The one I just posted (Middlebridge) specifically mentions working with nonverbal learning differences on their website. I know nothing about it - I just found it when trying to figure out which school the poster above meant.
Every state has an advocacy office. These folks should be able to help you if the IEP really isn’t being implemented or additional services are required. Look for the one in your state.
Yup, done that. Hired advocates. The whole shebang. I am at the point where I either dump a bunch of money into legal fees for due process or tuition at an independent school. I am pursuing both avenues, but here on College Confidential I am focusing on independent school options.
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Your state advocacy office should provide those to you free of cost. That’s their job.
My experience is that these advocates are really working for the school district and work to get parents to accept what the district offers. They are jaded by seeing how districts would rather fight until parents exhaust their resources/stop fighting. The reality is that districts are not funded to provide what the law says - their busi
ness case tells them it is better to pay lawyers
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They don’t work for the school district. I’ve sat at many many meetings with advocates who worked very well for the students.
These are state employees, not district ones.
I should add, I’ve also sat at the table with very highly paid advocates who did not have a good knowledge of special education law, IEPs, assessments, and possible programming.
So…don’t think that the amount you lay someone equals quality…because it doesn’t.
But I digress. Forman School used to do an excellent job of presenting at school IEP meetings on why their school could meet a student needs, and why the district couldn’t. I don’t know if that currently is something they do well.
I feel for you - we had a lawyer and won - for one year - but the district was going to fight us every single year. Our lawyer told us we could choose between paying him every year (and have an ongoing battle) or put the money we would pay him towards tuition somewhere.
I know they dont literally work for the school district. They are very knowledgeable. In our experience, their hearts are in the right place but they were worn down
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My experience is that special education services in public school varies widely from district to district and state to state. I know there are some public school that do an excellent job educating students with learning differences. I don’t want to detail everything we’ve dealt with over the years with my son’s school, but where our family is at right now, we need to consider independent schools if we want him to receive an adequate education.
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100% agree. I was the Director of Special Education for many years in a rural midwestern district, and the experience of students with disabilities in our region varied widely depending on what district it was… we prided ourselves on putting together what I thought was a great continuum of services for students, but in the past few years it’s been increasingly difficult (and at times, impossible) to staff the special education department. Literally had 1 applicant for 2 special education positions last year and they weren’t a great applicant yet we felt stuck… in a nutshell our services have suffered and when a friend with a student with dyslexia was looking to move into our area I had to swallow my pride and tell them they might want to look elsewhere. We patched together services the past few years and I am sure it had a negative impact on our students… but in our area, the crunch is on to find good people. The local university reports that students going into education in general and special ed in particular has drastically declined since Covid so it’s not going to get better anytime soon. All this to say - I never would have recommended private options to families 5 years ago and now I say - if it were my kid - look into a nonpublic option or move to where the public options are better.
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Executive function skills develop at different times in children-have you considered getting him a coach ( even over zoom) to help him with those issues? Did he repeat 8th grade or continue on to 9th?
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His needs go beyond executive function support, but he has worked with someone on Outschool for exec functioning and has extensive/expensive academic tutoring outside school, plus a poorly implemented iep. He went onto 9th grade with the assumption that the iep would help him. I would like him to repeat 9th grade where ever he ends up next year.
Has he applied to several schools which you are waiting to hear from next month? Do you have a plan B if the acceptances/ financial aid do not come in as needed-that is, do you have a “safety”?
I have a few plans and a lot of stress, anxiety, and panic. Because boarding wouldn’t be appropriate there is only one school that might work for him nearby and we are waiting to hear back from them. I have not ruled out moving to be near a suitable private school so he doesn’t need to board. I know it is very late to be figuring this all out, but the degree of his learning issues didn’t become apparent until middle school, which coincided with the pandemic. That delayed accurately recognizing and diagnosing the issues and seeing what his public school could and couldn’t offer. The closest thing I have to a safety is to pay for a lot of private tutoring to support him in his public school.
Just a suggestion, but if you want him to repeat 9th grade in public school you need to ask about that now. Many public schools would not allow repeating a high school grade if the student has passed. You might also call other nearby public school districts to discuss what they could do- some let out of district students in with a fee, for others you would need to move. As you note, it is late in the cycle for all private schools at this point.
Perhaps you can continue to research tutoring and coaching options to strengthen his skills further. Does he participate in any ECs which bring him happiness or a sense of competency? That can be helpful.
I wouldn’t ask him to repeat 9th grade in the same school he is at; it would be too stigmatizing for him and wouldn’t guarantee the support he needs. Repeating 9th grade would only happen if he switches to a school that provides the support he needs.
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Sorry, I meant MiddleBRIDGE. They seem to be one of the few schools that really understand NVLD. Highly recommended by an expert in the field that I occasionally work with. https://www.middlebridgeschool.org/
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Nailed it!
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An M10 update on my son’s application: He was accepted to a local private day school for next year and they are providing enough financial aid to make it feasible for him to attend. They will provide more organizational and academic support than his current public school, although not as much as a school that specializes in learning disabilities. We’ll probably need to supplement with tutoring, but I am cautiously optimistic that his learning will get back on track.
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That is great to hear. Congrats to your son!
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