Adam attended a small Jewish school from kindergarten through third grade. Challenges with reading and writing emerged early on, compounded by the school's requiring Hebrew as a second language. When Adam was in second grade, we were fortunate to have him evaluated by Lane Tanner, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician who trained under Alice Jane Whitsell at UCSF. ( Ed. Note: Alice Jane Whitsell is a co-founder of Sterne School and mother of veteran Sterne teacher Jim Whitsell.) Testing showed that Adam had a language-based learning disability, along with attentional issues. The prescription for Adam was explicit instruction in a highly structured classroom setting, which was not his school's approach. The school's learning specialist tirelessly advocated for him, but his teachers, while genuinely caring, lacked the training to help him learn. By third grade, other kids were starting to perceive Adam as different, and he was no longer being invited to classmates' birthday parties. The combination of academic struggles and social isolation became just too much for one little guy to endure.

From fourth through ninth grades, Adam went to Raskob Day School. Raskob had a professional special education team under the direction of educational psychologist Jack Davis, Ph.D. The quality of elementary and middle school instruction was excellent and proved to be just what Adam needed.

Finding an established high school program in the Bay Area that would continue to address Adam's specific learning needs was daunting. After surveying dozens of high schools in all nine Bay Area counties, Sterne emerged as the obvious best choice. Although we had to commit to taking on a commute, we knew it was well worth it. Adam has now completed two years at Sterne and is thriving academically and socially. He definitely will go to college, and, with the help of Sterne's counselors, we will be focusing much attention on college placement. Sterne is a treasure

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