My child is struggling 
Now that my child has 
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Does the charter school you’re looking at welcome students with learning disabilities? If so, what services and accommodations are offered? The more you know about your child’s specific needs, the more focused your questions can be. What percentage of the school’s students has learning disabilities? Are these students given the “least restrictive environment” required by federal law?
There may be a charter school in your area with the specific mission of educating children with learning disabilities. If there is, consider the pluses and minuses of such a learning environment. Your child’s classmates will all have LD or AD/HD. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t arrange for your child to have a more diverse group of friends outside school.
Private Schools
The key factor in considering a private school is financial. Private schools — day schools and boarding schools — are expensive. Many, however, have large endowments that allow them to offer scholarships. You’ll want to check the tuition options before you delve too deeply in what a private school offers. Then, if a school interests you, see how open they are to admitting students with learning disabilities and how well they meet such students’ needs. Private schools are not required to accept students with LD, nor does the state require them to provide all the services found in public schools. To find out what your child’s rights are to special education services in private schools, see NCLD’s IDEA Parent Guide, Chapter 9.Some private schools have well-established support systems for students with LD who pass admissions testing. One well-regarded, academic private school in Minnesota developed its support program with the help of the state’s LD association, clinicians, and college staff knowledgeable about accommodating students with learning disabilities. Staff members conduct careful interviews with families and often with past teachers and other professionals who know the prospective student to determine how extensive the child’s needs are and whether the school can support those needs. The school offers resource teachers, counselors, in-school tutoring, adaptive technology, and a staff well-versed in the educational needs of students with LD and attention disorders. Still, the percentage of students with special needs is small, and the school features a rigorous college-prep curriculum.
Other academically focused private schools may not have so extensive a support system. You’ll probably find that schools you’re interested in will encourage you and your child to visit, observe classes, and talk with staff members and other parents. Reputable schools will not accept your child if they don’t think they can meet his or her needs.
The mission of some private schools is to educate children with learning disabilities. By definition, these schools admit only students with LD, so their population is less diverse than a public school’s typically is. Acceptance to such a private school depends on whether the school and family agree that the school offers an education that will meet the child’s needs. Some experts caution against this LD-only approach (in private schools and in charter schools), arguing that it undermines the “least restrictive environment” educational principle by segregating students with LD from their typical peers. You’ll need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach.
One parent who chose this kind of private school for her son praised the “quiet, calm classrooms of 8 to 10 students.” She was delighted with the safe, creative, adaptable environment offered by this school, even though her son’s experiences in public school from kindergarten to grade 5 were generally positive. Her son’s public elementary school had an excellent special-education staff. Her son had an IEP for sixth grade that sounded ideal. However, when she went to his classroom to volunteer, she found a teacher charged with managing over 30 students with a wide-ranging list of needs: students below or above grade level in various subjects, students with limited English, autism, behavioral disabilities, physical disabilities, giftedness — and her son, who looked lost in the shuffle. Because she didn’t want his needs overlooked in this crowded classroom situation, she chose to transfer him to an LD-focused private school.
She does acknowledge certain limitations to her son’s private school experience. He didn’t have a wide friendship circle and the school lacked a high-quality athletic program. But the private school, despite the sacrifices her family made to pay for it, jump-started her son’s academic performance with personalized assignments, encouragement, and support. From her perspective, giving students with LD an even chance to succeed trumps the argument about segregating kids. “Involved parents will figure out ways” for children to interact with other kids. She also heard parents say again and again how delighted they were to find “other parents who ‘got’ how it feels to have constant school issues, unique social problems,” and so on.
If you have such a school in your area, you might want to check it out and see if it’s right for your child and your family.
