Best School in NW Suburbs for Child with learning disabilities (Chicago: renting, live in)

[eileenshannon]

I am moving to the Northwest suburbs and I am looking for the BEST school for a child with learning difficulties regardless of price. He is not autistic; however, he was once diagnosed as being on the spectrum. He is performing at 3rd grade level for the most part; however, he will not function well in a 25 student classroom due to underdeveloped social skills.

I currently live in Florida and my 8 yr old son attends 'Dreams Are Free' which is an amazing school in Sarasota. He receives speech/language/OT therapy at school and he has 9 other children in his classroom. I also like the fact that the school incorporates religion. Many of the Catholic schools I contacted in the Northwest suburbs did not provide the type of services his current school does, some due to lack of funding. Private school is definitely an option.

I have listed the services his current school provides below and would love to find another school just like it in Chicago.

I enjoy reading everyone's posting and I appreciate any assistance you wonderful people can provide.

Eileen
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dreams Are Free: Resources for Special Learning Needs
Dreams Are Free began in 1994 as an inclusion program at 12 local Catholic schools.

• A non-labeling, continuous-progress environment for children grades 1 - 8 with special learning difficulties.
• Florida-certified teachers trained in exceptional student education. All faculty and staff are experienced with learning disabled children.
• Skill-level groups for reading and math.
• Small classes with a limit of ten students in each homeroom.
• Licensed occupational therapists and certified speech/language pathologists provide services for our students.
• Small, individualized environment, dedicated to your child’s academic, emotional and social success.
• Academic partnership with St. Martha School provides our students with the opportunity to experience a larger school setting.
• Support for parents in our library of exceptional education reference materials and periodic parenting classes.

[homewifeev]

Try Quest Academy in Palatine. It is a very good school. It is not an extremely competitive atmosphere and it has a nice diverse student body. Students come all the way from the city to the Wisconsin border. www.questacademy.org

[Quest Mom]

My son attended Quest, he just graduated in June. My daughter is a current student at Quest. After reading your requirements for a school for your child I must say in all honesty I don't believe Quest meets your needs. The school has a focus on gifted children.

I will tell you that my son does have a LD and they worked with him to overcome it. The teachers are all current with teaching techniques and I believe most if not all of them have master's degrees.

The only reason I don't believe Quest would not meet your specific needs is that they do not have an Occupational therapist on staff. Also they do not have a specific focus on religion as the Quest community likes to try and focus on diversity.

Across the street from Quest is St. Therese's school and from everything I've heard it is an exceptional school. I really don't know much about the school but I've only heard wonderful things about it. I've also heard that the Palatine public school district has an amazing program in place for gifted/non-gifted children with either an EBD or LD.

I hope this helps you. I would suggest considering quest as I know that they really helped with some of the issues my son was facing.

Good luck in your search.

[diane3]

Yes, Palatine Public schools are very good with LD children. I work in the district and have students coming from all over to go to our schools so they can still be normal but, get the attention from a teacher that they need.

[worried4kids]

I don't know if you're still looking, but I'd look at Summit School in Elgin. Unfortunately I moved to TN, but this was the absolute very very best most perfect place for my son. I cannot stress enough how wonderful this place is! (we just left in September) Our district in Belvidere paid for it, (no don't use Belvidere schools)