Anyone have a child at Lab School?

[Anonymous]

Would it be appropriate for a child who has a very mild learning need (more attentional/focus) and OT delays (handwriting biggest challenge) but very strong academic abilities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would it be appropriate for a child who has a very mild learning need (more attentional/focus) and OT delays (handwriting biggest challenge) but very strong academic abilities?

Students at Lab tend to be very bright but have more significant academic delays. While the experiential methods will help a child who has trouble with focus, and they certainly know how to work with kids with handwriting issues, if your child quickly masters academic subjects I would be concerned about boredom. (But it does depend a bit on just how mild the needs really are).

[Anonymous]

I am a huge fan of the Lab School - my daughter went to the summer camp for 4 years and it made a world of difference. She was accepted to the full time program in 4th grade but ultimately we decided that her issues were mild enough that she did not need the Lab School. It worked out fine at her school and with some bumps it is working out in a competitive high school. I would recommend you go for a visit to help make a decision as LD issues are so varied. As to your child having strong academic abilities - that is definitely a fit with the Lab School - they look for kids with above average intelligence but with learning differences.

[Anonymous]

pp, can you tell me more about the lab school camp? is it like summer school or does it have a camp feel? what types of learning differences are there at the camp? what ages did she attend?

[Anonymous]

The camp is definitely more summer school than camp. But keep in mind that the Lab School has a very arts based, experiential program so it's not quite like school. One great feature (at least when my daughter went) was an hour a day of tutoring - usually 1 teacher for 2 kids and focused on whatever their particular needs were. Each summer has a theme and each group (of about 10 kids) has a sub theme and they have a class each day that is built around that theme (that's the experiential part) and the kids and teacher each have a role within that. Her favorite was Hershey - they did vocab, writing, math and history while learning about Milton Hershey, philanthropy, production processes, etc. She still talks about it.

She went from 2nd-5th grade. The first year was transformational, 2nd and 3rd were great, last was less so because she didn't need as much help at that point. One point to note - the summer camp is not as selective as the full time program so there are kids who may occasionally have behavior issues. This really wasn't a problem in her classes. But we did notice that by her last year the kids had more "issues" than her first couple of years (meaning that the kids with the mildest LDs had stopped going in the later years, not that the policies changed)

[Anonymous]

thank you, that is so helpful. my child is probably too young for it now, but good to know for the future. i'll check the website. thank you again - great info.

[Anonymous]

Glad to help. Depending on the age of your child don't rule it out - I wish we had started at least the year before because I think it would have sped up the learning to read process.

[Anonymous]

thanks - my child is turning 6 mid-summer - looks like the camp is age 6-12 - do you remember if there were many 6 year olds there? i'll call the lab school too.