Anonymous wrote:OP,

I think the Bullis School's "learning center" is relatively new. From what I understand from my friends that have kids at McLean that supports are more integrated into the classroom in teaching style and approach as opposed to an add on.

I would also look at Siena School and Lab.

McLean, Siena, and Lab all have summer programs that would let your kids get a sense of what the school is like.

Here is info on the academic center and learning specialists at Bullis

http://www.bullis.org/student-life/student-support-services/academic-support-staff/index.aspx

http://www.bullis.org/academics/academic-center/index.aspx


More schools have integrated support for different learning styles in the classroom and connect that with the kids who need support in the classroom. y

http://www.saes.org/academics/resources/the_education_center/index.aspx

Here is what St. Andrews does.

Anonymous wrote:Your comment about the financial stats would be comical if it weren't serious. We are in the same boat as are many families in the affluent, educated DC metro region. My husband and I are both professional making decent salaries but because of the "sandwich issue", it would be a financial strain paying for two kids. I am hoping we can get 10-15K in aid. Perhaps I am being unrealistic but we have to ask. Making 250K and beyond is not rich in this area and a lot of families consider themselves need based if they have more than one child in private school. However, to give our twins the support they need right now and an opportunity for the lightbulb of learning to go off is worth the financial sacrifice. I don't want to look back three year from now and have regrets about keeping them in public when I should have switched to private.

I have not toured Kingsbury either but I know kids who have gone there and their issues seemed stronger than my kids. My kids are ADD/ADHD mild to moderate with some processing issues and my daugher may have dysgraphia. Is this a typical McLean student?

Yes, both for McLean School and for Commonwealth Academy. Can't speak for the other schools mentioned. McLean doesn't take behavioral problems (which is what we were trying to escape from at another private). Neither does Commonwealth Academy. They are looking for well-behaved gifted college-prep kids with mild ADHD. I think they also take mild cases of dyslexia. C/A is also a good place for students with anxiety issues because it is so small and teacher/student ratio is almost to the private tutoring level.

Op again. 11:29, I would be interested in talking with you but do not want to post my contact information here. Can you let me know how I can contact you. Thank you.

OP,

I think the Bullis School's "learning center" is relatively new. From what I understand from my friends that have kids at McLean that supports are more integrated into the classroom in teaching style and approach as opposed to an add on.

I would also look at Siena School and Lab.

McLean, Siena, and Lab all have summer programs that would let your kids get a sense of what the school is like.

I am a current McLean parent with children in middle and lower and would be happy to speak with a prospective family. You can contact the admissions office as ask to speak with current families as well.

Ok, thanks very much.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks 16:48 poster. OP again. How would I find current parents to talk to if I am a prospective parent or even newly admitted family? I live in upper NW DC and not in Potomac and don't know much about McLean besides independent research and blogs like this.

You might want to speak with an independent school consultant who could give you a good overview of the schools and the pro's and con's. One person who might help you in this situation is Martha Ein at Stixrud. She used to be a learning specialist at Mclean.

http://stixrud.com/services/educational-consulting-group/

As I recall, they had a couple of coffees for newly admitted families. We applied late so we missed all of that March/April activity. Perhaps parents there could put you in contact with other families who have similar interests to your kids. The reality is that no school is perfect. Lots of people love the school -- it just wasn't the right place for my dc. Also, my experience was with the lower school. The middle school teachers and administrators may have a better handle on the social issues. Good luck.

Thanks 16:48 poster. OP again. How would I find current parents to talk to if I am a prospective parent or even newly admitted family? I live in upper NW DC and not in Potomac and don't know much about McLean besides independent research and blogs like this.

and here is info on the local Eruvim in MoCo. Just Google Eruv and Potomac and lots of stories will pop up.

Here's what an Eruv is. n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv. Now I'll go find the WaPo story that talks about the Potomac eruv.

Former McLean parent here. PP is correct that Darlene is leaving and the new head starts in July. Keep in mind that the head of the middle school left at the end of last year (June 2012) and there is an interim middle school head for this school year. I don't know whether she (interim head)will continue next year. They may want to wait until the new Head of School starts to let him pick a new middle school head. As pp said, that will be at least two years of transition for the middle school. I am Jewish and never heard of the school being "in an eruv." I had many years of Hebrew school and don't know what the pp is talking about. But that is a digression. I did not find the curriculum challenging. They claim to know how to deal with social issues but they don't. I'm glad that bullying wasn't tolerated when pp's kid was there but it sounds like that was several years ago. Lots of unacceptable behavior was tolerated. I would try to talk to lots of current parents before accepting an admission offer. Try to find them on your own (i.e., don't just rely on who admissions puts you in contact with).

We have a child with disgraphia at St. Andrew's. The teachers recognized the problem early on and allowed him to type many of his tests, etc. They recognized he was bright, but worried his disgraphia would stand in the way of performing well on College Board AP tests etc since his handwriting was so poor. They worked with us to secure Board approval for him to type his essays (evidently, this is somewhat unusual if you don't also require extra time, which he does not), which has worked out very well to date. St. Andrew's is also good with different learning styles but question for you to sort out up front is how extensive any other learning issue ( processing, etc.) is -- that may drive whether an independent or special ed school is appropriate assuming the ADD can be managed with medication or at least is not disruptive.

Sorry am typing on an iPad that won't scroll down... My DD has a laptop that she uses at home to type out homework assignments but will see what psychologist says to know if it makes sense to add that as an in school accommodation.

You are probably right about the transition phase with the new head but I don't want to be deterred by that. I think I need to make a move now. It couldn't be worse than where the twins are now which is not bad but not enough. At least they would be with other kids with different learning styles but won't feel "different". MS years can be very hard given the social dynamics and peer pressure coupled with the increased work load. I am trying to avoid the nightmare now.

When I went to the mclean open house, there was a high school student who spoke eloquently about his struggles with ADD and dysgraphia and how he is now thriving academically at the school. So, obviously they must have some specialist there to deal with it. My twins have an excellent tutor who is a trained linguist. She first raised the issue of dysgraphia with me about my DD to which I responded "Dysgraph-who?". I had never heard of it but assumed my daughter had sloppy handwriting and was not taking care with her writing. She has been evaluated by the school psychologist at their current public school and I am meeting with her and the special Ed coordinator to see what the findings were and if the 504 plan needs to be amended. My