please help!

In our school they have a basic skills class for non sped kids. My friends son went into in middle school and he really gets alot of individual help.

I would ask about this and if they balk saying he is sped (which from my understanding is a different source of funding) tell them they can’t, not include him because of his disability. There are laws that address this.

Just find out what happens to regular ed kids who are having trouble in math. I am sure there is something.

Also, do you know what the underpinnings of his difficulties are. My son had sequencing and visual spatial issues that once addressed made him a better, more independant math student.

Amy, is this a pre-Algebra class? If he is failing, it probably means he is lacking some earlier skills. I agree with Linda and recommend that you find someone who can assess his math skills so you know where the weaknesses lie.

Until then, you could go to the Saxon Math site and give him their middle grades placement test and that may give you an idea of some of his strengths and weaknesses. Do the one you print out, not the online version as it is multiple choice.

http://www.saxonhomeschool.com/pg/index.jsp

Janis

Since you know he has an IEP you need to review the IEP and find out what are the goals and objectives for his math.
The first thing you need to do is
1. Go to the principal that’s right principal and tell (him, her) you want a copy of your child’s IEP.
2. If they can’t find it go to the Special Education Department for the City Public Schools
3. If they can find it tell the special education teacher you want a meeting to review the goals and objectives in that IEP.
4. You can help write the goals and objectives in that IEP and that should help your child.
Let me know what happens

Cheryl
Special Education Teacher

Janis is right that the roots of the failure usually go way back. When I see a junior-high student having difficulty, I can predict nine times out of ten he’s totally lost with fractions, very poor at division, and shaky on multiplication and place value. Does this describe C? If yes, I’m not a mind-reader, I’ve just seen hundreds in the same boat. The problem is that the spiral curricula in vogue spend two weeks teaching each topic and rush through it superficially; if you miss it, you miss it. And you can fail the fraction and division chapters for years without any signs of trouble because they average out with the fifteen other topics.
Your son would do best to get individual tutoring with a tutor who really knows math — and unfortunately that eliminates the majority of “qualified” teachers, most of whom themselves stopped math around Grade 10.
Cheryl is right about IEP’s, and you should probably work on this just to get it on record. Unfortunately you can spend a lot of time and money getting a good IEP, while during that time your son falls farther behind; and then lose even more time trying to get it implemented.
If you can possibly find the money — or if by some miracle you can get the school to support this, a few rare people have succeeded — you should hire a tutor right away to work with your son a couple of hours a week. If he can struggle and get C-, with a tutor even a few hours a week he should be able to pull up to C+ or B. A good tutor will be on your son’s side and he should feel that this is someone who is helping and supporting him, so although the time commitment is a nuisance, most kids this age are OK with the idea.
Again make sure that you get someone who really knows math, not someone who hands out worksheets and does speed drills (avoid commercial centers); the idea is to take time and explain concepts that fly by too quickly in class, and to really teach the foundation concepts that got missed.

Thanks for your replies,

Victoria, I believe you described him to a T.

We have been using a friend as a tutor, she is a middle school math teacher currently not working. However, I have found her less than truly helpful mostly because she has two kids and a million and a half things going on all at the same time. I am in a bit of a hard place as far as tutoring, they are hard to come by and I really don’t think a high school student (even if Honor society) will do it. We are in Germany until the summer. I am strongly considering insisting he go to pullout for math, since there is no class in between reg. math and the resource room. I don’t see a point in continuing to watch him fail no matter how hard he works. I even thought about asking if he could go back to last semester 7th grade math. It is where the real struggle began.

He has been on an iep since the end of 4th grade, his trouble with reading is what prompted the evals. He qualified under OHI for his adhd. Somehow I think we worked so hard to get the reading that math kind of went past us, he didn’t have any problems with math per se until multiplication came along. It’s kind of gone downhill from then I think. Also, with accommodations he has done really well the last two years included in all reg. classes.It has really come to a head I think now. I also believe that the teachers in the past made a real difference too.

As far as the iep, we don’t actually have any real academic goals, mostly accommodations. Having read up on ieps, I am not confident that it is the best, however, it has worked well for the last couple of years. As far as testing, C comes across as very average, no real strengths or weaknesses except for processing speed and fluid reasoning (both weaknesses) I have a copy of the iep at home. I will print what is on it.

