "Catholic" all over it.

Woods Mission Statement: "An inclusive Catholic community preparing boys and girls to lead lives of significance". Seems pretty benign to me. Of course they're going to mention Catholicism in their mission statement---it's a Catholic school after all! Not at all unusual for a Catholic organization to include this in their mission statement---bet you'd find the same if you looked at the mission statements for Georgetown University, Holy Cross Hospital, SOME, etc. If you don't want to see the slightest trace of Catholicism, then Woods probably isn't a good fit. However, I can tell you from personal experience that it's an incredibly welcoming and inclusive school regardless of whether a student or their family is Catholic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP something to think about is going to public school, which is what we did. We were at a private and the struggle to get them to adjust their mindset about dyslexia/LD's was taking a toll on us and slowing down progress on DCs end.

We took the big leap and went to public. Public schools are required by federal law to make accommodations and give every child FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education). DC uses the Norton-Gillingham method of learning for reading/phonics, sees the dyslexia specialist at school 4 times a week, and goes to his tutor once a week. The results have been amazing.

I have thought about Lab and a few others, which are far out in VA, but we've been happy with the results. DC is happy and is making huge strides, which means I probably shouldn't change what we're doing right now.

Best of luck!
Link:http://ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-rights/what-is-fape-what-can-it-mean-my-child

"A required component of IDEA, FAPE mandates that school districts provide access to general education and specialized educational services. It also requires that children with disabilities receive support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students. It also provides access to general education services for children with disabilities by encouraging that support and related services be provided to children in their general education settings as much as possible."

Can you please share which public school has a dyslexia specialist and has Orton-Gillingham trained teachers? That's awesome.

Public schools with special education departments will have speech and language therapists. "Dyslexia specialists" don't really exist. Speech and language therapists have the training to work with dyslexia, as it is a very common issue. I think you should cold call public schools you're interested in to see if they offer O-G programs if that is what works best for your child.

I was asking because the PP said her kid's school has a dyslexia specialist. Do public school reading specialists typically have OG and other specialized training, do you know?

I think that it really varies by school district and school what skills the speech/language therapist and special ed teachers have. MoCo is VERY weak, IME, in dealing with dyslexia. They typically try to wait until a kid is 2+ years behind and "qualifies" for a special reading program like Wilson or Read 180. I put "qualify" in quotes because as a PP says, by law all children should get FAPE, but our experience with our dyslexic child has been that MCPS would not recognize the reading disability and would not provide any instruction. In the beginning we thought they were choosing to be difficult, but in the end, it became clear that they didn't actually know much about dyslexia or how to educate a dyslexic child. We found our reading specialist was not knowledgeable about any reading instruction programs other than the basic Fountas-Pinnell benchmark reading system that is used county-wide. In fact, a number of the "reading specialists" over the years were just general education teachers who had been assigned the position of "reading specialist" without any special background or education in reading beyond that of a general ed teacher.

I wish I could say ours was a unique experience in MCPS, but after having talked to a number of other parents, it seems very common.

[Anonymous]

OP- I am the PP whose child attends a public school with a special education teacher who specializes in dyslexia. We are in FCPS. If you go to a public school be upfront immediately about your dyslexic child. Have your private testing report in hand. Be prepared for any push back. Absolutely have an advocate/attorney for any meetings, correspondence, etc. with the school administration. You will need an IEP to get the specialized instruction. A school's reading specialist is NOT a dyslexia specialist. Schools will try to have that person be your child's teacher, but they absolutely should not be his/her teacher. A reading specialist believes that with more exposure, your child will absorb the information -- not true.

In addition to many Orton-Gillingham based interventions our school also uses a reading program that is called "Read Well" and it is awesome. All the children who are using it (at least in my child's grade) are now reading at grade level, and some are above grade level.

I cannot stress enough how important an advocate is to you -- it is essential.

Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP something to think about is going to public school, which is what we did. We were at a private and the struggle to get them to adjust their mindset about dyslexia/LD's was taking a toll on us and slowing down progress on DCs end.

We took the big leap and went to public. Public schools are required by federal law to make accommodations and give every child FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education). DC uses the Norton-Gillingham method of learning for reading/phonics, sees the dyslexia specialist at school 4 times a week, and goes to his tutor once a week. The results have been amazing.

I have thought about Lab and a few others, which are far out in VA, but we've been happy with the results. DC is happy and is making huge strides, which means I probably shouldn't change what we're doing right now.

Best of luck!
Link:http://ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-rights/what-is-fape-what-can-it-mean-my-child

"A required component of IDEA, FAPE mandates that school districts provide access to general education and specialized educational services. It also requires that children with disabilities receive support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students. It also provides access to general education services for children with disabilities by encouraging that support and related services be provided to children in their general education settings as much as possible."

Can you please share which public school has a dyslexia specialist and has Orton-Gillingham trained teachers? That's awesome.

Public schools with special education departments will have speech and language therapists. "Dyslexia specialists" don't really exist. Speech and language therapists have the training to work with dyslexia, as it is a very common issue. I think you should cold call public schools you're interested in to see if they offer O-G programs if that is what works best for your child.

