Solution to ADD LD problems

why would it be better? I live in SF and the school district is pitiful, especially when it comes to special education. No one—esp. teachers–can live here on the salary the district pays—they can’t attract new teachers and the district has so many other problems. big cities are no solution

Well, I do see your point about being in a big city. Here in Dallas there are 4 ADHD/LD schools within 5 miles of my house. Plus many more a bit further away. There are many programs to go to for LD tutoring through these schools (as non-students) or SMU or other places. There are schools for just ADHD kids, no LD required and there is a school for Asperger’s kids. Our suburban public school wants to help kids, works with the parents, wants to see all kids succeed, etc. If one public school doesn’t work out - say the speech therapist isn’t your favorite person - you can transfer to another school that is still just blocks away.

There are just more choices in a city - but that’s true for anything, restaurants, schools, therapists, movie theatres, jobs, hair salons, car dealers, etc.

Adolf - I assume you mean that better services are available in the suburban areas around D.C. such as Fairfax and Montgomery Counties. I hope you aren’t recommending that parents voluntarily send their children to D.C. public schools :)

John

No John, I don’t. I mean the suburbs surrounding a large city like D.C. or San Frans. I am sorry if I confused you. I used to be in a little town so I know it is limited in LD/ADD help resources.

I LIVE IN NYC AND MY GRANDSON GOES TO A PRIVATE SPECIAL ED SCHOOL. TO GET HIM IN THAT SCHOOL WAS A BLESSING SEEING THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE WAS TO SEND HIM TO A REGULAR JR HIGH (HE IS IN 8TH GRADE) WHERE HE WOULD BE TEASED BY HIS PEERS AND MADE TO FEEL LIKE HE IS STUPID WHICH HE IS NOT. YET THE SCHOOLS (PRIVATE & SEMI PRIVATE) IN THE CITY HAVE THEIR DRAWBACKS TOO. THE TEND TO TEACH ALL CHILDREN ON THE SAME LEVEL .YET THE CLASS SIZES ARE SMALLER AND THE CHILD HAS LESS SENSORY OVERLOAD AND CAN CONCENTRATE MORE.

We are looking at private special ed. for our son here in NYC. While I agree with the other posters that services in are available in abundance in a large city, the public schools are not even an option for us. And the very healthy regular private school system doesn’t know what to do with a LD kid, so we are left with schools that are all LD. If we lived in a good suburb, my kid would be in a mainstream public school with services provided by the school. I know its not that simple, and we would have to fight for our services, but …

It is so subjective because I live on LI ( subrb NYC ) and it depends on the district , some are big and have more services to offer some are small and more willing to give services but don’t often have the options to choose from . I like the answer from sssf . I would check out the school system and options if ever I were to move but other things are to be considered like family and friend supports I couldn’t do it if my family weren’t able to stepin and sit or drive for me some times and its invaluable to the kids to know they unconditional love and help less than a block away .

Gosh! I WISH this is were the solution!!!

What is keeping you from doing it ? i wish LDer’s could get out of Dodge and go to a large city and get more chances.

Just have LOTS of MONEY.

Ditto - fellow LI’er here and parent of remediated dyslexic ADHD’er. Public school sp d classification plus (expensive) private tutoring is what has made the tremendous impact so far.

It really depends on so many variables. My “award winning” district happens to be lacking in special ed, primarily b/c of funding problems. A neighboring district with only a decent/fair reputation for general academics has simply outstanding special ed programs.

I’ve also found that there is generally one director of special ed and if that person spent 20-30 years primarily in autism and your child is LD/ADHD, that might affect your child’s outcome. The whole LD/ADHD world is so complicated. No one has all the answers.

I would think to get the best sense of the district, call the SEPTA president and ask if she/he could give you names of parents with children who have similar issues to yours. These parents can usually give you better first-hand experiences with that district and are generally very willing to help out other parents/kids. (Yup - I tried it once and learned a lot.)