Tell me about lab school !
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Anonymous
| The good the not so good. We have an ADHD, very bright, dyslexic 9 year old. Strongly considering. Currently at a traditional private school. |
Anonymous
| Love, love, love. Take a tour to get a sense of what it's like. |
Anonymous
| male or female? Very difficult to get in with a male age 9. |
Anonymous
| Female |
Anonymous
Is this personal experience? |
Anonymous
Yes, when we looked into it, there were about 12 students per grade in the elementary grades. They are already there, so any openings are through attrition. They try to have gender diversity, moderate/severe LD diversity, LD diversity, and ethnic diversity, because they don't want a student to be the "only". All with 12 students. For whatever reason, more boys apply to special needs LD schools. |
Anonymous
The bolded is not what they said at the open house I went to. They said that the lower school has a total of 90 kids, but because the classrooms are multi-aged, they have flexibility about how they do their groupings. They can only accept the number of kids that move on to the middle school (or otherwise leave lab), but those people don't have to be a particular age. I do agree that it's harder for boys to get into SN schools. |
Anonymous
Generally, everyone moves up a grade and they fill in the entry age. There is some wiggle room of course, but logic dictates that they look to fill in the lower ages since those children will have moved up a bit too. |
Anonymous
| Boys are more likely to have speech delays (which can be related to language based learning delays) as well more likely to ADHD than girls. That's why more boys disproportionately apply to the SN schools. |
Anonymous
| You didn't indicate where you live, but you might want to look at Baltimore Lab School too if the geography works. We're basically equidistant from Washington Lab and Baltimore Lab, but the traffic to/from Baltimore is much lighter. |
Anonymous
FYI, the schools are no longer affiliated with each other. Think of it as two different schools that happen to have the same name. |
Anonymous
Same name and teaching philosophy. No, they're not financially linked. So think of it as the same school in two different locations. |
Anonymous
Boys are also more likely to be diagnosed with some kind of attention disorder because they often appear more impulsive or disruptive than girls. Lots of girls have social and communication coping skills that help them stay off the special ed radar at schools. (I'm one.) Recently, as Lab has admitted younger students and educators and parents are more informed about LDs, you see more balance in gender. We've noticed a significant uptick in girls in elementary, roughly under age 11. Previously, the influx of girls was more noticeable in middle school ages. IMHO this was due to school systems failing to educate girls with LDs and then letting these girls fail academically. (Shame on them.) OP, definitely look at Lab School for elementary and intermediate for your girl. There are great role models at the school in the form of female teachers who themselves have LDs and masters degrees. 
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Anonymous
| Our very bright, dyslexic kid was there for five years. We thought it was a fabulous place. It was just what our kid needed. She has since soared out of there and on to a regular private school where she is thriving. |
Anonymous
They're still affiliated, but Baltimore Lab is now financially independent from Washington Lab. |