Anonymous wrote:Guys — some kids have real diagnoses and are very smart and can get the work done. Just like some people you work with and interact with IRL.

Anonymous wrote:Of course private school kids have so many diagnoses. Rich people buy diagnoses so their kids can get accommodations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Data from a meeting with had with the head of school.

I say this for 2 reasons:
1. mainstreams privates do have neurodiverse kids.
2. It is CRAZY how many kids get dx now. Kids on so many meds. I know it's necessary for the most part (certainly for mine). But is it really a neurodiversity if half the population has it? Idk exactly what my thought is but would love to hear others thoughts...

It's not half the population. It's half the population of your school. Which was probably chosen by parents for those particular children as a place that will be suitable for neurodiverse kids.

This. It’s self selection bias.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the ones that leave public school are largely the neurodiverse ones who feel that the public schools are not able to adequately address their special needs. They feel that the privates will give them more personalized attention, smaller class sizes, etc.

You mean SN privates? Not Sidwell.

No.
It’s so odd that you are so shocked that mainstream privates have substantial numbers of neurodiverse kids. Did you really think they didn’t? You realize a lot of kids get diagnosed after they already go to private school right?

I’m not shocked because diagnoses are so easy to get. I’m saying that only kids with minimal/no support needs fall into this category. Thus to trumpet about your “neurodiverse” child at Sidwell getting great grades, great friends, and going to Duke, is idiotic & offensive.

Top privates are NOT admitting kids to HS and MS who have active IEPs. They just are not.

If someone wants to post the name of the top school that admitted their kid and describe the IEP that they were on prior to admission, please do. Until then, it’s obvious that the claims about “neurodiversity” are bullsh*t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Data from a meeting with had with the head of school.

I say this for 2 reasons:
1. mainstreams privates do have neurodiverse kids.
2. It is CRAZY how many kids get dx now. Kids on so many meds. I know it's necessary for the most part (certainly for mine). But is it really a neurodiversity if half the population has it? Idk exactly what my thought is but would love to hear others thoughts...

It's not half the population. It's half the population of your school. Which was probably chosen by parents for those particular children as a place that will be suitable for neurodiverse kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - this thread has so focused on adhd and ‘extra time’. My school doesn’t even test! Not all these kids have adhd. This is nyc btw.
Here’s an example of what I mean - I know multiple people who went to trinity (considered the tippy top in nyc). In one family 2/3 kids younger than 25 all got asd and adhd dx (they stayed and were by no means the only ones and were fine). The parents clearly both have the same personality that got the kids the dx but older so no dx. None of them are failures to launch - they’re doing fine. They’re all a little socially awkward. Example 2 is
I’m saying we are incrementally labeling more and more with each passing year and it’s either bad or good or neutral depending on your pov. But not just about ‘extra time’.

I actually think the diagnosis that’s blowing up esp in the private world is asd. It used to be ok to be smart and super socially awkward at all these Tt privates but with the increased focus on social emotional it’s becoming more incumbent on these schools to dx so they don’t just churn out engineers they churn out engineers who can also manage

The fact that the diagnosis of ASD is expanding doesn’t mean that the therapies for it are expanding. Just because the kids get the label doesn’t mean suddenly you can do something to fix it especially on the higher functioning side. The autism label only really helps is if in fact you do have a child who is struggling - in which case they likely are not at Trinity because this generally implicates some kind of behavior or language delay that means the kid is disruptive or really does not fit in. In those cases the dx gets you access to ABA, OT and speech covered by insurance, more behavioral and academic supports in the IEP, etc.

the actual issue that researchers see with kids on the higher functioning end of the spectrum - those *few* who may “mask” well enough to succeed academically at an elite private and scrape by socially - is that they do not keep up on daily living skills like other young adults. cooking, hygeine, organization, manners, taking feedback, living with roommates, etc. That can end up being impairing. And ironically, focusing only on “accommodations” in school so they succeed academically ends up ignoring what they actually need.

I just don’t think that’s true.
Half of Silicon Valley is on the spectrum.
They are flagged at privates bc they can keep up academically but socially they cannot. Doesn’t mean they’re disruptive. Means they don’t have many friends or are generally socially awkward/ say the wrong thing sometimes etc

Half of Silicon Valley is not developmentally disabled.

google 'silicon valley neurodiverse' and you'll see that is in fact not far off.
what did you think the deal was there?

I think the deal is that “neurodiverse” means nothing. Although I’m still waiting to hear from the people with kids with substantial IEPs that got admitted to top private DC HSs.

