My daughter has just gotten through the first marking period. I came from my first grade parent/teacher conf. Ihave been aware that there are some reading problems, and now was told she is struggling in math also. I am now in the process of setting up an appt. to have an evaluation at a learning center, and will most likely have her tutoring done there. Iam working with my child every night and she is receiving some group help at school. Does anyone have any input or feel i am over reacting. by the way we are in public school.
What she said :)
JOan is right — knowing more is not a bad thing, and failure causes more problems than getting tutoring. Keep in mind that sometimes learning centers cater their evaluations to their style of tutoring — not necessarily a bad thing, but not necessarily as useful as, say, a good educational therapist doing it (I *would* ask about the background of their testers… maybe even type the tutoring center’s name into an employment search to see whether they’re advertising for employees and what they require).
Re: reading/math problems
I don’t think having your daughter tutored is overreacting. A good tutor can never hurt.
I might be skeptical of any evaluation done at a tutoring center though. Her public school can do an evaluation but this can take time. I’d ask the tutoring center careful questions about their evaluations. What are some of the things than can turn up? How do their evaluations differ from those administered by an educational psychologist? Who will administer the evaluation and what tests will she be given?
I’d also ask the center for some references from happy parents. At least some of these tutoring centers only use part-time help from teachers who are hoping to pick up some money ‘moonlighting’.
Good luck.
Re: reading/math problems
I will join the crowd and say that you’re not over-reacting. However, you have to be careful about tutoring centers. Many times they do not offer the kind of remediation that really helps. A concerned parent who does some research and works one-on-one with a child at home using *good* curriculum materials can often obtain much better results at considerably less cost. This is why many parents start homeschooling or afterschooling.
Mary
Hi, I don’t think you’re overreacting. It really is better to start sooner rather than later when your child is struggling. I can usually tell by now, with my first graders, which ones are really struggling and which aren’t. After many years in the classroom, I’m also pretty good at knowing in which cases it’s a simple matter of immaturity and in which cases it’s more than that. Most seasoned teachers would tell you the same. So do go ahead with those assessments and appropriate tutoring if recommended.
Kids just fall further and further behind when you wait. That can wreak havoc with their self-confidence. I’ve never seen a kid whose self-confidence is ruined by tutoring but I HAVE seen loads of the opposite situations.