Hi! I am new to this board. My son is 6 yo and was diagnosed with ADD the summer before kindergarten. He also has verbal score 35 points higher than the performance score. The reason I took him in for testing was family predisposition and poor pre school experience.
Kindergarten was not a positive experience for my son. We had the 504, guidance groups, teacher conferences, etc… still my son is left with NO confidence in his academic and social abilities.
I found a school that is for students with ADD/LD and average to gifted intelligence. They have a “regular education” cirriculum. Has anyone had any experience with this type of school? I was very impressed and the parents I met talked like the school was an answer to their prayers. However, I know how difficult my son can be, how can he benefit from being in a classroom full of kids with the same behaviors? I don’t want to change schools AGAIN. The school has given me all the right answers But I know they won’t tell me anything remotely negative. Let me know any pros and cons about schools exclusively for ADD/LD. Thanks Tara
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Re: special school for ADD/LD
sally,
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. It is good to hear you and your son are happy with the school. My son is going to summer camp to “try out” the new school. Take care. Tara
Re: special school for ADD/LD
We are making this same kind of change for next year, 4th grade. I wish I had done it sooner!
I can’t speak from first hand experience, but I did a tremendous amount of research on several local LD schools and have yet to meet a parent that isn’t thrilled with the school we chose.
It is a school only for above average + intelligence kids with language based disabilities. They use a very specific OG based methodology. They do not attempt to meet the needs of all LD children, and attempt to screen out kids with primary emotional problems. They do not provide OT on site, but we will supplement if we feel its necessary. The advantage of their narrow focus is that they are able to keep the kids at grade level and follow the NYS curriculum so these kids are able to return to the mainstream , usually after 3-4 years. They talk alot with the kids about their LD, compensatory strategies, and how to get by in the real world. My son knows he is different and is looking forward to being with other dyslexic kids.
The problem we found with the other LD schools in our area, was that they had to water down the curriculum to meet the needs of a broader group of children. Those schools however, seemed a little more holistic, and offered speech, OT and other therapies in house.
My son too has a Verbal IQ that is much higher than his performance IQ, and some of the social skills difficulties that these kids sometimes have. We are hoping that just by being understood, and able to achieve academically, some of these problems will ease.
Good luck with your decision!!
Tara,
I will try to briefly to describe my son’s experience at a private LD school. My son spent K, 1st, and 2nd at our local public elementary school. For 1st and 2nd he had an IEP which looked pretty good on paper, but was not enforced consistently. plus the service providers were less than competent. The only reason he was able to keep up at all in 2nd grade was because he was getting private services after school 4 days a week. This was a miserable schedule for him and for us. We made the switch to a private LD school for 3rd grade. He has been there now for 3 years. I don’t see ever putting him back into the public school system. Maybe a very small private high school.
The benefits of the LD school have been: very small class size (8-10 kids, 2 teachers); services like OT and speech language delivered during the school day; ability to adjust the curriculum to the child’s ability; very responsive staff; tolerence of different learning styles; a chance for my son to participate fully in school plays, art exhibitions, sports, etc.; a chance for my son to feel that he is not the “dumbest” kid in the class. The drawbacks of the school: behavior problems (sometimes severe) and not being able to keep the child at grade level in all subjects. For my son, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. The most important thing for me is that he feels good about himself and he likes school. This has only been possible in his current school. He happily goes to school every day! IF I had left him in public school he would be in deep trouble now. We are paying a fortune for tuition, but I have much more peace of mind.
Don’t expect the school will be perfect, because it probably won’t. But think about whether your child will be happy and can flourish there, not just academically but socially, with peers and with the staff. My son has ADD-inattentive, speech/language issues, SI issues, and some social issues (very shy and unassertive). He is now much more confident and outgoing and I think the school environment helps. Everyone knows him, kids and staff, and he feels like he belongs. In his old school, this wasn’t the case at all, he was slipping through the cracks. His 2nd grade teacher didn’t even know he had a IEP until I met with her in October.
I don’t think he has a clue that he is in a “special” school, but I don’t think it matters to him either. He knows some of the kids have “issues” but there were kids like that in his public school too. I sometimes think they could push him harder academically, but I’m trying to not stress over that too much.
Good luck on your decision!