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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] Are there schools who take kids who test well but have bad grades?  [/quote]

I bet there are plenty.  It would be an indication that the kid has aptitude but something else is interfering with performance.

FWIW my advice would be to try to bore in on what is causing the disconnect between the native abilities and the grades.  It could be an organizational/executive function issue in which case PP's advice about finding a school that helps with that is good.  Or it could be simply matter of comfort and motivation.  You hinted that there could be some social discomfort reasons.  So many things could be causing the disconnect -- which school is right depends on which it is.  [/quote]

This is great, balanced advice. One child has been tested, but it may be worth getting the second child tested too, to figure out what's underneath the poor performance before you start choosing new schools.

If ADD is the issue, there are several tutoring companies that will work with your child on organization skills and ways to compensate for executive function issues. Thinking Organized in Bethesda is one such company, although I believe there are some in Virginia.

Could another possible issue be depression? That was our kid, and the depression fed into anger, hopelessness and poor motivation.

If motivation is the issue, that's a tough nut to crack. Waiting until they mature is one solution, but the risk is that they will have closed off a lot of academic and job opportunities before the light bulb finally goes off at age 22, age 25, or even later. For our kid, Outward Bound was absolutely fantastic in turning motivation around, to a degree that DH and I would never have hoped for. DC returned actually excited about school and started making plans for college and the future. I'm sure results vary with the individual kid and the particular instructors, though. Also, the best time to do these programs is over the summer, although some have semester programs. There are other, similar, programs, although the industry is unregulated and you have to be very, very careful because some of the programs are scams.[/quote]

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