Reply to Best Private for Dyslexia

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Best Private for Dyslexia"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]O.P. Here. Sorry to take so long to come back to this. I've been away. Anyway... Child is mildly dyslexic with secondary ADD (also mild). I feel like child will just be kind of propped up for years and issues not effectively addressed if we stay in our public. I already feel like I'm at a disadvantage with they way they've been dismissing the reality of the situation since Kindergarten/First grade. I'm considering all that have been suggested. Getting ready for some tours this month.

Lab, Commonwealth, Oakwood, McLean are my beginning efforts.

Thanks for all the info, though. Even though MD is too far, its good to know these details about the schools. [/quote]

HI OP, I am the Siena poster above.  I just wanted to encourage your instincts to place privately at a school that specializes in dyslexia instruction.  Your description of your child sounds a lot like mine -- mildly dyslexic, mild ADD.  Even though we had an IEP in public school, the specialized instruction was never provided or if it was it was not done well or effectively.  For example, DC got "instruction" for writing based on his dysgraphia, but the "instruction" was mostly repeated prompts and hints at the right answer instead of the explicit instruction and practice he needed in grammar and punctuation.  Similarly, in reading, "the instruction" provided was only support in reading comprehension organization techniques, rather than an explicit decoding instruction that would have increased his automaticity.

Every year, the school told us he was fine and the problem was that I expected too much from him.

Finally, at the end of 3rd grade, I just decided that the time, energy and money we were spending on getting the school to provide instruction was just wasted.  They simply weren't able to admit the problem and certainly didn't know how to instruct dyslexics.

I was worried about placing DC in a "special needs" school.  In public school, we had seen teachers consistently lower the bar.  I was uncertain whether the kids at a SN school would have to meet appropriate expectations or get some kind of lowered bar, whether DC would be stuck in SN school (which was great, but much smaller), and whether DC would adjust socially and in terms of his self-esteem.

All of my fears were unfounded.  The experience was terrific.  DC soaked up the specialized instruction and began to see quick improvements.  DC's self-esteem soared because he could see that he wasn't stupid, he just needed to learn differently.  DC began to take more responsibility for homework, because homework seemed do-able.  DC's handwriting, spelling, and grammar all improved.  His writing became functional.

After 2 years, we decided that DC improved enough to go back to public MS.  (We really couldn't afford long term private.)  I was nervous about the transition, but DC did beautifully.  He had the skills in reading and writing to be functional.  He had an IEP again, although this time we didn't worry about the special instruction and just instructed the weak spots at home.  Most importantly, DC's self-esteem improved to the point that he could self-advocate with teachers who refused to provide accommodations in his IEP.

For me, it was very hard to bear the conflict between my instincts and what I knew I could see in my child, and the dismissive attitude that public school had.  It made me really doubt myself and my view of what my child needed.  I just want to encourage you that you are on the right track, IMO![/quote]

+1 from an Arlington parent.  Your instincts are right, OP.  Arlington does a very poor job with kids with dyslexia.  They recently commissioned a report by a dyslexia specialist that indeed said that (although nicely) -- ineffective interventions, poor diagnostics, lack of research-based services/interventions in some cases, interventions not implemented with fidelity (specifically, with respect to Orton-Gillingham instruction - teachers have been getting training but the teachers then fail to implement O-G the way it's designed).[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics