David was lucky to get a spot at a progressive new neighborhood high school, Millennium Brooklyn. Since it was a screened admission, he had to write a one-page essay, have an 85+ average and no more than 10 combined latnesses and absences. Then there were 2 interviews as well. I'm really proud he did well on all of the above. MBHS was the school the DOE chose from him as well, out of our top 3 choices (Essex and the Academy of Software and Engineering were the other two). He also got into Brooklyn Prospect, a local charter school, but we felt that MBHS was a better fit. They seemed to "get" him, are very approachable and are no strangers to an IEP. They don't just give lip service to LDs; they have an AP in charge of Special Ed.
It was a bit of a rocky start, which I attribute to David's body getting used to being back on his meds (he takes a break from them during the summer because they can affect growth). He was emotionally up and down by Wednesday, the 3rd day of school/meds, and had a mini meltdown at night. By Thursday morning, he was better, realizing that the things he was saying (about not being able to make friends when he was on his meds, not being funny on them, etc.) weren't true. He seems to have adjusted well to school, has a few friends and looks to be holding his own. We're guardedly optimistic. He doesn't like when we ask if he's done his homework--feels that we don't trust him or believe in him. But with his issues, he easily spaces out and needs to be reminded.
Parent-teacher conferences are next week and we get a progress report on Tuesday, so we'll have a better idea then. But all in all, we're happy with the school, although we think he can put more time and effort into his homework. That was a problem for him at MMFS as well, doing just enough but not more than he needed to do. Hopefully, we can convince him to change his work ethic, which will help him later on in life as well.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Kvelling
Last night, I was the picture of the Yiddish term kvelling, which means "swelling with pride." David had me kvelling when he took part in the monthly open-mic poetry reading during Ken Siegelman's Brooklyn Poetry Outreach at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble. Not only was he the first up but he was the only child to partake. He read in a clear, steady voice, enunciating perfectly (could have been a tad louder, though). No one could have known that only six years earlier he could barely read, let alone read aloud to a group of about 50, unfazed. He was fabulous! David read two poems that he'd written for school, "Julianna" and "The Helpful Power." The response was wonderful. I was just beaming with pride and so was Peter, who also read. I'd been taking part in these open-mic nights for months, reading excerpts from my ebook THE EL as well as poetry, but last night was indeed special.
It's the loving care and patience of all of the teachers at Mary McDowell Friends School that brought us to this happy moment. There is no way to thank them.
It's the loving care and patience of all of the teachers at Mary McDowell Friends School that brought us to this happy moment. There is no way to thank them.
Friday, January 18, 2013
High School Quest
The High School quest is nearing its end. Last autumn was a flurry of open houses, visits, carefully scanning school websites online, sharing info with other parents, etc. It was a truly maddening process full of question and self-doubt. Now that David has the wonderful foundation that the Mary McDowell Friends School has built for him since third grade (i.e. teaching him how to read), it feels that it's time to move on.
Exploring all possibilities means looking at "appropriate" (read that "small and nurturing") public schools, supportive private schools and even special education schools just as backup just in case Option # 1 or # 2 don't work out. All of the schools on our final list seem wonderful, for different reasons, and now comes the task of choosing the right school. Or in the DOE's case, hoping they choose the right school for us.
All public schools have to say in their descriptions that they support their students' IEPs (they have to legally) but the question is, do they truly. A school like Edward R. Murrow has a wonderful reputation but has 4,000+ students, overwhelming for a student like David who has only 100 in his middle school. I can picture him getting lost between classes, not to mention floundering and being horribly distracted in classes with 35 students. Plus he is a bit small for his age, so I worry about bullying as well. That left us with a handful of choices.
He did well on the TACHs test, for Catholic school admission. There are 2 schools in particular (Xaverian and Bishop Ford) which have programs for kids with special needs. And coming from a private LD school, the tuitions seem reasonable, even affordable.
There's also an excellent school, Bay Ridge Prep, with two special programs with varying degrees of support.
David en route to his half day test drive at Bay Ridge Prep.
Then there's that impressive charter school within walking distance, Brooklyn Prospect. But entry is on a lottery system. So, we won't know until April if our name is picked. We've also been out of town for any open houses they have and they claim they don't have the staff to do a school tour during the day. But they do give tours in May for accepted students, which might be too little, too late. But still, David has several friends who go to the middle school and really like it. But again, none of them have IEPs.
What would be the right fit? We're covering all bases, testing the waters all around. Ultimately, David (and we) would love to be in a bigger school, a "regular" school. We are hoping we get one of our top 2 choices of public schools. Whittled down from a list of 6 that we visited, and about twice that number that were in the running.
Our fingers are crossed. I'll post a more complete list of the schools we visited and feedback about each after we've made our choice.
Exploring all possibilities means looking at "appropriate" (read that "small and nurturing") public schools, supportive private schools and even special education schools just as backup just in case Option # 1 or # 2 don't work out. All of the schools on our final list seem wonderful, for different reasons, and now comes the task of choosing the right school. Or in the DOE's case, hoping they choose the right school for us.
All public schools have to say in their descriptions that they support their students' IEPs (they have to legally) but the question is, do they truly. A school like Edward R. Murrow has a wonderful reputation but has 4,000+ students, overwhelming for a student like David who has only 100 in his middle school. I can picture him getting lost between classes, not to mention floundering and being horribly distracted in classes with 35 students. Plus he is a bit small for his age, so I worry about bullying as well. That left us with a handful of choices.
He did well on the TACHs test, for Catholic school admission. There are 2 schools in particular (Xaverian and Bishop Ford) which have programs for kids with special needs. And coming from a private LD school, the tuitions seem reasonable, even affordable.
There's also an excellent school, Bay Ridge Prep, with two special programs with varying degrees of support.
David en route to his half day test drive at Bay Ridge Prep.
Then there's that impressive charter school within walking distance, Brooklyn Prospect. But entry is on a lottery system. So, we won't know until April if our name is picked. We've also been out of town for any open houses they have and they claim they don't have the staff to do a school tour during the day. But they do give tours in May for accepted students, which might be too little, too late. But still, David has several friends who go to the middle school and really like it. But again, none of them have IEPs.
What would be the right fit? We're covering all bases, testing the waters all around. Ultimately, David (and we) would love to be in a bigger school, a "regular" school. We are hoping we get one of our top 2 choices of public schools. Whittled down from a list of 6 that we visited, and about twice that number that were in the running.
Our fingers are crossed. I'll post a more complete list of the schools we visited and feedback about each after we've made our choice.
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