As such, many education experts advocate for all-boys schools because students benefit from a curriculum molded to their specific needs. For boys with special needs or who are neurodiverse learners, a specialized education environment is even more beneficial.
Benefits of boys’ special needs schools
Proponents of boys’ schools profess numerous benefits of single-gender education. These may include:
- Removal of gender pressure: Children at a boys’ school face less pressure to act according to their gendered expectations. Here, boys are more likely to join clubs or pursue passions without the tight chains of ‘masculinity’ strapping them into a rigid pigeonhole. This freedom to escape societal pressure is particularly important for students with special needs. Indeed, learning disabilities like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), in many cases, harm a child’s self-esteem and thus their capacity for self-discovery. At a boys’ school for special needs, decreased stress about what constitutes ‘being a man’ could allow your child to be more himself than he might be in the so-called real world of co-education.
- Success in Gender-Atypical Subjects: A 2008 study entitled Single-Sex Schooling and Academic Attainment at School Through the Lifecourse found that students at all-boys (and all-girls) schools performed better in “gender-atypical” subjects, like modern languages and English, than their counterparts at coed schools did. Some may explain that this increased success is a corollary of an all-boys school's ability to design an education that matches male learning styles. In short, boys’ schools could gear their classroom strategies to more specific aptitudes than coed schools could. Such adaptation is ideal for students with special needs, as they tend to fall behind their classmates. At boys’ schools, their classes may be more suited to them than they would be at another type of school. The learning process, therefore, becomes more effective for kids with special needs or learning disabilities.
- Private schools offer unique help: There are two central reasons for this. First, private schools and boarding schools offer smaller class sizes than other schools do. Hence, students receive a lot of individualized attention and their instructors tailor classes to their specific disabilities and strengths. Second, private schools provide a plethora of extra help and extracurricular programs to assist children with special needs or neurodiversity outside of the classroom.
Paying for private boys’ school
There are at least three resources for tuition help for parents interested in a private school for boys with special needs:
- Scholarships and bursaries
- Community support
- Tax breaks: In some provinces, you may be eligible for a medical tax break if you send your kid to a school for students with special needs.