Siena Blog

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Small School Benefits for LD Students 

On our three campuses, Siena creates an individualized learning experience for each student to create a safe, responsive, and nurturing environment that supports their academic and emotional well-being.

Families often wonder what kind of educational environment will truly help their child thrive. At Siena, we understand that every learner’s path is unique — especially for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. Our intentional approach to teaching and community can benefit students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences in several important, complementary ways. At Siena, individualized instruction and a supportive community come together to help students with dyslexia.

Learn how a student-centric, mission-focused school like Siena can make a major difference for students in the LD community from elementary to middle and then high school. 

Personalized Instruction for LD Students

Siena’s close-knit educational community allows our teachers to better understand each student's strengths, growth areas, and learning needs:

• LD students benefit from teachers who know them well and can adapt to their learning styles, so Siena maintains a maximum 10:1 student-teacher ratio across all courses. This means that our dedicated, expert teachers can personally engage every student and adapt curriculum materials to meet their learning styles. Read about Siena’s dedicated faculty and staff here on our website.
• Tailored instruction and regular support helps LD students understand how they learn best, providing them with ample opportunities for specialized education and self-advocacy from elementary through middle and high school.
• Being able to focus more of their attention on individual students, Siena teachers can strike a balance between academic rigor and encouraging student independence and academic risk-taking.

Classroom Flexibility and Attention

Personalized learning and individualized attention from Siena’s faculty helps create a learning environment of collaboration, empathy, and shared respect for our students. This translates into successful student learning and academic growth in a few ways:

• Flexibility in classroom settings nurtures personalized learning plans that accommodate students’ dyslexia, neurodiversity, and other learning differences.
• Direct access to specialists in reading, assistive technology, college counseling, annual internships, accommodations, and much more is key to student success. For example, our reading team offers regular targeted reading support through multisensory structured language approaches and daily reading intervention using Orton-Gillingham methodology.
• More attention helps with ongoing communication between families, staff, and classroom teachers to share student progress, adjust strategies as needed, and more. 

Community and Confidence

Siena’s connected and student-focused community supports growth and confidence, as well as provides clear social–emotional benefits:

• Schools like Siena foster close-knit relationships between students, teachers, and families, creating a strong sense of community and belonging that benefits everyone.
• Because our students are less likely to fall through the cracks or feel invisible in a small school setting, they typically feel a sense of belonging and of being valued as learners.
• Positive relationships and regular check-ins with faculty and staff can boost self-esteem, which is especially important for LD students who may have faced learning setbacks elsewhere.

Success After Graduation 

Siena’s high school program at our campuses in Silver Spring, MD, and Oakton, VA, focuses on our mission and supports our high school students and families in various ways.

• Siena’s personalized learning environment — where every student is known and supported — helps create successful and independent learners who are gradually prepared for college matriculation in each year of high school and then excel in whatever path(s) they choose after graduation.
• Our regular high school curriculum emphasizes academic rigor and individualized support to best prepare our students for their next academic step.
• A key feature of Siena’s high school curriculum is our dedicated college counselor and multi-year college counseling program. In working with students in grades 9-12, our college counseling program emphasizes college readiness, offers college representative visits, and more to break down the process of applying to and then attending college. Learn more about the college counseling program here.

Across all grade levels, Siena offers a personalized, strengths-based approach where teachers know each student deeply and tailor instruction to how they learn best. This intentional structure — rooted in research, relationships, small classes and individualized support — helps students build confidence, develop independence, and discover the joy of learning.

Resources from Siena’s Blog

See The Siena School blog for more posts of interest, including Why Is Early Intervention Important?, College Prep Begins in High School, and Learning Differences and Student Confidence.

Learn Why Siena Might Be Right for Your Child

The Siena School, a national leader in dyslexia education, serves bright, college-bound students with language-based learning differences on DC Metro area campuses in Silver Spring, MD (grades 3-12) and Oakton, VA (grades 3-12).