Help AJ Unlock His True Potential: Private School for Students with Language-Based Learning Disabilities Tuition Fund

Hello, my name is Jessica Perkins and I am the mother of an amazing, magical, complicated, kind, and hardworking little boy, AJ. My son has been working hard to communicate and learn his entire little life.

AJ is my greatest gift as I struggled with miscarriages and infertility before finally infertility treatments worked in order to have him. And now he has been diagnosed with speech language impairments, ADHD-inattentive type, severe dyslexia, severe dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.

AJ is not making the type of progress or receiving the kind of instruction and support he needs at his local public school. AJ is starting to find school hard, says the teacher goes too fast, and his grades and test scores show no progress. He needs to attend a small, private school that will provide him a nurturing, innovative educational program using multi-sensory teaching methods and a structured curriculum, including daily one-on-one tutoring with the Orton-Gillingham methodology.

Luckily, he was accepted into one such amazing school—The Legacy School in Carroll County, MD, about 27 miles away from our home in Howard County, MD.

I am reaching out for any donation to help us fund AJ's education. The tuition for the upcoming year is about $31,000 plus fees, uniform, transportation, and after-school care as my husband, Brian, and I work full time and do not get out when AJ will. Since preschool, we have been paying out of pocket for extra reading tutoring, counseling, extra speech therapy, psychoeducational assessments, medication, attorney fees, and even a special summer camp for students with learning disabilities in hopes of closing AJ's learning gap, but unfortunately, it has not been enough.

I promise you all funds will go to AJ's education as it seems he may need to be in a specialized school from 3rd grade until 12th grade. Even small donations or shares can make a huge difference, reducing the financial burden and helping this sweet, kind, athletic little boy. This is part of a larger plan, alongside possible financial aid, savings, and possibly extra part-time jobs.

Thank you so much for considering donating to a very creative, bright, yet complex neurodivergent little boy. All children, even those with disabilities, deserve the right to an education, to literacy, and to a positive self-image!