Hello. I was wondering whether anyone would be willing to share any experiences with a child who has dyslexia at any of the NYC prep schools (Horace Mann, Riverdale, Trinity etc.) My child has dyslexia but is also very bright and craves academic challenge. What support / recommendations has your child received? What do you feel is useful / what is not (mainly at the middle school level). Thank you so much for sharing.
Have you considered boarding school? We had a great experience at Forman. Lots of NYC/Westchester kids. They also offer summer camps. Feel free to PM me.
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My child also has dyslexia and is very bright, with a strong desire for academic challenge, so I can relate. We’re based in the UK, and after going through dyslexia assessments in London, we’ve been trying to better understand what kinds of school environments truly support both the learning differences and the intellectual curiosity. I’d love to hear from other parents, especially those with children in NYC prep schools, about what kinds of accommodations or teaching approaches have actually made a difference, particularly in middle school.
My child is gifted and has ADD-I (I question that diagnosis, but there were major Executive Functioning issues) and visual dyspraxia (so he needs similar accommodations to dyslexia, although he has good decoding/encoding/ phonological skills). His giftedness is expressed through insatiable intellectual curiosity. He attended a Montessori middle school that allowed him to dive deeply into areas of interest and engage in experiential interdisciplinary learning. The school was very individualized, so they provided more accommodations than our local public school because they just gave each kid what they needed (they offered O-G and EF because there were a few kids with dyslexia/ADHD). I truly believe his middle school years set him up for success by boosting his confidence, fostering independence and creativity, and most importantly, keeping his love of learning intact.
When he got to high school, and all through high school, we had multiple teachers ask us about his schooling up until that point because he was so passionate about learning and had all of the skills for success. My husband and I were floored because he was a mess when he entered middle school. We would tell them our tales of Lizardkid, and what he was like pre-high school, and they were shocked.
I think putting a kid in the right environment makes all the difference. We found that locally in a Montessori school, but I don’t think the label of Montessori is necessary. The important parts were experiential, developmentally appropriate for adolescence, interdisciplinary lessons, time for independent work and a way to “course correct” when mistakes are made, no tracking/gatekeeping to keep kids from accessing high level course work, and authentic assessment with narrative feedback rather than grades.
For both middle and high school we found what worked best with our son was to have the accommodations be for everyone rather than specifically for him. In the beginning, that was mostly because he would not use them if he felt singled out or like he was missing something if he was pulled out. As he entered high school, we realized he was just more likely to be even offered the accomodations (even though he had a plan) if they were universal accomodations and that teachers that thaught in those environments were the kind of teachers that he did better with. We ended up chosing a boarding school with a 2E program that specialized in ADHD/Dyslexia.
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Thank you so much for sharing this. Reading about your son’s journey reminds me so much of my own child’s path and just how powerful the right environment can be. As a mom, watching your child feel “behind” or misunderstood can be heartbreaking. But when they land in a place that truly sees them, it’s like they start to bloom in fast-forward.