C’s IEP
sp.ed services gen. ed. classroom weekly 11/20/02 11/19/03 teacher,LI
reg. phys ed program
reg. transportation
standardized testing will participate with accommodations

Accommodations and modifications in general and sp. education:

frequent checks of homework and classwork and provide feedback
teach/reinforce self advocacy skills
work in an area with reduced distractions
use a calculator
use a spell check device
seating away from bright lights/’windows or with back to bright lights/windows
allow student to complete assignments in resource room
allow student to retake tests
allow student to take tests in resource room when accommodations are not possible
allow student multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery
grade for specified content
apply multi-modal approach to instruction, when appropriate
assist student with self-monitoring of progress
assist student with maintaining appropriate contact with teachers for reg., missed or late assignments
use progress reports for reg. ed. classes
allow additional time to complete assignments and tests

goals and objectives

area: learning strategies-study skills
need: self-advocacy skills , study skills
present level of performance: C is able to bring necessary materials to class 5 out of 5 times.
service provider: teacher, LI

annual goal:
the student will apply test taking strategies

short term objectives:
Objective: select the appropriate study /review techniques for that particular material
Mastery criteria: with 95% accuracy
Objective: proofread tests upon completion to check for errors
Mastery criteria: 5 out of 5 times (100%)
objective : determine information that will be covered on an upcoming test
Mastery criteria: 4 out of 5 times (80%)
objective: use appropriate strategies for approaching a test
Mastery criteria: 4 out of 5 times (80%)
objective: review previous test to determine how to improve performance on subsequent tests
Mastery criteria: 5 out of 5 times (100%)

annual goal:
the student will use technology as a life-long learning strategy

short term objectives:
objective: use calculators
Mastery criteria: as needed
objective: use capabilities of word processing: graphics, spell-check,grammar-check
mastery criteria: as needed

annual goal:
the student will maintain ability to function independently in the regular classroom.

short term objectives:
objective: seek assisstance
Mastery criteria: 5 out of 5 days per week (100%)
objective: use resource room to complete assignments/projects
mastery criteria: as needed
objective: use resource room to complete tests
mastery criteria: as needed

annual goal:
the student will use a variety of techniques to read for information

short term objectives:
objective: highlight main ideas and key words in texts
mastery criteria: with 95% accuracy
objective: scan a selection for specific information
mastery criteria: with 95% accuracy

I appreciate if you were able to go through all that. Any more ideas? Opinions?
I appreciate them all.
Amy

Amy,

My son too has difficulty with fluid reasoning. That is a big underpinning to alot of learning difficulites in my humble opinion. I am really trying to find an answer for this myself because although my son does ok with third grade math with his current skill set, I know this will be a problem later on.

I don’t really have an answer but I will let you know if I find one. I have an email into the audiblox people. I am considering this.

My son was tested by a pace provider and his logic and reasoning were very low. I think he does well with creative thinking but his thinking is too loose and he will often give the creative rather than the logical answer to a question.

So, one of my current goals is to tighten this area up. I will let you know if I find the answer. I do believe you have to get at the core cognitive level skills once you identify them.

“and to really teach the foundation concepts that got missed.”

The insanity of the resource programs that I see in my schools is that they pull third graders out for math and tutor them on third grade math. Which, as we all know, is just putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. Unless the teacher evaluates and then works on the underlying deficit skills, nothing will ever be remediated. That seems like common sense to me, but you wouldn’t believe how many of my co-workers do not get it! They say that the child will be tested at the end of the year on that third grade material, and by golly, they are going to work on the third grade skills.

This kind of phiolosophy will give me plenty of business if I ever go into private tutoring!

Janis

The IEP strikes a positive note with me — you are stressing having him learn and work, not having the rest of the world water down to his weakest level.

If your tutor is just too busy, well, do try to find someone who can put in the time. High school students are a mixed bag — some just do the work for the kid, adding frustration; but some are truly wonderful and become great friends and supports. It would be worth it to try out a couple. If you have contacts in the local community, German university-bound students speak English well and have high math standards.

Since I was able to describe him, he’s a classic case of poor curriculum and therefore can probably be helped by straightforward tutoring. It’s important to have one-to-one with feedback and need-driven teaching — NOT “put this number here” (which is what many people do and may even be what your middle school math teacher does) but “What do you do next? What information do you need? What is missing here? Why did you do this?”

There are also a lot of others in his class suffering from the same bad curriculum. You haven’t said, but how are the grades of the other kids in his class? If there are hardly any other C-’s and D’s, then he is in for a real fight (although still possible); but if, as is typical, there are a fair number of C’s and a few other D’s, then he’s hanging in there with the group and can catch up.
This spiral curriculum problem tends to spiral into a crash in junior high. Whenever real logic and real algebra start, somewhere between Grades 8 and 10, the kids who have been getting by on memorizing and copying hit a brick wall — similar to the reading brick wall in upper elementary. There is just too much to fake any more and you have to understand what you are doing. Ask around; are a lot of kids really struggling with the math in that level? If they are, this is actually a good sign for you; like in the reading where a kid who has learned phonics may go slowly at first but pulls ahead in middle school, in math a kid who has learned to work things out logically and to put thought and effort into his math may go slowly in elementary but pulls ahead in high school. Many kids who are good at logic but resist memorization without thought really blossom when they hit algebra and geometry, especially if well-taught. This is one reason to keep him in the university-prep track, by the way.