Boarding school? Smart, verbal kid with borderline NVLD (not diagnosable) issues

tomkat
Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:16:39 +0000

My son, who loves history, English, languages, and non-mathy science has for the second year in high school gotten stuck at the (somewhat progressive, experiential) private school he goes to. He stopped going to school after getting behind in homework, got increasingly anxious, and this time round, we finally got him tested. It turns out that he has many patterns and test results that are similar to kids with full-blown NVLD, but it’s not as severe as most kids. It does, however, interfere with his ability to do homework. He has slower processing times, can’t draw or copy, has poor handwriting, and now has social anxiety only about school and homework. The tester said he probably would not be able to have any accommodations because he is “borderline NVLD.” He’s been compensating for years–and no one thought to test him earlier. But we have pulled him out of school (he wasn’t going) and he is on medical leave while he goes to a academic/wilderness program that will help him come to terms with all of this. We have been advised that he shouldn’t go back to his school, which isn’t a problem for him. I’d like to look into a few of the special public schools and he’s been talking about going to a boarding school that is more structured than his current school. Any advice on how we might be able to get funding for a boarding school and whether anyone with LD issues has found a good fit in a boarding school?