Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry PP but I take offense to your post. Children with LD/SN are still human beings and they are still children. Ostracizing them, ousting them, separating them from typical children, or banishing them to be around those of their own kind only demoralizes them. Most privates like Sidwell, Potomac, Maret, GDS, and even FH (who claims to cater to different 'learning styles) do banish children with LD/SN. It is an affront to all children who have issues, and it is an affront to humanity. What does it say about our community when schools and parents too would prefer to banish different children rather than opt for inclusion? It says that we are deeply insensitive to how it makes these children feel. Public schools include children with SN as much as possible. Privates should learn a lesson from them on how to treat all children, even different ones, with some compassion. And so should some parents.

I think you misread 9:56's post (or at least her intent). She was reacting to the language of "dealing with" kids with LDs/SNs. And her point was it's not simply a matter of effort but of expertise which most classroom teachers lack.

Public school systems are legally required to provide learning specialists (or pay for outsourcing) so that no kid with any kind of LD/SN is denied a free education (provided in a manner that is as inclusive as possible). And public school systems receive federal funds to help them meet this mandate. Private schools don't face the same requirements and generally don't get the same subsidies (the exception is private special ed school where districts send kids whose needs can't be met in-house). So if private schools can't and don't provide the same range of LD/SN services that publics do.

That said, I think that your characterization of local private schools is not entirely accurate. I don't know about the other schools you've mentioned, but GDS has three learning specialists on staff in the lower school alone and at least one each in middle and high school. And I'm fairly certain that at least 1/4 of the students at the HS get some type of accommodation based on an (external/documented) LD/SN diagnosis. So significant resources are being devoted to enable kids with LD/SN to excel at GDS. That doesn't mean that the school can/should admit every kid with an LD/SN -- in general, it's a school with selective admissions. Basically, GDS can and does accommodate kids who are both gifted/high-performing and LD/SN and whose parents can help financially with some of the services these kids need to meet their full potential.