Montessori for LD/ADHD?

I am new here and very confused about what to do for my son. I would appreciate any thoughts at all regarding his situation:

My 9.5 yr old 4th grade son is dyslexic/dysgraphic and has some behavioral issues that have been called ADHD (although no official diagnosis). He is extremely high energy, fidgity, stubborn and impulsive. He is terribly disorganized - can't clean his room or keep track of ANYTHING. He is also very bright (iq is just a few points from genius level). Currently, he is in a Montessori school and he is fairly happy. On the plus side, he gets a lot of freedom to move around the classroom, is able to spend lots of time on the topics that interest him, and his teachers love him. On the negative side, he seems to be able to avoid work he doesn't want to do/that is difficult for him with few consequences, and the Montessori setting required children to organize themselves - something he seems totally uncapable of doing. I am concerned about his school placement and am considering a much more traditional (all-boys) private school where he would be required to attend to each subject with the whole class and he would be required to be organized and to complete assignments. My theory is that he is not learning to overcome his difficulties because he is being allowed to make excuses for himself and get away with not doing work that is hard for him. Also, I am worried that he is not getting enough help with organization. For example, the kids are supposed to bring in their homework and put it in their portfolios. When my son manages to finish his homework (a HUGE effort on both our parts), it often sits in his bag for days - and no one seems to notice/care. So why should he even bother??? But then I worry that he simply would not be able to function in a strict environment and would get in trouble constantly. Oh, and to add a twist to this situation, we would have to hold him back a grade if we switched him as he is quite young for his grade and the new school would rather he be placed with other boys his age. Although I do think he should be in an age-appropriate classroom, I am concerned what being held back would do to his already fragile self esteem.

He does have an IEP, and receives services in his private school, provided by the public school district. This would continue at the new school.

I could go on forever, but I'll cut myself off now and simply ask if anyone on his board has any thoughts about appropriate school placement for bright kids with LD and ADHD. Is Montessori a good approach, or does it just enable avoidance? Is a traditional school a better option? I am so confused and concerned I am having trouble sleeping. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for reading this lengthy post.

Thanks mayleng. The school my son is in is extremely nurturing (or at least they say so!), but I think you are right that Montessori just does not provide the structure a child like my son needs. There are 45 kids in his class and 4 teachers. He has a smaller advisory group, but I have the feeling he gets overwhelmed with the activity and gets lost in the shuffle. But I am terrified of making a change and having it not work out - I don't think my son can take any more blows to his self esteem.

My son did have a full evaluation nearly 2 years ago by our home school district - he qualified for 5x60minutes small group, but our state has just changed the special ed regs and now the district of location (where the private school is located) is responsible for all evaluations and provision of services. Which has been an added benefit of his current school - which has a much better/more accomodating CSE chair than our home district. The other school we are considering is in yet another district, so we'd have a whole other set of people to deal with. There is also an ld school a little more than an hour from our house, but it is really my last resort as it is (1) EXTREMELY expensive, and (2)far away.

My plan for today is to try to get a meeting with my sons teachers and his tutor and talk about what they are doing to meet his needs at his current school and then go from there.

Quote confused:

You don't have to apologize for caring about your child. If the school is willing to give your child more structure, and be there to move him along and make sure he completes his tasks and keep up, then it might work out for him.

I don't visit this site as often as I used to, but if you need to ask questions, vent, just get some ideas, general support etc. I can be found at the site I gave you. There are lots of parents there dealing with same issues as your son.

The most important thing is to see if the current school is willing to accomodate your child. So you can go over to the site I mentioned, and post the evaluation scores done 2 yrs ago over there, some of the members will tell you exactly what the issues are and what accomodations or remediation is needed. This way you can discuss it with the school.
[Modified by: Mayleng on March 04, 2008 08:37 AM]

[Modified by: Mayleng on March 04, 2008 10:03 AM]

Learning Disabilities (LD) and ADHD, Education Support, The*SAFE*Site http://millermom.proboards107.com