Berkeley High School for Executive Function challenged child
How is Berkeley High for students with executive function challenges? My child qualified for an IEP due to his executive function challenges. Do the teachers guide or support students with time management challenges, loosing assignments, forgetfulness, etc.? Or are the students on their own to figure things out even with an IEP? Is Berkeley High a sink or swim environment? If you are not self-directed, you will be in trouble?
Sep 15, 2022
Parent Replies
This question made me laugh- my daughter with Dyslexia did fine at BHS. She knew how to advocate & we fought for a 504 & she told teachers what she needed. My son has been diagnosed with ADHD since 5th grade & easily got his 504. He told his Spanish teacher he needed a quiet room for his first upcoming test as a freshman. She told him to go to his counselor to make those arrangements. He went to the counseling office, his particular counselor wasn’t in & was told to see a vice principal. On the way there he saw a parent he knew working the front desk- chatted with her, went to his next class & didn’t realize until the next day that he never arranged a quiet room. This was a typical example to answer your question. He never used his 504 & transferred to a private school for junior/senior year. He didn’t use the 504 there either but he was less distracted in general.
BHS is definitely a sink or swim environment. This type of place does teach important self-advocacy skills, but if a student has executive function difficulties it will still be up to them to navigate BHS. In our experience most teachers don't have time to guide individual students. When we saw how much self-advocacy was required of our neurotypical kid at BHS, we opted to send our second child with ADHD to a private school.