NP. We really struggled with this decision. We have 2e, mild dyslexic kid. Confidence was really taking a nose dive in early elementary at private school with outside tutoring. And hard for DC to engage in outside tutoring after trying to keep up during the school day. Now DC thriving at Siena. We will re-evaluate periodically in case a mainstream public or private with accommodations may be a better fit in the future, especially if there are other programs that offer acceleration or specialty classes in DC’s strengths. And obviously we are incredibly fortunate to be able to afford Siena tuition.

Offering this example because sometimes I think parents might misperceive SN schools as only a good choice for children with severe dyslexia, but that’s not the case at Siena and possibly other schools. And about half of Siena kids are 2e, and they only take kids with mild and moderate dyslexia.

DC is about to go to HS but has been at a Catholic K-8 throughout. They had a reading specialist that help us develop a plan and we did home activities to support their work. I think the program were used was “all about reading “.DC has an IEP that started recently. Did not have one prior which was a mistake on our part. Did great on HSPT and standardized testing.

Honestly, what helped reading the most was peer pressure. Close friends were big readers.

Private school w/tutoring worked for us. We suspected something in preschool.but when end of private K, we worked with the school who was very accommodating. It’s a very popular school in DC on this board. The reading specialist worked with our kid through 1st. Kid was already in speech therapy with a wonderful SLP who also specialized in OT and reading intervention. Worked very well for us. Kid is now in 6th at Holton and is doing great! Although I would say here’s was more severe, she really struggled in K and even going into 1st to recognize her letters and numbers.

Beware as even families at lab often get outside tutors. Nothing is a slam dunk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm soooo confused by this. You say your child doesn't need a specialized school, but does require "frequent, intensive one-on-one tutoring" and "It would never work without the intensive tutoring". Frankly it sounds like your child is EXACTLY who should be attending a specialized school. I'm bemused by how you don't seem to see that.

NP here. Bemused, do you have experience with a specialized school that does intensive structured literacy with your child multiple times per week over and above the normal literature, grammar and writing instruction tailored to a student with dyslexia? I would be interested to hear where you are, and how your experience has been.

PP here. What you're describing isn't one of the three options in the OP, though. Are you asking about a specialized school plus something additional? The PP I responded to was describing attending a non-specialized private school and getting intensive tutoring on the side. I thought the whole point of a specialized school for dyslexia was that you didn't have to add anything, because the entire school was specifically geared toward addressing the unique learning style of a dyslexic student. (For the record I was really confused by her post, not trying to be snarky...)

Oh and to answer your question, we are doing #1 right now (public with IEP) and in the process of applying to a specialized school.

NP here, specialized schools may not meet other needs for your child or provide sufficient academic challenge. YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We like option #2. I have difficulty gauging the severity but our child is nearing grade level with frequent, intensive one-one tutoring outside of school. This is clearly the most costly option but I prefer it for now as the child does not seem to require a specialized school and is attached to the school. It would never work without the intensive tutoring.

I think for many families you have to try one of the options and test it out before you know for sure. That’s not easy, I know! Good luck!

I'm soooo confused by this. You say your child doesn't need a specialized school, but does require "frequent, intensive one-on-one tutoring" and "It would never work without the intensive tutoring". Frankly it sounds like your child is EXACTLY who should be attending a specialized school. I'm bemused by how you don't seem to see that.

As other posters have noted, there are real world trade offs to being at a specialized school. This may include a lack of challenge or smaller school. I don’t think you understand dyslexia, but that’s fine, many people do not. The tutoring is solely for decoding in reading and it is the standard approach for Ortho-Gillingham to have multiple sessions per week. It works quite well if you catch it early. The child is able to do all of their schoolwork independently and is advanced in math. The learning profiles of kids can be varied.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm soooo confused by this. You say your child doesn't need a specialized school, but does require "frequent, intensive one-on-one tutoring" and "It would never work without the intensive tutoring". Frankly it sounds like your child is EXACTLY who should be attending a specialized school. I'm bemused by how you don't seem to see that.

NP here. Bemused, do you have experience with a specialized school that does intensive structured literacy with your child multiple times per week over and above the normal literature, grammar and writing instruction tailored to a student with dyslexia? I would be interested to hear where you are, and how your experience has been.

PP here. What you're describing isn't one of the three options in the OP, though. Are you asking about a specialized school plus something additional? The PP I responded to was describing attending a non-specialized private school and getting intensive tutoring on the side. I thought the whole point of a specialized school for dyslexia was that you didn't have to add anything, because the entire school was specifically geared toward addressing the unique learning style of a dyslexic student. (For the record I was really confused by her post, not trying to be snarky...)

Oh and to answer your question, we are doing #1 right now (public with IEP) and in the process of applying to a specialized school.