Where did anyone claim that their kid has a "substantial IEP"? Most kids who are smart enough to get admitted were absolutely overlooked by public school learning specialists. As long as you are passing (very low bar), you will not get an IEP, even if you need one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - this thread has so focused on adhd and ‘extra time’. My school doesn’t even test! Not all these kids have adhd. This is nyc btw.
Here’s an example of what I mean - I know multiple people who went to trinity (considered the tippy top in nyc). In one family 2/3 kids younger than 25 all got asd and adhd dx (they stayed and were by no means the only ones and were fine). The parents clearly both have the same personality that got the kids the dx but older so no dx. None of them are failures to launch - they’re doing fine. They’re all a little socially awkward. Example 2 is
I’m saying we are incrementally labeling more and more with each passing year and it’s either bad or good or neutral depending on your pov. But not just about ‘extra time’.

I actually think the diagnosis that’s blowing up esp in the private world is asd. It used to be ok to be smart and super socially awkward at all these Tt privates but with the increased focus on social emotional it’s becoming more incumbent on these schools to dx so they don’t just churn out engineers they churn out engineers who can also manage

The fact that the diagnosis of ASD is expanding doesn’t mean that the therapies for it are expanding. Just because the kids get the label doesn’t mean suddenly you can do something to fix it especially on the higher functioning side. The autism label only really helps is if in fact you do have a child who is struggling - in which case they likely are not at Trinity because this generally implicates some kind of behavior or language delay that means the kid is disruptive or really does not fit in. In those cases the dx gets you access to ABA, OT and speech covered by insurance, more behavioral and academic supports in the IEP, etc.

the actual issue that researchers see with kids on the higher functioning end of the spectrum - those *few* who may “mask” well enough to succeed academically at an elite private and scrape by socially - is that they do not keep up on daily living skills like other young adults. cooking, hygeine, organization, manners, taking feedback, living with roommates, etc. That can end up being impairing. And ironically, focusing only on “accommodations” in school so they succeed academically ends up ignoring what they actually need.

I just don’t think that’s true.
Half of Silicon Valley is on the spectrum.
They are flagged at privates bc they can keep up academically but socially they cannot. Doesn’t mean they’re disruptive. Means they don’t have many friends or are generally socially awkward/ say the wrong thing sometimes etc

Half of Silicon Valley is not developmentally disabled.

google 'silicon valley neurodiverse' and you'll see that is in fact not far off.
what did you think the deal was there?

I think the deal is that “neurodiverse” means nothing. Although I’m still waiting to hear from the people with kids with substantial IEPs that got admitted to top private DC HSs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the ones that leave public school are largely the neurodiverse ones who feel that the public schools are not able to adequately address their special needs. They feel that the privates will give them more personalized attention, smaller class sizes, etc.

You mean SN privates? Not Sidwell.

No.
It’s so odd that you are so shocked that mainstream privates have substantial numbers of neurodiverse kids. Did you really think they didn’t? You realize a lot of kids get diagnosed after they already go to private school right?

I’m not shocked because diagnoses are so easy to get. I’m saying that only kids with minimal/no support needs fall into this category. Thus to trumpet about your “neurodiverse” child at Sidwell getting great grades, great friends, and going to Duke, is idiotic & offensive.

Top privates are NOT admitting kids to HS and MS who have active IEPs. They just are not.

If someone wants to post the name of the top school that admitted their kid and describe the IEP that they were on prior to admission, please do. Until then, it’s obvious that the claims about “neurodiversity” are bullsh*t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the ones that leave public school are largely the neurodiverse ones who feel that the public schools are not able to adequately address their special needs. They feel that the privates will give them more personalized attention, smaller class sizes, etc.

You mean SN privates? Not Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the ones that leave public school are largely the neurodiverse ones who feel that the public schools are not able to adequately address their special needs. They feel that the privates will give them more personalized attention, smaller class sizes, etc.

You mean SN privates? Not Sidwell.

No.
It’s so odd that you are so shocked that mainstream privates have substantial numbers of neurodiverse kids. Did you really think they didn’t? You realize a lot of kids get diagnosed after they already go to private school right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the ones that leave public school are largely the neurodiverse ones who feel that the public schools are not able to adequately address their special needs. They feel that the privates will give them more personalized attention, smaller class sizes, etc.

You mean SN privates? Not Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the ones that leave public school are largely the neurodiverse ones who feel that the public schools are not able to adequately address their special needs. They feel that the privates will give them more personalized attention, smaller class sizes, etc.