Top Private Schools for Children with Disabilities

When you have a child with a learning disability, you are forced to consider things that other parents take for granted. And for many parents of kids with disabilities, their educational needs are one of their biggest concerns. Luckily, nowadays there are many private schools for kids with disabilities such as dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, and other such disabilities that are designed to handle their special needs in a way that your average private school is not. These schools are so central to the needs of kids with disabilities that many parents (my husband and I included) choose to relocate in order to be near the best schools. When making this decision for our daughter, my husband and I researched many different schools all over the United States. By sharing this information with you, I hope to help you make an informed decision that will ensure the happiness and viability of your learning disabled child.

The Arrowsmith School

This school is located in Toronto, Ontario and is one of North America's leading schools for students with learning disabilities. What makes this school special is their emphasis on the return of students to main-stream schools after several years of specialized instruction by focusing on the underlying causes of their learning disabilities and strengthening them. Because of their prestige and success rate, entrance into this school is competitive. Furthermore, they are pricey: $21,000 per year per student. Furthermore, financial support will be difficult if you are not a Canadian citizen. However, it will be tough to find a school that meets the same standards.

Triad Academy

Located in Winston Salem, North Carolina, this school is known for its low student to faculty ratio, 3:1. With this much individualized attention, your child will not be at risk of falling through the cracks as at a mainstream school. Like Arrowsmith, this school specializes in treating kids with disabilities. To be admitted, your child must be of average intelligence, and have a learning disability severe enough to significantly affect his schoolwork. Tuition for Triad Academy is $17,250, and they offer financial aid support for about 12% of their students.

The Vanguard School

This is another private school for the learning disabled that features small class sizes. Here, the class size never surpasses eight. And, they are located in sunny Lake Wales, FL making it especially attractive. Another aspect of this school that made it stand out for my husband and I was the fact that they offer a junior and upper school as well as the option for a post graduate year depending on your child's needs. This is a boarding school, and the $41,500 tuition fee covers room and board, meals, all materials, individualized tutoring and special training as needed, and all on-campus recreational activities. To apply, parents must submit teacher and counselor recommendations, transcripts and test results.

The Carroll School

Located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, this private school for children with learning disabilities not only focuses on correcting learning disabilities, but it is also a leader in research. One of my favorite things about this school was the fact that they encourage their students to be self starters that actively participate in the learning process. They accept learning disabled students from grades one through eight, and the small size (271 students) guarantees specialized attention (their class sizes rarely exceed 8). The tuition is $33,800 per year, and my husband and I felt it was worth every penny. Our child is now thriving in a main-stream high school and even exceeding some of his peers. We are going to look at several competitive colleges later on this year, something we never thought we'd do before the Carroll School.