The Middle school is the same. Mclean does well with kids that have mild learning issues and no behavioral or social issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been very interested in McLean, too until I heard that McLean is kind of loose on structural/behavioral support and that they don't take kids that are on the very active end of the ADHD. Anyone know if this is anywhere close to the truth? I feel like my info was friend-of-a-friend-who-heard-it-somewhere.

This is very much the truth about Mclean. If they do take you, you will find very quickly there is little support for any issues that come up related to an active ADHD kid. Teachers are also pretty spotty. Some handle things well in the classroom with impulsive or active behaviors and some do not. It is pretty much luck of the draw.

I've heard the middle school is better at McLean? I am asking as a lower school parent...

Anonymous wrote:I have been very interested in McLean, too until I heard that McLean is kind of loose on structural/behavioral support and that they don't take kids that are on the very active end of the ADHD. Anyone know if this is anywhere close to the truth? I feel like my info was friend-of-a-friend-who-heard-it-somewhere.

This is very much the truth about Mclean. If they do take you, you will find very quickly there is little support for any issues that come up related to an active ADHD kid. Teachers are also pretty spotty. Some handle things well in the classroom with impulsive or active behaviors and some do not. It is pretty much luck of the draw.

Anonymous wrote:And back to the main question: ADHD with strong behavior support? It sounds like my short list is Diener in terms of schools that focus on behavioral support and not LD.

I would look at Auburn school. Their program does focus on this area much more so than Mclean.

OP, here: thanks, 18:38. Do you have a link to that?

Bilingualism has been shown to increase many cognitive abilities including attention, working memory etc... and it holds promise for kids with ADHD.

A Canadian researcher Bialystok is currently now exploring...
"Bilingualism in kids with executive functioning deficits (ADHD). If bilingualism has cognitive benefits, would it benefit these kids too?"
The prediction is that the attentional control advantage conferred by bilingualism will mitigate the severity of attentional disorders in bilingual children.

And back to the main question: ADHD with strong behavior support? It sounds like my short list is Diener in terms of schools that focus on behavioral support and not LD.

While I find the immersion discussion interesting (and the opposite of having our ADHD/primarily inattentive with LD DS in a partial immersion program), it's pretty off topic here. You might think about starting your own thread if you'd like to continue it. But, please, let's get back on topic for OP's sake. Thanks!

We are in language immersion and no doctor has ever said that this is, could be or would be a problem. (The teaching style and lack of classroom support + inexperience from the admin is another story). So please, PP 14:18, try to control your laughter. It isn't only NT kids who "get to" learn more than one language in the world. If our child had language learning issues perhaps it would a negative situation, but we are talking executive function with ADHD and impulse control.

Interesting. My DS attends a language immersion school and is in PreK which is only in the target language, no English at all. We're still in the process of getting him evaluated but everyone strongly suspects Asperger's. For DS, the foreign language aspect is working out very well and even better than if the school was only in English. For instance, he cannot keep asking questions nor can he talk on and on about his special interests b/c he just does not know the language well enough Also, they get to practice greeting people, saying "Good Morning", etc. in the foreign language which is exactly the kind of teaching my child needs. So far, there is nothing in the immersion program that would make it "worse" for a child with the same issues as my child and there appears to be advantages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. After responding to the commenter, I googled about this issue. The overwhelming consensus is that immersion programs work for kids with special ed needs and that they perform as well as they would have had they gone to a non-immersion school.

Among the many links is a doctoral thesis by the principal at Key Immersion School in Arlington.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/965/Marjorie_L_Myers_Dissertation.pdf

PP: Severe ADHD, not ld, mild adhd. I'm talking severe adhd.....

And again, there is no difference in outcomes. The PhD thesis above includes kids with ADHD. I'm curious as to why you think a child with severe ADHD would have a harder time in an immersion program than in an English-only one. The strategies for helping a child with ADHD learn are the same, whether in one or two languages. There are many other special needs kids who I would imagine might have a harder time than a child with severe ADHD. Again, the consensus out there among educators familiar with this issue is that kids in immersion schools and who get special ed services -- including those who qualify due to ADHD -- will do at least as well as the same kids who've been in an English-only program.

Interestingly, there is one feature of DS' immersion school that may benefit him in middle school - the kids switch classes A LOT. There is a teacher for English subjects, one for Spanish subjects, another Spanish-speaking teacher (and room) for science, plus specials (music, art, PE). One thing I've gotten used in reading DCUM is seeing parents fret about their children suddenly having to navigate many different classrooms and teachers in middle school. DS, with LDs, ADHD, and anxiety, has been doing this since K.

Anonymous wrote:PP again. After responding to the commenter, I googled about this issue. The overwhelming consensus is that immersion programs work for kids with special ed needs and that they perform as well as they would have had they gone to a non-immersion school.

Among the many links is a doctoral thesis by the principal at Key Immersion School in Arlington.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/965/Marjorie_L_Myers_Dissertation.pdf

PP: Severe ADHD, not ld, mild adhd. I'm talking severe adhd.....

PP again. After responding to the commenter, I googled about this issue. The overwhelming consensus is that immersion programs work for kids with special ed needs and that they perform as well as they would have had they gone to a non-immersion school.

Among the many links is a doctoral thesis by the principal at Key Immersion School in Arlington.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/965/Marjorie_L_Myers_Dissertation.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, any chance you are in a language immersion school?

Good god, people!! why would ANYONE put a child with moderate to severe ADHD in a language immersion school. Are you crazy?? Ask your doctor if he/she thinks that's a sound idea.....and when they stop laughing, ask for a rec for ANY other school than a language immersion school.

No, this actually is not crazy. DS, 8, with ADHD, anxiety, and an IEP is in a dual-immersion school. There are a number of other kids with ADHD in his grade, and several with IEPs as well.

The comment above drives me crazy. Doctors, therapists and others are likely to discourage immersion school but they very rarely have the background in bilingualism to make any sense on this issue at all. Their advice is well-meaning, "Oh, the extra challenge is too much" but taking away the second language isn't going to magically remedy learning or behavioral issues, or lead to any better outcome. The approach to give up on bilingualism and/or immersion schools is a very American approach that reflects our society's relatively low regard for foreign language learning and the belief that it is just incredibly difficult for any child, much less a child with any special needs. However, all over the world, special needs kids often grow up bilingually and manage just fine.

All that said, I "get" why many people think this is too hard. The reason why it does not add much, if any burden, for a child is because immersion education tends to be hands-on and intuitive. You don't learn a language through it the way most of us remember learning a foreign language in upper grades.

In our particular case, DS started immersion school with a strong background in the target language thanks to daycare. He holds his own in both languages (it's a dual-immersion program). I will say that, because of the social anxiety factor, if he hadn't started school with a strong background in the target foreign language, it might not have worked for him -- but not because of the ADHD. He struggles with several learning issues but has learned to read in both and can write in both -- but his level/performance reflects his learning challenges (although actually, he is at grade level in reading the target foreign language because the reading curriculum is a year behind the actual grade kids are in).

Apologies for chiming in strongly on this particular issue but the commenter above simply is off-base.

Anonymous wrote:OP, any chance you are in a language immersion school?

Good god, people!! why would ANYONE put a child with moderate to severe ADHD in a language immersion school. Are you crazy?? Ask your doctor if he/she thinks that's a sound idea.....and when they stop laughing, ask for a rec for ANY other school than a language immersion school.