What type of school worked best for your child with ADHD/SPD/dyslexia/emotionally sensitivity?
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Anonymous
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We are thinking about visiting new schooling options for our SN child. I wanted to see if there are others on this forum that have found a good school environment for a child with a similar profile.
Our child (2nd grader) has the following profile: ADHD: moderate inattentive ADHD. Rarely hyperactive and therefore not much trouble in class. But daydreams all day and doesn't do the work he is supposed to do. SPD: fairly mild. Weak gross motor skills. Dyslexia: mild to moderate. Early intervention has worked well and this issue feels less significant a few years into EI. He is on grade level in reading right now, spelling still atrocious. He will likely need continued accomodations throughout school. He has weak working memory and slow processing speed associated with the dyslexia and ADHD. Emotionally sensitive: Very emotionally astute -- highly aware of what others are feeling and their reactions to him. Resists change. Fairly popular with classmates but prefers a small group of good friends. Because of #4, when the environment is negative, it is very negative. When the environment is positive, it is quite positive. Has anyone found a good school for a child like this? We lean towards DC or Montgomery County public or charter schools with an IEP. But we will also consider Siena (for 2 yrs out) or Lab. And traditional privates that are small and foster community could be considered. To date, he has been in a small Montessori school (public with an IEP). That school has been good for #s 3 and 4 above but NOT good for #1. |
Anonymous
| Is he more of a math/science kid or a humanities kid? |
Anonymous
| If I had to do it all over again, a charter school in DC with an IEP. It gives you more flexibility and there is less red tape to deal with when you need help. |
Anonymous
| That's an interesting recommendation. Our current school is a charter school in DC....but the Montessori format doesn't seem to work well. They do seem fairly flexible to make changes when needed. |
Anonymous
| McLean School |
Anonymous
| Commonwealth maybe an option, even with the commute. |
Anonymous
| I would agree with Siena, McLean, Commonwealth, Lab, Oakwood. My boy is in one of these and we didn't even know there was an issue until 3rd grade. Academics tend to get worse in late elementary/middle school when they start getting homework. |
Anonymous
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We left a private Montessori with an add/dyslexic kid for the same reasons you state. In our case however, the dyslexia also wasn't a good fit because there wasn't enough daily reading and writing practice going on - too much daydreaming.
I too was most concerned about leaving the social atmosphere of Montessori, which was just wonderful. I remembered how cruel elementary was when I was growing up. Our in boundary school is one of the better dc public in NW DC. And the social environment in elementary school these days is VERY different than I remember. We've seen 0% acceptance of teasing or meanness. But I don't have a sensitive child. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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Former Siena elementary parent. Can't say enough good things about the experience. Very good reading and writing instruction. Also good support for ADHD. We found that excellent special instruction solved a lot of the emotional sensitivity problems caused by the stress and anxiety of not succeeding academically.
Also, we had sent our DC to Montessori, which I loved as a form of education. It was great for DC's math skills. Montessori was not a good fit for the language weakness, however. Because Montessori relies on kids to "choose" activities, DC never chose the activities he struggled with and needed to practice, compounding the language weakness. We finally agreed with DC's Montessori teacher that she would give him choices during part of the day that involved choosing only among language-based activities. Still not ideal, but better than allowing him to skip altogether. |
Anonymous
| PPs have given good advice. Do NOT send your kid to a traditional small private. Lots of cases where they will take a kid with ADHD and then simply discipline the kid, not honor accommodations, provide “low effort” marks on report cards, and more. Get remediation now - will help your child for the rest of his life. |
Anonymous
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Lab School, McLean School of Maryland, Oakwood, St. Andrews, Flint Hill.
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Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks for all the many great recommendations.
Do Lab and Siena accept kids who are reading well and whose ADHD is worse than their dyslexia? DS’s reading problems have been remediated with 8 hours of evidence based instruction (1:1) per week since he was 5.5. Part of that instruction is at school through an IEP., part of it is our supplementary instruction.I don’t want to be too hopeful....but it’s possible that the dyslexia won’t be that big of an issue long term due to the early intervention. (This morning DS described himself as a “good reader”!). So, if the language based capacities looks closer to his non dyslexic peers, will he still be able to attend the SN privates that focus on reading/writing disabilities? I prefer Lab and Siena to commonwealth because I don’t think we could manage the commute. We are inbounds for Murch in NW DC. Any specific experiences with that school would also be extremely helpful. |
Anonymous
Yes to your question regarding lab. It's been a life changer/saver for us. I've only heard good things about Siena from other parents. |