Finding A Private School For A Child With ADHD

Children who suffer from learning and attention disorders can find it challenging to thrive in traditional classrooms. If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, you may want to consider looking into a private school education instead.

Finding the right private school for a child with ADHD can be a challenge in itself. Here are three things to keep in mind as you evaluate potential educational institutions to ensure you find the private school best suited to meet your child's learning needs in the future.

1. Ask about class sizes.

Keeping several children with attention and learning disorders motivated and focused can be difficult. In order to ensure that your child will receive the individualized attention that he or she needs to combat ADHD tendencies in the classroom, the private school you select should offer small class sizes.

When there is a lower ratio of students to teachers, instructors are able to provide each child in the classroom with unique and individualized instruction. Many private schools also offer classroom aides to assist teachers, so you should factor in the presence of aides when determining class size ratios.

2. Ask about staff qualifications.

Working with children who have learning or attention disorders requires a unique set of skills. In addition to a Bachelor's degree and a teaching certification, many of the instructors teaching in private school classrooms also have advanced degrees in special education.

These degrees help to prepare instructors for the challenges that a child with ADHD will face in the classroom, and gives them the skills required to work with your child to promote greater understanding when learning new concepts.

Staff members employed by a private school may also be qualified to act as speech-language pathologists or psychologists, which can benefit your child in the future as well.

3. Ask how student progress is monitored.

Students with ADHD often learn at their own pace. This can make the traditional grading system difficult to implement when it comes to teaching your child. In order to ensure that your child will be making positive progress toward important educational goals, you should find out how a private school monitors student progress before enrolling your child.

Understanding the measurements used to mark achievement will help you determine if these benchmarks are suited to help you child progress in his or her educational career.

Finding the right private school for your child will help him or her achieve educational success, despite being diagnosed with ADHD. Talk to a school like International School of MN for more information.