Hi all,
My son is going to 5th grade, we had bad experience in
4th grader school year. My son has language
disability, although his decoding, spelling, math
computation are all in grade level, but he has great
difficulty on reading comprehension and math word
problem, social study.
Although school offers resources, speech, but with two
years no gain or any progress. I just don’t think the
RSP and school speech therapist have really made the
efforts for my son’s special needs and RSP does not
seem to know how to teach language based learning
disability kids.
I have visited SDC classrooms, the gap is huge, I
can’t put my son to that SDC setting (all category
disability class).
I saw some postings about charter school, will it be
good choice for my son ? My son needs small class and
language based environment. Will charter school accept
my son ? any good or bad experience about charter
school ?
I live in Bay area at CA, I am looking at FAME public
charter school at california, any information is much
appreciated it.
Thanks,
Shelley
Re: public charter school
SOme charter schools are selective; some aren’t. Depends on the rules of that state or district. There are charter schools set up just for kids “in between” - need some help, but not self-contained - but whether there’s one near you, I don’t know. Good for you for being willing to search for the right place for your son!
Re: public charter school
If the charter school takes all kinds of kids, question the staff carefully about what they will do to help your son, to follow the IEP, etc. For instance, what special services do they provide, and how. How many kids with the same disability are in the school, what services do they receive. There are three new charter schools in my county. While they talk about plans for smaller class sizes, the classes are actually capped similar to the public school. Therefore, as mentioned above, a charter school does not guarantee a smaller size. But it may be a very good option for your child, and if the current situation isn’t working, it’s worth a try in my opinion.
The rules for charter schools vary from state to state. In MN a charter school is required to accept any child in the state who wants to attend (until there are no more seats, of course). Because they are public schools, they are not allowed to refuse students. I don’t know what it is like in other states.
Your best bet is to call the school and ask what the admission requirements are. Ask about class size also. A charter school will not necessarily have smaller class sizes, although many do.
Also, take a look at http://www.mindprime.com . I am wondering if some of your child’s problems with comprehension could be related to poor visualization skills. If so, IdeaChain would be helpful. (This program is very similar to Lindamood-Bell’s V&V program.) The mindprime website has a good explanation of how visualization skills relate to comprehension.
Nancy