• High School student with Asperger's
• Berkeley High School for LD kid?
• LD Assistance at Berkeley High?

High School student with Asperger's

Re: Student with mild aspergers looking for high school
As an MD and parent of two teens, one with mild LD, one without; one currently in BHS, one who went to a competitive private high school and is now a junior at an Ivy League college, I wanted to respond both to the HS for ''mild AS'' question and the private vs public HS, because I think there are some key principles here:

1) knowing your child and what they need for both support and appropriate challenges (and helping them recognize and advocate what they need for themselves)

2) recognizing that our understanding of LD/ADHD/AS/ASD is primitive; that diagnostic labels are imprecise shorthands for complex individuals who have a wide spectrum of specific difficulties and strengths, which also vary from quite mild (and occasionally overdiagnosed) to profoundly challenging.

So our child with LD/AS feels great about doing well academically at BHS. He has done well in part because of the study skills and routines he learned at his private elementary and middle school; in part, he has been in one of the small school programs and has had excellent responsive teachers--as good as most of those we have had in private schools. BHS has been accepting and even welcoming of his social eccentricities.

We expect we will be utilizing tutoring help in the future, and he has done pragmatic speech groups for social skills work. We looked at Orinda Academy, which I think would have been excellent for him, but he felt he did not need that level of structure--so far, he seems to be correct. But for other teens, Bayhill or Orion may be the environment in which they can thrive and learn.

Our experience of private schools has been positive--but far from ''real world''--of course there are great kids, families, opportunities--but the one overwhelming impression that sticks with me is--too much money and consumerism. Our older son felt underprivileged (FAR from true) when he wasn't spending spring break in Barbados. Of course your family is the primary determinant of culture--but I was troubled by the peer messages... even more true in private colleges--the amount of spending money many kids have is striking. And in retrospect, I'm sure our older son would have done just fine in public high school with good AP classes. learning as we go....

Berkeley High School for LD kid?

My son, who has attended private schools since kindergarten, has dysgraphia and a social skills deficit similar to NLD. He is now in 8th grade at a very small school. He is a highly- motivated person who does well in school with accommodations and forms close bonds with his teachers. He is just this year starting to learn about advocating for himself. My question is whether anyone has a child with similar characteristics who went through Berkeley High. He would need to use a computer in all his classes for note-taking, assignments, and tests. I'm concerned about getting his accommodations and also about whether a kid who cannot read social cues would be safe there
Worried Mom

LD Assistance at Berkeley High?

My son, currently in 8th grade at a small independent school, really wants to go to Berkeley High next year. I would like to support this, but I am worried about how he would handle it. He was diagnosed a few years ago with Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, which means that he has a great deal of difficulty organizing, negotiating complex situations or directions, and is not highly attuned to social cues. He often forgets to write down assignments and isn't good about seeking help -- he'd rather cruise under the radar and hope that everything will turn out okay. On the plus side, he's a very positive kid, works hard and wants to do well. He's a voracious reader who delves deeply into politics, history and geography in his free time. Since we are at a small school now, we can work with teachers to make sure that they understand his limitations and can bring out the best of his abilities. My concern about Berkeley High is that he would get lost. What kind of support does the school offer to ensure that this doesn't happen?
8th grade mom