{"id":3029,"date":"2025-05-19T14:16:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcmillaneducationinternational.com\/neuropsychological-evaluations-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T21:47:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T01:47:02","slug":"looking-for-the-best-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcmillaneducationinternational.com\/ar\/blog\/looking-for-the-best-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0627\u0644\u0628\u062d\u062b \u0639\u0646 \u201c\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0646\u0633\u0628\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recently, I was working with a high school senior, who is preparing her college applications. She wrote a beautiful essay concluding with the sentence, \u201cAlthough I learn differently, I like the way my brain works, and I want to help others like the way their brains work, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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This senior is referring to her dyslexia. She had the opportunity to attend a specialized school for students with dyslexia where she learned the Orton-Gillingham approach to learning. I could go on about her various accomplishments, but I feel the quote above is emblematic of her most significant accomplishment: learning to love herself and the brain she has. This is at the crux of our practice at McMillan Education. We are not a \u201cget in\u201d to the best school agency, we are specialists in finding the <\/span>best fit <\/span><\/i>for our students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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It\u2019s not just students with learning differences who benefit from our <\/span>best fit <\/span><\/i>formula; we know first-hand that the \u201cbest school\u201d is not determined by prestige or competitiveness. Instead, the quality of the schools is defined by how well the school is able to align with the unique strengths, interests, and needs of each student. Below, please read about students who have benefited from finding a better fit school. Do any of these sound like your student? Please note that all names have been changed to protect our students\u2019 privacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Sally<\/b> is a tremendously talented, smart, and sophisticated young woman who is suddenly not thriving academically at her large public high school. How could this be?\u00a0 With her entrepreneurial spirit, close group of friends, and success in theater, she seems ready to go off to college at the age of 15. But\u2026 she is feeling overwhelmed by her school work and not able to keep up with her classes. She doesn\u2019t have a learning difference. Well, the huge class sizes, one-size fits all curriculum, and lecture-based classes don\u2019t suit her learning style. Furthermore, she is so bogged down in having to re-teach herself the material, she doesn\u2019t have time for her preferred extracurriculars, mainly theater, which affects her mental health. Sally is a candidate for a mainstream school, but she needs a school that offers multimodal teaching methods, a tightly-knit community, and more flexible scheduling, allowing her to pursue her theater passions. Now at this remarkable school, Sally is thriving!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Ben<\/b> started his high school career requiring much academic and emotional support after receiving a new learning diagnosis. After two years at this highly structured and specialized school, he had essentially outgrown the school. He learned the tools that optimized his well-being, and thus, his overall success. Ben was ready for more of a challenge at school and has his eyes on college planning. Although Ben wasn’t prepared for the full independence of a mainstream school environment, he would benefit from gradually reducing the support of his highly structured school. A setting that offers more autonomy and academic challenge, while still providing access to executive functioning support when needed, would be ideal for his development. He\u2019s been at a slightly-structured college prep school for a year now, and he\u2019s eagerly submitting applications to college as I write this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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DJ<\/b> is smart, well-liked by his peers, and a stellar athlete. When he gets home, though, he \u201cfalls apart\u201d in his parents\u2019 words. He is emotionally volatile and essentially holds his parents hostage to his demands and moods. At his very inflexible prep school, he works hard to \u201chold it together\u201d all day at school. This school is not equipped to help him navigate ADHD. Instead, when he \u201cmisbehaves\u201d in class, he must miss after school sports as punishment. As you can imagine, sports are a terrifically positive outlet and mood regulator for this kiddo, so missing out on sports only exacerbates his blow ups at home. DJ transfers to a school that understands the way his brain with ADHD works. He is allowed brain breaks and fidgets in class, among other accommodations. His school periods are shorter, the classes are more experiential, and the teachers have a background in working with students with ADHD, coming from a place of compassion and understanding. He is still at an esteemed college preparatory school, but the school embraces his neurodiversity, helping him learn how to love the way his brain works.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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In the words of my compassionate and wise colleague, <\/span>Carolyn<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>\u201cThere\u2019s a school for every type of learner!\u201d While finding the best school for your student is nuanced (leave it to us!), the benefits are numerous. Don\u2019t just try to \u201cmuscle out\u201d getting through school. I’ll conclude with several positive outcomes associated with the ‘best fit’ model, as highlighted by our CEO and developmental psychologist, <\/span>Sarah McMillan, Ed.D<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n