East Bay School for 8YO with Dyslexia and ADHD
My 8YO son has dyslexia and ADHD. He struggles in the typical public classroom with 25+ students both academically and socially. He just finished the Lindamood-Bell program and is doing great with his reading, but we have seen that he needs the smaller class size so he doesn't get distracted as easily. He often complains that he is getting bullied at school and called names. I am looking for a private school that would have a smaller class size and a more nurturing environment. Any recommendations?
Jun 8, 2017
Parent Replies
I am very sorry to hear about the bullying, which the school should be completely on top of preventing. However, moving to a private school is a double-edged sword, because private schools don't have the same obligations to provide an equal education to students with special needs. (See recent posts on this.) Some do, of course, but it's more voluntary. There are private middle and high schools focused on special needs students but I am not aware of a local private elementary school that does. My 3rd grade son has an IEP for a variety of conditions (including ADHD, in process of diagnosis) at his public school in the WCCUSD and I am certain he would do better in a smaller classroom - as would all the kids in his class! - BUT, the tradeoff is he wouldn't be getting his current level of service in school for free. And this year anyway there were only 19 kids in his classroom, you can't really do better than that. I have been reading about some auditory therapy used at Suma Kids in Concord to help minimize environmental distractions, and we may pursue that outside of school.
Check out Raskob, they may have the programming your son needs. Best of luck!!! I am so so sorry that your son is being bullied.
Several schools come to mind, but many are in the South Bay. The ones that come to mind in the East Bay are Raskob, which is in Oakland and is a school geared for kids with ADHD and dyslexia and has low ratios in the classrooms and integrated therapies. We toured their in the past and I was impressed, but we didn't end up there. Your post doesn't mention whether math is an issue- some kids with dyslexia also have math learning affected. The other school that comes to mind is Da Vinci school for Gifted Children in Alameda- they are a very low ratio school (5:1) and I've heard several kids with ADHD have done well there. Don't let the "gifted" wording throw you off- there is no testing involved, and its really a description to indicate social emotional learning needs as well as asynchronous development where they can be "gifted" in one thing and way behind in something else. Also, check out EdRev website for a listing of other schools that teach to different learning modes- you may be surprised at the options that are now all over the Bay Area. Good luck!
Hi
I'm sorry for your troubles. We have a 9 year with dyslexia. It is encouraging to find that Lindamood bell helped. Some info. If you want to go full on dyslexic school, there are many from the east bay that carpool to Charles Amrstrong in Belmont. It is 200 kids all dyslexic. And ADHD often goes along with it. No bullying. And my son is convinced he is super smart. Some parents go for a cloupke of years. In public school, it was hard to fight for resources once my son reached "grade level". Private schools you might choose nice and small. You will likely have to supplement.
Two programs. Foundations is used at Berkeley School. 1 st to 3 Rd. And that is the program Amrstrong uses. Math made real is used at several schools and is based in Berkeley. We found there was not one solution but decided private plus supplement worked for our son.
Some ideas for your son. Other famous dyslexics? In London in told the reserve a track for dyslexics at the top schools because so many are Brillant at math and science. Finding places where he can succeed in other areas.
Also Debbie Vielbaum former head of admission ls at Charles Armatrong has a consulting practice under Vielbaum consulting. She has worked with famikies transitioning out of Amrstrong into public and private.