Elementary school for receptive language disorder
Hi,
I am posting this email on behalf of my friend who will be moving to the Berkeley/Albany area in a few months. For her daughter who has a mild language disorder (receptive), she is looking for an elementary school that has small size classrooms (less than the usual 20 children in private schools), very structured, open to different learning styles and possibilities to working one-on-one with her daughter if needed or in a small group (maybe experienced learning specialist). Because of the importance of the size of the classroom, private schools are maybe more preferred/possible.
Any advice on elementary schools in the Berkeley/Albany area are welcome, but if you know of any schools that might be a good fit outside of this area; please share! Thank you on behalf of my friend Ashlee.
Parent Replies
I work as a speech therapist and if your daughter has a mild receptive language disorder and will be living in Berkeley or Albany I highly recommend entering the public school system. BUSD and ASUD have some of the best speech therapists on site. Therapy is provided through an IEP either 1:1 or groups. There is a huge difference between mild-moderate-severe language disorders. If she has a mild disorder she needs strong/typical language models and is probably able to access grade-level curriculum. Public schools offer very structured teaching and if she needs further support from a case manager/ specialized special educator instructor public schools are able to provide this as well. BUSD class size for elementary these days is averaging 17-21 kids per class. Just for reference, my neighbor's daughter who also had a mild mixed (receptive/expressive) language disorder enrolled in a very small private school in Berkeley with disastrous results. On top of paying expensive tuition, they had to pay for private speech services and they found that the staff did not have the knowledge to accommodate and support her child's learning style. Her daughter is doing exceptionally well at BUSD and receives speech therapy and weekly specialized instruction all at her school.