I was asking because the PP said her kid's school has a dyslexia specialist. Do public school reading specialists typically have OG and other specialized training, do you know?

I think that it really varies by school district and school what skills the speech/language therapist and special ed teachers have. MoCo is VERY weak, IME, in dealing with dyslexia. They typically try to wait until a kid is 2+ years behind and "qualifies" for a special reading program like Wilson or Read 180. I put "qualify" in quotes because as a PP says, by law all children should get FAPE, but our experience with our dyslexic child has been that MCPS would not recognize the reading disability and would not provide any instruction. In the beginning we thought they were choosing to be difficult, but in the end, it became clear that they didn't actually know much about dyslexia or how to educate a dyslexic child. We found our reading specialist was not knowledgeable about any reading instruction programs other than the basic Fountas-Pinnell benchmark reading system that is used county-wide. In fact, a number of the "reading specialists" over the years were just general education teachers who had been assigned the position of "reading specialist" without any special background or education in reading beyond that of a general ed teacher.

I wish I could say ours was a unique experience in MCPS, but after having talked to a number of other parents, it seems very common.

+1000. DD is dyslexic, went through the MCPS Read 180. "Successfully" completed the program, but could not read any better. The school had nothing else to offer. Found a dyslexic therapist privately and now she can actually read.

[Anonymous]

MCPS never offered my dyslexic child anything other than vague resource support. We did all outside tutoring. Pricey but we had complete control and my child was not pulled out of class which was a problem for other subjects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another recommendation is to look into vision therapy. It took about 6 months and made all the difference to my mildly dyslexic DC.

Who did you use? our dc has mild issues and been diagnosed with vision issues by multiple folks - and we are looking where to do therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP something to think about is going to public school, which is what we did. We were at a private and the struggle to get them to adjust their mindset about dyslexia/LD's was taking a toll on us and slowing down progress on DCs end.

We took the big leap and went to public. Public schools are required by federal law to make accommodations and give every child FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education). DC uses the Norton-Gillingham method of learning for reading/phonics, sees the dyslexia specialist at school 4 times a week, and goes to his tutor once a week. The results have been amazing.

I have thought about Lab and a few others, which are far out in VA, but we've been happy with the results. DC is happy and is making huge strides, which means I probably shouldn't change what we're doing right now.

Best of luck!
Link:http://ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-rights/what-is-fape-what-can-it-mean-my-child

"A required component of IDEA, FAPE mandates that school districts provide access to general education and specialized educational services. It also requires that children with disabilities receive support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students. It also provides access to general education services for children with disabilities by encouraging that support and related services be provided to children in their general education settings as much as possible."

Can you please share which public school has a dyslexia specialist and has Orton-Gillingham trained teachers? That's awesome.

Public schools with special education departments will have speech and language therapists. "Dyslexia specialists" don't really exist. Speech and language therapists have the training to work with dyslexia, as it is a very common issue. I think you should cold call public schools you're interested in to see if they offer O-G programs if that is what works best for your child.

I was asking because the PP said her kid's school has a dyslexia specialist. Do public school reading specialists typically have OG and other specialized training, do you know?

I think that it really varies by school district and school what skills the speech/language therapist and special ed teachers have. MoCo is VERY weak, IME, in dealing with dyslexia. They typically try to wait until a kid is 2+ years behind and "qualifies" for a special reading program like Wilson or Read 180. I put "qualify" in quotes because as a PP says, by law all children should get FAPE, but our experience with our dyslexic child has been that MCPS would not recognize the reading disability and would not provide any instruction. In the beginning we thought they were choosing to be difficult, but in the end, it became clear that they didn't actually know much about dyslexia or how to educate a dyslexic child. We found our reading specialist was not knowledgeable about any reading instruction programs other than the basic Fountas-Pinnell benchmark reading system that is used county-wide. In fact, a number of the "reading specialists" over the years were just general education teachers who had been assigned the position of "reading specialist" without any special background or education in reading beyond that of a general ed teacher.

I wish I could say ours was a unique experience in MCPS, but after having talked to a number of other parents, it seems very common.

I should have added that, by regulation, MCPS speech/language therapists are deemed unqualified to assess for reading problems or to remediate them. This is a really damaging policy. In the mainstream professional world of speech and language pathologists, they are qualified to assess the language skills of students. So, if you go to a SLP, they can assess for (using standardized, normed tests) the degree of knowledge of the sound/symbol code, ability to segment sound, ability to blend sound, ability to manipulate sound, grasp of spelling, oral reading, reading comprehension, oral expression, etc. All these things together form the basis of the skills necessary to read effectively. We had loads of standardized, normed tests that we presented to MCPS to show the weak underlying reading skills, but MCPS refused to acknowledge them because they were done by the SLP. MCPS rules that only psychologists and special education teachers can assess "academic achievement" which covers "reading". But, the psychologists and special ed teachers typically don't have a fine enough understanding of how sound and speech contribute to reading, that that effectively leaves a big hole in the ability of the county to "diagnose" reading disorders.