Alternatives to Kealing for gifted student with ADHD? (credit, home)

[InvolvedMom]

I've got a daughter in 7th grade at Kealing. She does fantastic in class and on tests, her teachers love her, but she has ADHD and has always had significant difficulty with independent work, so at this point, the homework load at Kealing is killing her. (worth 30% of the grade) If we could have Kealing without so much homework, it would be ideal. Unfortunately, part of the program is to intentionally overload the kids so they're forced to "get it" with the organization, planning, time management, etc. -- all things she can't do.

Alternatives I've identified are St. Francis, Ace Academy. Our home school is Lamar. Can anyone offer any experience with a gifted child who is also struggling with independent work and ADHD issues?

TIA

[centralaustinite]

I've seen gifted kids with ADHD thrive at St. Francis School. I haven't heard that about Ace but I don't know. Ace seems do well with gifted yet conventional kids. Paragon would probably not be a good fit.

[Big-Papa]

HI InvolvedMom - you just described our daughter. She's also in 7th grade, also at Kealing. She entered Kealing in 7th grade this year, having come from a private school here in town. When we were making our decision, it was between Kealing and St. Francis. St. Francis definitely has experience with learning issues, though they focus a bit on dyslexia. That said, when we discussed ADHD with them, they told us that they actually do 504 plans, which is pretty unusual for a private school. We saw some of the forms. Further discussions made it clear that they knew how to deal with it. The main reason we didn't send our daughter there was academic. 7th grade science would have been a repeat for her from 6th grade (same book). They run out of runway if your kid is advanced in a foreign language in 7th grade, for example.

We're finding that the homework load is approximately the same as at the private school she attended earlier, with the exception of Algebra. The homework is straightforward, but the tests are difficult. To get a really good grade requires doing the bonus problems, doing corrections on tests for partial credit, and doing any other bonus point work they offer. She was in pre-algebra in 6th and really wanted Algebra in 7th. We'll monitor and if things get too bad we'll encourage her to drop and wait until 8th.

Finally, please talk to Mrs. Ramberg about 504 accommodations. She will set up a meeting with herself and the assistant principal (Mrs. McElroy) to discuss with you. Mrs. McElroy leads the "child study group" which is the team that discusses things like 504 plans and accommodations.

Good luck!

[InvolvedMom]

Thanks!

[InvolvedMom]

Thank you very much for your perspective and on how your daughter is doing. My daughter did 6th at Kealing. They ramp up the homework load in 7th. 8th is easier than 7th. Sounds like yours does not have any problem getting her work done on her own. Mine does extremely well on tests, but is extraordinarily challenged at doing independent work. In classes where all the work was done in class, she would get a 97. Add in homework, and it plummets.

This is the only thread I'm involved in, and I'm seeing a couple hundred hits, so I'm guessing people are interested in this information. For the benefit of people looking for info, I'll share that we've already done the meeting with Ms. Ramberg, and they refused to allow the particular 504 accommodations she needs, saying the magnet program was exempt from certain accommodations. Some of the other parents believe this is part of a systematic effort to get rid of the 504 kids from the magnet program. Apparently that's illegal under the ADA, and one mom of another ADHD student told me they had already been told by AISD to stop the practice, and are going to be told again.

But even with accommodations, the workload out of class was so overwhelming, and the 2 hours of transportation there and back took up so much of the day she could have been doing homework, that we've already pulled her from the program. I didn't find than any of that work really added anything to her understanding of the subjects. I won't say which person in the administration called it "busy work" but it was acknowledged to be that.

We're going to give Lamar a try. Mr. Llewellyn has done wonders turning around the program there and the parents and kids are extremely happy with it. Still the same pre-AP courses, but with a little less depth, less detail, and a whole lot less homework. We saw quite a few kids there who had been at Kealing last year, or who started 7th again this year and have switched over already.

Kealing is a program that I would have loved. But I was a very different kind of student. IMO, the best fit there is for kids who are driven, goal-oriented, self-directed, hard-working, and ambitious. For those kids, it is a fabulous place, and will help them to go very far. There are definitely kids like that at Kealing who are doing extremely well and getting ready for Jr. NHS. Not a great fit for my daughter.