We found it! We found the school.
It was the one I had a good feeling about, but they just blew away our expectations. The Academy is for children with learning differences, including ADHD and autism, dyslexia, etc. One of its main functions seems to be to teach children the self-management skills necessary to transition to mainstream education. The average length of enrollment is four years. The primary school where our son would start is two teachers, 10 students, and then for later grades, one teacher to 10 students.
Students are taught at their academic level in each subject. So if my son is at the fourth grade math level, he’s going to be placed with other 1-2nd grade students who are at his level socio-emotionally, but he will have individualized math instruction at the 4th grade level. They have a number of gifted students.
We told them everything going on with him, and we got the response we were looking for, essentially: “For us, it was Tuesday.” The instructors are EXTENSIVELY trained on working with neurodiverse kids and held to a very high standard. (They even train their subs.) The director described the school as “one giant IEP.” Everything is tailored to the student. They have what they call a dual curriculum. There’s the academic curriculum and then the social-emotional curriculum. They teach the kids self-management, meta-cognition, executive function. They teach the kids in a highly structured way and then slowly back off the supports so they grow toward independence. The academic curriculum is multi-sensory and incorporates movement as much as possible. (One example: they have a trampoline in the hallway. I saw kids stop, jump on the trampoline and then head off to their next class.)
I saw the most amazing thing happen. First of all, I never saw happier students than these kids. We went into the classroom and the kids were doing an activity where they were just going nuts. It was a trivia thing incorporating movement. Kids bouncing off the walls, dancing silly, doing push-ups. Lots of noise. Then the instructor said, “Okay, time for learning” and they fell instantly into their seats, quiet and attentive. It was remarkable.
And they offer financial aid!
I do think the GATE school is the best curriculum for gifted students, especially mathematics, but I was concerned that my son’s behavioral issues would interfere with him getting as much out of it as he could. But I can see this as his pathway to GATE.
So our plan is to move to the GATE school district, enroll him at the Academy, and maybe in 2nd or 3rd grade transition him into GATE - if that seems like the best option at the time. We will have priority placement at GATE if we are residents of that district.
We definitely have to move - it’s 40 minutes from home outside of rush hour. If we move to the GATE school district everything will be about 20-25 minutes from everything else. I can live with that.
