Grace Episcopal

[Anonymous]

Anyone have a child there? My child has some fine/gross motor issues and some pragmatic language issues. He is very well behaved at school, so that isn't a concern. We have him in OT and speech and he seems to be making good progress. A friend told me that she had heard that Grace is open to some kids with minor special needs. Anyone have any experience with the school?

[Anonymous]

My DC is at Grace and as a preschooler had a speech delay and also received OT for fine and gross motor. DC went twice a week for speech (once private and once to the county for a half hour) and once a week to private OT. The summer between kindergarten and first grade we also hired a teacher to work with DC once a week on reading skills. Grace has a reading resource teacher who works with everyone to provide enrichment and also works with kindergarteners and first graders. For the first graders, the reading resource teacher principally works with the kids who are below the average level of their class (this included my DC in first grade). My DC made tremendous reading progress in first grade, "graduated" from OT in kindergarten, eventually graduated from speech, and is an excellent student now. So if this sort of profile is what you mean by "mild" special needs, Grace could be a good fit. I think anything very much beyond this and they just would not be equipped to help, since it's not designed for special needs students. If you're thinking of preschool or kindergarten, the head of the lower school is a truly nice person who would be glad to talk with you about the fit. If upper school, I'd talk to the director of academic programs, also a really nice guy.

[Anonymous]

I would NEVER send a child with needs to Grace. The director herself told our educational consultant that they are not prepared for a child who is not performing at or above grade level. Make sure that you make your child's needs clear to them. I'd try Lowell instead, who offer support in those areas.

[Anonymous]

I'm 16:14 and I agree with 20:54, if the child is significantly below peers, especially in the older elementary grades, Grace is not a good fit. But I did not say anything to suggest that would be true and in fact I said that the school would not be equipped to handle more than mild needs.

What I did say is that I have personal experience of Grace accomodating my DC's mild and relatively common speech and motor issues in preschool, K and 1. DC was certainly not "on grade level" in PK or even some part of K as DC did not yet have a very good grip on scissors or pencils and had speech articulation issues. We provided therapy and DC's teacher kept in contact with the therapists for any concerns.

I actually think most preschools have more than a couple kids like my DC so I don't think that this is a unique feature of Grace. But I don't have personal knowledge of this. And I also think that the only way to know is to ask the school--or have your educational consultant ask the school.