There are many different kinds of boarding schools in the United States. Some are highly academic and serve only exceptional and motivated students. Others are geared to working with the average to above student. And a few select schools work with children and adolescents with special needs which cannot be met by traditional or regular programs. These special needs schools can address a wide variety of disorders from Aspergers Syndrome to dyslexia to emotional problems. Some are college preparatory; others have a more transitional mission and are preparing their students for a return to the mainstream.
Families oftentimes find it a daunting task to identify the right boarding school for the "special" child. Websites and brochures don't give enough detailed information for a parent to make an informed decision. Current psychological and academic testing may be inconclusive so parents don't understand the problems or how to best treat them. Some families seek the counsel of an educational consultant to help them sort through the various options. Whether a family uses a consultant or searches on their own, it is vital to find the school that is the "right fit"; one that can address the child's unique learning style.
Close to 20% of the school age population are diagnosed with a learning difference. Most of these children have a problem using language and are said to have a language based learning disorder. Others have a non-verbal learning disability and struggle with some of the following: organizational difficulties, poor social skills, visual-spacial weaknesses, conceptual reasoning deficits. Many children have attentional issues and executive functioning deficits. Some LD students just need small classes, academic support and minor classroom accomodations; others whose LD issues are severe and more debilitating, need direct and intense skills-based language remediation. There is a significant difference between academic support and remediation. Boarding schools that offer support usually have a few LD trained teachers in tutorial center. Their role is to help the LD student keep up with what's happening in the classroom. On the other hand, remedial instruction is a structural approach to helping the child learn strategies to compensate for their weaknesses. Curriculums at these schools use a multisensory approach and experiental teaching strategies. All teachers at these schools are trained in using these techniques. It is very important for parents to understand the difference and to know what a boarding school can and can't do before placing their LD child.
Families oftentimes find it a daunting task to identify the right boarding school for the "special" child. Websites and brochures don't give enough detailed information for a parent to make an informed decision. Current psychological and academic testing may be inconclusive so parents don't understand the problems or how to best treat them. Some families seek the counsel of an educational consultant to help them sort through the various options. Whether a family uses a consultant or searches on their own, it is vital to find the school that is the "right fit"; one that can address the child's unique learning style.
Close to 20% of the school age population are diagnosed with a learning difference. Most of these children have a problem using language and are said to have a language based learning disorder. Others have a non-verbal learning disability and struggle with some of the following: organizational difficulties, poor social skills, visual-spacial weaknesses, conceptual reasoning deficits. Many children have attentional issues and executive functioning deficits. Some LD students just need small classes, academic support and minor classroom accomodations; others whose LD issues are severe and more debilitating, need direct and intense skills-based language remediation. There is a significant difference between academic support and remediation. Boarding schools that offer support usually have a few LD trained teachers in tutorial center. Their role is to help the LD student keep up with what's happening in the classroom. On the other hand, remedial instruction is a structural approach to helping the child learn strategies to compensate for their weaknesses. Curriculums at these schools use a multisensory approach and experiental teaching strategies. All teachers at these schools are trained in using these techniques. It is very important for parents to understand the difference and to know what a boarding school can and can't do before placing their LD child.
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I was wondering if someone could suggest a suitable high school (day or boarding) in or north of Boston that would work our son.
I don't know if this falls in the special needs area, but our son, on one hand, scores at the "gifted" level on some tests (e.g. 700 on the SAT Critical Reading test he took one month after he turned twelve, over 150 on WISC IV Verbal), and on the other hand, he does not have perfect (all A's) grades at his current school. This is mainly due to the fact that he is most definitely a spatial-visual learner as defined by Dr. Silverman here http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm .
Just like the article says, he can sometime miss details, his hand-written output can be pretty bad (though he writes great essays if he is allowed to type them), and could improve his time management and organizational skills.
We are hoping to find a high school (he just finished the 7th grade) that could accomodate his learning style and still challenge him academically. We think it would also be good for him socially if he was in a school with a few other kids similar to him (i.e. nerdish, very smart, somewhat offbeat, not much into typical sports).
Bert, I wish I had an answer for you. I am struggling with the same problem with my son. I too am looking for a boarding school to match his needs and I am having a rather difficult time. My son is extremely bright in reading and vocabulary but his math is far below grade level. I am currently looking into Oakwood Friends Schoo in NY, but I am not sold yet. If you've discovered anything, please let me know.
Bert and Linda,
I fully understand your frustration.....the search for the right school is a daunting task, especially if your child has some sort of special need. But the great thing about boarding schools is...there is a school for every kind of kid from the high achiever to the average kid to the student with special needs.
Linda, sounds to me like your son may have dyscalculia--a math disability. You may want to do a google search on this disability to learn more about it. While I don't think there are any schools that are specifically for students with dyscalculia, you will find many of the LD boarding and day schools can deal with this. Oakwood has a learning center that can probably assist with his math problems but they won't remediate it.
Bert, there are some junior boarding schools in eastern Mass that may be able to help you with your son's issues...keep looking.