By Catherine Boudreau
Special to the New Haven Register
It was not until Alicia Gerbert’s son, Domenick, attended middle school in Stamford that she discovered he was reading at a second-grade level. Even though he had been identified with a severe learning disability years earlier, Domenick made little progress in public school.
Gerbert and her husband sought help from a special education advocate. After discussing his records and test scores, they all agreed Domenick wasn’t improving, and would not unless something changed immediately.
The Gerberts then went to a psychologist to perform further evaluations. The results were heartbreaking, Gerbert recalled, because she thought the school had been doing the right thing all along. And when Domenick’s fifth-grade special education teacher told Gerbert he would not do any better, she knew it was time to seek other options.

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