Very bright kid with emotional regulation issues-high school?
We need to start looking for a high school for our smart and challenged kid. High IQ, anxious, social/emotional regulation challenges. I know that mine isn't the only kid like this out there. We are in Oakland. Where do all these kids go? I am finding that schools who handle the emotional/behavioral aspect don't offer appropriately challenging academics and those who offer great academics want nothing to do with emotional/behavioral support. All the websites for the schools that have been recommended to me make it clear that if behavior is an issue, you're out of luck. But his current placement is failing him in a big way. Our IEP is coming at the end of this month and I want to be ready to suggest placements.
May 3, 2017
Parent Replies
This is a tough one. What about Anova? Of the two campuses for Anova Centers for Education, the Santa Rosa one may be the best fit for the type of student you describe, but there's also a campus in Concord. My son attended Anova for many years, and definitely learned skills to help him manage his anxiety-based behavior issues. He is now able to attend a great public high school, which I see as a huge step forward. The academic piece should be part of the "individualized" portion of the IEP, and a skilled teacher can do it—there just may not be many peers with which to interact at that level. PM me.
Speaking of academics, I have toured Tilden Prep in Albany and could possibly see it as a solution for a bright kid with anxiety, though just to be clear there is no behavioral support, just the freedom to work at one's own pace and lots of one-on-one attention. Good luck.
Not sure what your child's issues are but you might check out Mentoring Academy. I was really impressed with the director and the staff. They will work with kids who have issues but I'm not sure to what extent. It's a very small learning environment, less than 30 kids. Good luck in your search!!
I had a very hard time with this type of placement because a lot of schools that seemed appropriate were not "certified non-public schools", and those were the only types of schools that the IEP would accept. The certified NPS's that had psychological support had a lot of very emotionally disturbed kids in them, and the academics were not high. The only one that seemed moderately appropriate was Bayhill, which wasn't a good fit for us, but you might check it out. My daughter is placed at Star Academy, which is turning out to be a compromise for us, and not the best placement since a lot of the kids are on the autism spectrum and my daughter is not. Good luck! I am curious to see what others suggest.