Reply to How tolerant are private schools towards neurodiversity?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t think it’s about being “tolerant.” But most private schools simply don’t have the resources for neuro divergent students. [/quote]

It’s not that. It’s that the other parents are purchasing a set of peers that is of a certain type/level. Kids with autism don’t meet that social expectation even if they are “well behaved” and don’t need much support beyond what the other kids might need. Think Napoleon Dynamite. ADHD is a different story - kids with ADHD are often very outgoing and charming and socially on par (or even popular). Of course this is all muddied by parents claiming kids with any difficulty are “ND” which makes it harder to assess claims that such-and-such a private school is “so accepting of neurodiversity.” [/quote]
Why would anyone want his or her children to have no experience with neurodivergent peers?  Are bright but awkward children with autism somehow offensive to you??  The world is a diverse place, why would anyone want to "purchase" a set of peers who have been chosen explicitly to weed out neurodivergence that the school does have capacity to handle???[/quote]

Because that is how most wealthy people think. [/quote]

No, that is what people think most wealthy people think. Our child attends a private school with a mix of families, but full of wealthy ones. Of course there are NT and ND kids in the class. Rich does not mean NT. There are still behaviors in class, the difference is that one or two children’s behaviors and needs are not taking over the vast majority of instructional time and energy.

I work in a public elementary in 3rd grade and each class has a classroom teacher and push in aides. Even with aides, most of the teacher’s time and attention goes to the three kids in class with needs - one has a vision issue and has behavioral issues, another is way way below grade level developmentally and academically and really should be in a separate school altogether, and another has hyperactive ADHD. The quiet, average to above average NT kids spend most of their class time rushing through the work and then taking screenshots with their iPads or flipping through pictures of dogs. This class is not as bad as the one down the hall, which is frequently evacuated because of one emotionally unstable kid who flips chairs, screams, and hits people - again, another kid who really cannot have his needs met at this public school.

Our private school would probably accept the hyperactive ADHD kid and the lower than average kid with vision issues (sent to resource staff for certain classes), but absolutely would not admit the chair throwing screaming kid or the kid who is in 3rd grade but is barely at a preschool level in his work. [/quote]

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