Private school for speech delayed child
Hello, So we have a year or two for this, but we have a 3.5 year old who will be starting at well regarded preschool this school year. We may or may not hold her back a year before starting kindergarten (that's a whole other post), but my husband recently brought up the possibility of private school for when our daughter is ready to enter kindergarten. Our daughter has expressive speech delay and a bit slower cognitive processing delay compared to her peers. We will be living in Castro Valley which I know has a good school system. Still, we can't help wondering if enrolling her in private school for K-8 would be a better fit for her. Specifically, at this time, we are considering Our Lady of Grace for when she is ready to start kindergarten. She is quiet and extremely sensitive and, especially given her delays, I feel like a lower student: teacher ratio would really benefit her ( but of course, what child wouldn't benefit from this?). My questions are these: 1. Has anyone sent their child/ren to Our Lady of Grace in Castro Valley and have any insight into the quality of education there? 2. Are there are any other other East Bay private schools that we should consider that seem like a good fit for a speech delayed, generally slower developing and highly sensitive child? 3. Should we just scrap the notion that private school education would be a better fit for our child, and does anyone have personal positive experience with the Castro Valley public school system in supporting their special needs child? Btw, sorry for any run-on sentences.
Parent Replies
It might worth talking to the Director, Michele Hamilton at Pear Tree Community School about your daughter. She can be reached at admissions [at] peartreecs.com. My daughter attends the school and we are very happy and although she is cognitively and verbally precocious, she is slow to warm up and sensitive. She was just diagnosed with a sensory processing issue as well as anxiety. I do know that one of her classmates, who has been with Pear Tree since preschool was speech delayed and is doing very well academically. We did a year at our local public school, which is considered a "good" school and it was tough on our whole family, but it was not a Castro Valley school. It is great that you are figuring out your options now, although your daughter will also have a lot more skills by the time she is ready for TK or K, the change happens quickly, though I see my daughter has not "grown out" of some of her fundamental struggles, which I now see have been present all along. Best of luck in your search.
If your child is 3.5 and has speech delay, the school district is on the hook for speech therapy, provided she is evaluated through the school district and found by them to have delays. This holds true whether or not you put her in private school. That said, private schools are not obligated to go along with any particular recommendation or IEP required intervention or accommodation. That means that your child could get a service plan through your home school district starting now, but if your kid goes to a private school from K forward, a lot of it would likely not transfer over to that setting. Any therapies offered such as Speech, OT and PT would have to be done outside of the private school and the school would not have to recognize any educational planning or consultation with professionals. Sooo, if your kid’s delay is significant, public school is the way to go. Laws that ensure your kid gets a free and appropriate education (FAPE) are enforceable in public schools but none of it applies to private. In fact, if your kid proves to be too high maintenance, the school does not have to accept her or extend re enrollment the next year. Truth be told, just because the parents pony up big bucks for private education, the school does not have to show your kid has learned anything or even follow state curriculum standards. There is zero accountability. And my kid has had 6 years of private education and is so far behind on basic skills we’re going to have to home school or micro school her next year with supplemental muy expensive tutoring to prepare her for public school. Although she likely would have struggled in public, at least in the beginning, we could have maybe qualified her for an IEP, or at the very least we would have had the extra money to fill in the gaps that we simply could not afford in private school.
in sum, think carefully before going the private route if you already know there is a delay.
Best of luck!
Sorry I can't respond to your question about school enrollment, but I wonder whether you have contacted your public school district to have your child evaluated and to see what services are available right now? My grandson had speech therapy services from his public school district beginning when he was three until he began kindergarten and then continued to receive therapy when he began school.