Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

Also, our Montessori is a public school and we can get an IEP and accommodations there. I didn't think any schools (public/private) can really address dyslexia except SN privates?

Most of the literature says that a student with dyslexia needs specific reading instruction in an Orton-Gillingham based program. That can be hard to get in any public school setting, and especially at a Montessori school unless they are willing to commit to pull out or push-in tutoring in a specific program to augment the standard curriculum.

The other way to go is to pick a school that works for your child in everything but reading, and do intensive tutoring at your own expensive after school or weekends, and during the summers.

My similar child was in a Montessori charter school, and they had a Wilson-trained reading specialist work with him 1:1 3 times a week per the IEP. It still wasn't enough, so we supplemented outside of school as well. The regular reading instruction in the classroom was basically worthless.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks very much for all of the useful the information that has been shared here.

07/05/2017 21:11. It's great that you have personal experience with a public Montessori school in DC. If you are still monitoring this thread, can I ask which public Montessori your child attended? If it is LAMB, I would love to talk with you further (offline). I can be reached at the following email address: casey20171915@outlook.com.

I am aware that it is hard to navigate the system in DC and that the choices are not always great. However, one thing we are considering is moving to the inbounds district of a highly regarded traditional public school that offers SN servcies. You all are convincing me more about the need for structure for this child which Montessori usually doesn't provide; however, I also have big doubts about whether a traditional public school will be able to handle this child without really hurting his self-esteem. Our public Montessori school is able to address kids with IEPs and they do have children with dyslexia and ADHD within the school. But I have my doubts, which you all have confirmed, about Montessori overall for this type of child.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

Naive then. Waldorf will run you about $25K or "run of the mill" privates more and not address any of the LDs. You're paying for a team of specialists at an SN school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for all of these suggestions. The reason we are looking at Montessori schools is that DC has been in a Montessori school for three years and his teacher of three years, who has worked in both traditional and Montessori schools, believes that Montessori - or another alternative school like Waldorf - is what this child needs. I don't know how to relate that advice to what others say about Montessori/Waldorf not being good for a child with ADHD/dyslexia.

We don't have the details regarding his diagnoses yet. For the ADHD, it is inattentive ADHD and I don't know the severity but I think it is not very severe (although seems to be getting worse). He has trouble attending to work that is difficult for him, he prefers to choose his own activities and has trouble attending to those that others select, and he attends much better one on one than in a group setting. (Again, this would seem a plus of Montessori since there are one on one lessons). He is not hyper-active or disruptive in class.

Lots are mentioning the private schools specific to learning differences. I am not ruling those out but they have very high pricetags. At this poing, I was thinking more of traditional publics and privates, as well as charter schools in DC.

OP,

One you seem a little dim b/c Waldorf Schools will out price or keep with SN school tuitions.

The Montessori cannot address dyslexia period. 11:53 had the list to which to apply. These schools can also address ADHD. If you hire a consultant get one to hammer out an IEP and negotiate for you if you go public.

I thought that this was the 'nice' board where people were supportive? Anyway, I don't think that I am 'dim'. The Lab School ($46K) and Kingsbury seem to be significantly more expensive than run of the mill privates, which run $30K-$35K.

Anonymous wrote:You asked for an educational consultant--they generally advise on privates. I think that's why you are getting these recs.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for these posts - they are helping me to understand the issues. I am still struggling though. I see what you are saying that he will fall behind in terms of being able to transition and to manage himself if he is not forced to adjust to this earlier on. But I also wonder about self esteem and his confidence related to behavioral issues. I am pretty sure that if this child is forced to transition every 30/40 minutes, and to do what everyone else is doing, my child will have significant behavioral problems in school. He will go from being viewed as a normal kid with a particular personality to the "problem kid". He will always be in trouble and the teachers will be exasperated with him. What cost will this have for his self-esteem?

He will also space out, daydreaming, all day because he won't be interested in what the class as a whole is supposed to do.. At least now, he spends his days more-or-less productively because he chooses the things that he is able to focus on.

We really can't afford private school, especially the SN privates, but I doubt we would get much financial aid. We might be able to do it for a couple years (i.e. To address dyslexia) but not long term without endangering the child's and our family's financial future I actually find it weird that everyone in this board talks about them so much. Can everyone on this board afford those astronomical prices? I know there are a lot of wealthy people in DC but still...there must be lots of parents with SNs who have more run of the mill income levels....is financial aid more generous at SN privates?

The Montessori School is a public Montessori and they do provide some SN services.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks for these posts - they are helping me to understand the issues. I am still struggling though. I see what you are saying that he will fall behind in terms of being able to transition and to manage himself if he is not forced to adjust to this earlier on. But I also wonder about self esteem and his confidence related to behavioral issues. I am pretty sure that if this child is forced to transition every 30/40 minutes, and to do what everyone else is doing, my child will have significant behavioral problems in school. He will go from being viewed as a normal kid with a particular personality to the "problem kid". He will always be in trouble and the teachers will be exasperated with him. What cost will this have for his self-esteem?

He will also space out, daydreaming, all day because he won't be interested in what the class as a whole is supposed to do.. At least now, he spends his days more-or-less productively because he chooses the things that he is able to focus on.

We really can't afford private school, especially the SN privates, but I doubt we would get much financial aid. We might be able to do it for a couple years (i.e. To address dyslexia) but not long term without endangering the child's and our family's financial future I actually find it weird that everyone in this board talks about them so much. Can everyone on this board afford those astronomical prices? I know there are a lot of wealthy people in DC but still...there must be lots of parents with SNs who have more run of the mill income levels....is financial aid more generous at SN privates?

The Montessori School is a public Montessori and they do provide some SN services.