This might diverge from the typical post asking for school recommendations here, but you all were so helpful when I was my daughter was applying for prep school that I thought I’d see if anyone has advice to offer.
Short story: I am looking for a private school for my son who has developmental dyspraxia. The primary areas he needs support are organization, working memory, fine motor skills, and motor planning. He also needs about 80% financial aid.
Long story: My son is in eighth grade and has probably needed to be on an iep from the beginning but the school refused to do any testing because he was working at grade level academically. He was on the honor roll before this year but his teachers before this year said he needed a lot of support to get him there- extra time, extra practice, graphic organizers for everything, access to a quiet working environment. This year his teachers are the sink-or-swim type and his grades dropped. He is now being tested for learning disabilities (that is the sanitized version, a lot of tears, sleepless nights, and lawyers were involved). He may have an iep by the end of this year that includes the supports his teachers in earlier grades gave him, along with ability to use voice dictation for essays and note-taking. But he will also have a transcript filled with Cs and Ds for 8th grade.
Depending on the plan for ninth grade, my son will either continue in the school district for ninth grade with a good iep in place, or repeat 8th grade with a combination of homeschooling and private tutoring to get his writing and math skills up to grade level. After next year we will either move to a school district better at supporting learning challenges or find a suitable private school. In either case we’d be looking for him to enter as a ninth grader in the 2023-2024 school year since he is at the very youngest end of his grade now and missed learning opportunities during the time he wasn’t getting the support he needed.
If we go the private school route, we’d be looking for a school in New England. The Landmark School in MA seems ideal except for the price tag, and they seem to have only limited financial aid. We’d need about 80% financial aid.
In terms of hooks, because of his motor planning difficulties and the cancellation of so many activities during the pandemic he doesn’t have a sport or extracurricular he excels at. He is in band but not a soloist. He is a genuinely nice kid who tends to get along with everyone and a URM. He likes computers and science so a college prep curriculum and the needed supports would work well for him.
Are there any private schools that might be options for him?
If you have not already found it, there is an excellent thread here called “Schools with Academic Support.” I found it incredibly helpful as I think about options for kiddo #2, who may be looking at these types of schools in a few years.
Best of luck finding the right fit for your child! This community will I think be quite helpful to you as you consider your alternatives.
You have a bunch of different boarding school options.
If you can get a private neuropsychological evaluation, that will make a difference in terms of helping schools understand your student. I found that the schools would accept the neuropsych instead of SSAT scores.
Here are some schools to look into, and I’m sure there are others too.
Cushing Academy (MA)
Lawrence Academy (MA)
Winchendon School (MA)
Brewster Academy (NH)
Dublin (NH)
Kimball Union (NH)
New Hampton (NH)
Proctor Academy (NH)
Tilton School (NH)
Gould Academy (ME)
Hebron Academy (ME)
Kents Hill School (ME)
Marvelwood (CT)
Another possibility is repeating 8th grade and staying for 9th grade at a junior boarding school. Many of them have great extra support: Cardigan Mountain and Hillside are both all-boys, and Indian Mountain, Rectory, Rumsey Hall are all co-ed. There are a few others too.
That’s a really helpful list, thank you! Some of these schools are relatively close to me, which would make visiting so much easier. I hadn’t considered a junior boarding school, but I wonder if it is too late given our need for financial aid.
While the above schools all provide academic/executive functioning support, it sounds like your son may need OT/PT as well. As far as I know, none of the above schools provide those services (perhaps Cardigan Mountain?).
I’d add Forman and Eagle Hill to schools with academic support, but they are not very generous with financial aid. They would probably be better fits than Landmark as their primary population is dyslexia/language-based learning disabilities.
Update Jan 2023. It has been 9 months since I first posted this. We received the results of his testing shortly after my original post. His learning profile most closely matches NVLD. His school wouldn’t call it that since it isn’t in the DSM, but he meets all the diagnostic criteria. He now has an IEP but it doesn’t include all the support he needs and isn’t very well implemented.
He is applying to a small, local private school that offers some learning support, but isn’t one of the schools that specializes in learning support. I feel his needs would be best served at one of the schools that does specialize in learning support, but all of those are far enough away that he would need to board and he isn’t ready for that. We find out in a few weeks if he has been accepted and if they can offer the support he needs.
If not… I don’t know what our other options are. Maybe move to be closer to one of the schools that offers support? Spend a fortune on legal fees to get the support he needs at his current school? Supplement the LPS with tutoring and specialized summer programs? He is having a full neuropsych evaluation in a couple of months so they may be able to provide some useful recommendations. I just wish we were doing this in elementary school rather than 9th grade.
Few private schools have the resources to meet your desires, and as you found out, those that do specialize in this area can be quite expensive. Needing almost a full-ride to such a school (80%?) Is very difficult. My guess is that you are best to work with your local public school and private therapists. Perhaps there is a parent or disability advocacy group that can help.
Needing financial support along with a specific type of program is definitely a tough combination. There seem to be fewer programs for nonlanguage based disabilities than language based, which further narrows the options.
If you can demonstrate that your school cannot meet your needs but a private one can, your local district may be required to foot the bill for the latter. For obvious reasons, this is often a very difficult, and often contentious, case to win.
Some years ago, a nearby district turned itself inside out trying to find a cheaper option to the $80,000/year state school for the deaf for 2 children who moved into the district weeks before school started. Not because they were jerks but because it wasn’t in the budget. This is why kids tend to be diagnosed with differences the school has the ability to address. In that case, the district had no choice but to pay. Clear need they could not address.
So it’s worth exploring what your district can do for you, in terms of services and subsidies. I’m sorry this has been so hard.
I’d probably look hard at local services, or even training someone to implement a program you’d like for your son. An excellent neuropsych you can’t implement is not helpful.
I had to teach myself a lot of therapy techniques in Arkansas, or get a therapist to teach me, to manage a disabled child. We have since moved to a large metropolitan area with special Ed schools. Each special Ed school is fairly narrow in what it will serve. I haven’t been that impressed with additional services.
Your son is also reaching the age of 16 where most kids will energetically resist special Ed services or anything that makes them different from peers. As much as you can seek his direction and consent before the Resistance begins.
I think just about any public school could meet my son’s needs if they tried hard enough. His needs are not so specialized or expensive that he would need an out of district placement. Because they resisted identifying him for so long, and are not fully implementing his IEP now that he is identified, we could get compensatory education, ie., money for additional tutoring or programs to catch him to where he would have been had they been providing him with appropriate support from when he first began needing it.
The neuropsychology practice I have chosen is very well-known in my area. People in the field say they are the best, which is why we have to wait until April for appointments. They provide some services themselves and can make recommendations to other places in the community. I figure I’ll be in a much better position to find outside services with a solid neuropsych report and recommendations based on it.
I haven’t been able to find Middlebrook so maybe it is one of the other schools. Neither Marvelwood nor Millbrook mentions NVLD specifically though. In general it seems the are a lot more schools that provide support for language-based learning challenges than nonverbal learning challenges.