Do you know anything about Charles Armstrong Academy in Belmont, CA?
I am a parent of a 5th grader who is dyslexic and has ADHD however very smart. He has worked very hard and is a top reader now however because of his dyslexia he struggles with other subjects. He is very social and has a lot of friends. The public schools are not helping him. He is BORED and not learning. Does anyone know anything about Charles Armstrong Academy in Belmont? Can you tell me good, bad and anything about the school? Or can you recommend a different school?
Thanks,
Concerned Mom
Sep 2, 2016
Parent Replies
Hi, I'm not sure where you're located, but I live in Belmont and if you'd like I can post your question on our local NextDoor forum and see if I can get any feedback from around here. I did a search and didn't turn up anything from the past.
I have a highly gifted, dyslexic child with ADHD as well. We got a list of schools that were geared specifically for dyslexia that included Raskob in Oakland, Charles Armstrong (Belmont), Hope Academy (Concord), Stellar Academy for Dyslexics (Fremont), Athena Academy (Palo Alto) and several in San Francisco. There were so many options, but most of them (except Raskob) seemed like they would be hard to get to in a morning commute and juggling work. Raskob looked good, while at the same time, I didn't see the "gifted" and "creative" component highlighted as much as I would have liked in the lower elementary groups and felt like school would mainly be geared towards remediation, and not teaching to strengths as well. Athena Academy would have been one we would have selected, if the drive there were at all doable- that one looked like an amazing overall fit.
Instead, I chose a small private school with a low ratio and project based learning that was geared towards gifted children and decided to "remediate" the dyslexia outside of the actual school. Got a really great O-G tutor (started with Barton then moved to an overall O-G program) for the dyslexia and dysgraphia. Schools for gifted children already have a built in "meet child where they are" component and tend to teach using multi modal methods as gifted children also learn differently (visual, kinesthetic, audio), and most have a strong social-emotional component to them and plenty of movement and outdoor time, as well as a low ratio (which helps the ADHD/focus). My child blossomed and was no longer complaining of being bored in school and the anxiety dropped. They are now also reading at grade level.
I think there are allot of options in the bay area and you can explore what will fit you and your child best. Good luck!
My son has Dyslexia too and the public schools refused to help, blaming me, etc. Best thing I ever did, on the recommendation of a friend, was file a Complaint with the California Department of Education, with some help from DREDF. It has to be filed on a procedural issue (like not responding on time, not complying with an IEP, etc). Made a 180 turn for my son, all of a sudden he was getting what he needed, and they told the district to reimburse me for the specialized Slingerland tutoring I had started. for him, which helped hugely.