lowell and ADHD/executive function weaknesses

[Anonymous]

Considering Lowell for my mid-elementary school child with ADHD. The attention part of ADHD is well managed with medication, but the executive function piece is not. So DC needs pretty explicit instruction in things like writing and organization. Would Lowell be a good fit?

[Anonymous]

Anyone?

[Anonymous]

For the specific issue you describe and based on personal experience with one of my kids, I don't think Lowell is a good fit --at least as of about 5 years ago -- but I doubt it has changed much. Progressive educators think they can help every child, but there is ideological resistance to some more direct teaching methods which may benefit children with executive function challenges. My child who sounds like yours struggled with writing at Lowell. For a school that purports to not want to overwhelm children with homework, it has historically had a blind eye in this area because it can take kids with these issues many more hours to complete writing assignments than other children and it can take quite a toll on the child and the family. And since in lower grades there was not grading in the past, children who opted not to put in those long extra hours (and even parents) would not necessarily know the extent of the relative deficit for quite a while. There are many things we loved about Lowell and for the right fit child it is a great place, but based on your brief description above, I would suggest you look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I would look to schools that do a great job preparing kids for homework and assignments like McLean - or maybe Landon

[Anonymous]

I've got one DS at McLean and one at Lowell, both in elementary. I'd highly recommend McLean for what you describe; we've had a great experience there for our kid who needs those kinds of supports. It's not that I'm recommending against Lowell, our kids there is NT so I haven't had to confront the issue in the same way. Worth checking out Lowell, but if it's an option, you should take a look at McLean.

[Anonymous]

McLean or Commonwealth Academy(starts at 3rd grade)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've got one DS at McLean and one at Lowell, both in elementary. I'd highly recommend McLean for what you describe; we've had a great experience there for our kid who needs those kinds of supports. It's not that I'm recommending against Lowell, our kids there is NT so I haven't had to confront the issue in the same way. Worth checking out Lowell, but if it's an option, you should take a look at McLean.

For the parent that has children at both schools, do you think the curriculum at both is similarly rich and deep?

[Anonymous]

I am not the parent of the child in both schools, but we did look at McLean in two different years before selecting Lowell so my info is outdated. But honestly, I don't think McLean would be as rich and deep of an experience as at Lowell. While Lowell was not great for an executive function issue kid in our experience, we also thought that McLean was too structured in elementary school so that a very bright, creative with executive function issues might feel a bit stifled there. It is tough to have your cake and eat it too in the lower grades. You just need to go see both and decide. If you are geographically looking at MacLean, I would also look at St. Andrews (sort of a compromise between Lowell and MacLean) and maybe Bullis.

[Anonymous]

You also might want to repost on the SN forum.

[Anonymous]

What about Commonwealth? Has anyone from a "mainstream independent" like Lowell with ADHD gone on to CA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am not the parent of the child in both schools, but we did look at McLean in two different years before selecting Lowell so my info is outdated. But honestly, I don't think McLean would be as rich and deep of an experience as at Lowell. While Lowell was not great for an executive function issue kid in our experience, we also thought that McLean was too structured in elementary school so that a very bright, creative with executive function issues might feel a bit stifled there. It is tough to have your cake and eat it too in the lower grades. You just need to go see both and decide. If you are geographically looking at MacLean, I would also look at St. Andrews (sort of a compromise between Lowell and MacLean) and maybe Bullis.

So you do not have a child at McLean and have not ever had a child there, is that right?

[Anonymous]

Yes, that is correct as I stated above. You will find very few parents who have had a kid at both schools (in 2 1/2 weeks since the original post only one parent with kids in both schools posted here), so I just offered an additional data point with appropriate disclosures.

[Anonymous]

I do not have a child at Lowell so please take what I say with that information. But, I looked at Lowell for my ADHD son and I thought it was too unstructured for my kid. I loved the progressive approach but we didn't apply there because my kid needs a lot of structure to help him stay on target and focused. That said, they told me they would work with my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, that is correct as I stated above. You will find very few parents who have had a kid at both schools (in 2 1/2 weeks since the original post only one parent with kids in both schools posted here), so I just offered an additional data point with appropriate disclosures.

Got it. I think it's difficult to assess or state how "rich and deep" a school's curriculum is without having a child there. Maybe the poster with kids at both schools will come back.

OP, in addition to asking here, I recommend asking Lowell how they address particular learning differences. So I'd ask what specific strategies they teach kids to help them organize and improve their writing. I'd also ask how they teach executive skills and non-cognitive skills like perseverance.

[Anonymous]

As a former Lowell parent, I think 9:11 above made a wise decision. Progressive schools think they are good with young ADHD kids, but usually the entire ethos of the school runs in the other direction. These schools tend to think they are "good" for these children because they usually are rather tolerant of a bit of acting out, but that is not that helpful to the child in the long term and it is most unhelpful to the rest of the children in the short term.

To address 17:52's point, yes, a parent with kids at both schools or a teacher who has taught at both is in the best position to directly judge the curriculum differences. But without starting a firestorm here (I hope), I think it is pretty widely accepted that McLean markets itself and has a hire percentage of kids who, on average, have more academic or social needs than Lowell kids, and that McLean is more structured. I think it is also fairly undisputed that when kids graduate from Lowell (at least form the lower school - don't know about the middle) often 1/3- 1/2 of the class ends up at schools usually thought of as more academically selective than McLean on average (always exceptions) like GDS, Maret, Sidwell, NCS, etc. and I think it is much less common for McLean students to make such a switch. Not scientific, but these are relevant data points from which one can make some comparisons as to the curriculum and what kids are ready for. It isn't perfect, but probably informative. Good luck OP with whatever you decide.