Yeah, they had a meeting!

She also said I hurt her feelings, because I mentioned in my letter the help they were giving kids to pass profiencey tests.
She said that has nothing to do with special ed and I shouldn’t have mentioned that.
Oh, adn she also said she read his multi-factored evaluation, and she doesn’t know what kind of disability he has, but it isn’t dyslexia. From everything I”ve read, I’m sure he’s dyslexic, but
I know they don’t like labels, but the point is…..He can’t read.
By the way, I can spell, but not tonight. LOL

No, the majority of LD students are not disorganized. I would say, this year, I have well more reasonably well organized students than not. I see the disorganization and some of the behaviors you report in ADHD students who may also have an LD. This, however, is not to suggest a diagnosis.

Okay first off.got to say this. YES a MAJORITY of LD students ARE disorganized.

NOw with this off my chest, you need to get these comments in writing.

I know,your thinking,GAWD another letter? YES. Detail everything she said to you.

If he is having behavior problems,address them. The IEP should reflect a proactive approach to his problems with behavior.
His IEP should reflect his problems with disorganization,and provide a realistic approach to helping him
If his reading program with three students or whatever the great idea is,it ISN”T working. Whether eliviating his organization problems will magicly correct his reading problem dyslexia or no dyslexia,then hey guys lets help his organization skills and see if ya’ll are right.

Is the super also a qualified diagnostician? Can she look at your sons scores and determine what his learning disability is? OKay she doesn’t know what to call it,but are we are straight on the fact that he has trouble reading?
SO you hurt her feelings? Hmmm,alright your sorry.
The issue is beyond anyone’s feelings,your son’s feelings are priority here.

Don’t let them side track you.
1. He needs help with reading,he hasn’t made adequate progress.
2. He is disorganized,he needs to be taught skills to BE organized.
3. He is having some difficult behaviors,they need to make some observations and develop a plan and WRITE it into his IEP.

Isn’t this what you said? Gee,what a productive meeting. The resut of this meeting? Let’s see what we can blame the kid for,maybe we can get Mom to back off,if we focus on the behavior. Most of the time,parents will take this personally.

http://www.ldteens.org/Remember.html

entitled why can’t I remember anything? It’s from a dyslexic site.

http://ritacwright.tripod.com/dyslexia/index.html

Has good teacher reccomemendations and links to common problems associated with dyslexia.

This is what I was told to do when they were trying to play the ‘behavior card” by my very knowledgeable advocate.
Immediately request a functional behavior assessment. This stopped them in their tracks and made them accountable to address the learning disorders. I know you’re just getting bombarded with info an suggestions on top of feeling angry and defensive. But…this worked beautifully.

Both my sons who are very dyslexic have organizational issues, big time. This skill can be acquired.

Very good advice! 100% on target.
Also, I have 2 boys with ld’s. One is “chronically disorganized” in everything, the other is “organized” by nature - but when he becomes lost in class, he becomes disorganized. How does one organize something one does not understand!
He is also 13 & is exhibiting behaviors nearly identical to Kathytoo’s in school - which prompted me to find this site 3 weeks ago. I think I was a walking zombie for 3 days. I had never been specifically notified about his “behaviors” & he never had a dention because of them. As soon I as I found out ( 2 classes/teachers) I spoke w/them & set up an after school meeting that my son would attend. He is a shy, type A personality, that does not like bringing negative attention to himself. We have worked diligently on his self-esteem for years. I was shocked to walk into a meeting with at least 8 adults - more than some at IEP meetings I’ve attended! My son came in and looked as shocked as I was & immediately turned red. From here the grilling started “Do you know why your here?” He began to guess, but they weren’t right guesses so he continued to guess, “my grades?, my homework?”
“NO Try again”. It was awful. He began to crouch, “Sit up & look at me in the eyes” was the response. To make a much longer story short, the teams sped advocate asked me to stay if I could spare a minute & asked my son to wait outside. “That was not necessarily the way I would of conducted this meeting.” was her first statement.
He had just passed all evalutions six months before, this was his first year out of sped. & she wanted to review the testing, etc. Whew! One thing that came up was the initial observation from 2nd grade & his distractive behavior, that had been dormant for years, ever since he had an IEP. Surprise !Suprise! The next morning after the meeting I went to the guidance councilor (who also attended), & told her they could of destroyed a lot of years work (self-esteem & trust). They should of called this what it was “A Disciplenary Hearing” and I should of been forwarned. I also told her, I should of walked out with my son, if there is a next time I will.
There was obvious evidence of “pre-meeting” agendas. “There are some parents we’d like to see on conference day, and you weren’t there.” I was a pre-school teacher, I knew what that meant. (conferences were 6 weeks earlier, I wonder why they didn’t think it was important enough to call, write a note?) - another, “We are ALL here so “mike” won’t squirm out of this” (I never knew he squirmed before!) One of the questions I asked was in reference to his grades, homework. “That is not important, if his behavior is better, his grades will get better.” — WRONG! When he understands, he respects his work, he is interested, attentive, organized AND respects his classroom rules. My son & I have been working closely on his work & he is bringing home a’s & b’s again. He is happier & more in tune. It has been 3 weeks & I’m getting ready to call to find out his status in school. No one has called me, but I guess that doesn’t mean anything. It is alarming. Crossing my fingers & Looking forward to next year!

Yes, they can co-exist. But my question is, does the dyslexia cause the disorganization? Or, is the disorganization an additional difficulty that is another layer over the dyslexia? Plenty of us who are not dyslexic have organizational problems. I guess my concern here is to be correct in defining what the learning disability is and when and if there is more than one condition. Many, many LD or dyslexics are not disorganized. Many nondyslexics are disorganized. I see these as two different issues that can happen in the same person, but often do not.

There are misconceptions that go around that I have some difficulty with. One is that LD = social problems or organizational issues (only sometimes). Another is that frequently LD people are highly gifted visuo-spatially. A recent study found the prevalance of visuo-spatial giftedness to be no greater in the LD population than in the nonLD population. Yet another is that LD people are usually very bright. LD people fall all over the IQ continuum, as do nonLD people.

Now, can an inability to read have repercussions and result in secondary issues? Yes, in some people. Some students are really resilient. Most of the students I teach are fine socially, they are pretty well liked, often very well liked. The ones who have the greatest difficulties with organization, social skills, etc. are more often than not, ADHD or ADHD-undiagnosed.

I am probably over doing the nitpicking points. Thanks for your patience.

Socks, in my 12 years of teaching LD students I cannot agree that most LD students are disorganized. I have many students who do their work, get things to and from school, get to my class on time. I daresay, 75% of the LD students I have ever taught are, minus their LD, in pretty good shape. LD students who also have ADHD may be very disorganized. Organization probably falls under executive functioning and this is the hallmark of ADHD. Please, right now I can count my disorganized, diagnosed or undiagnosed ADHD students on one hand. The rest function pretty well.

I believe anyone who is lost in class, with or without LD’s, will become disorganized. How can anyone organize their paperwork, notes, etc. if they don’t understand and cannot prioritize - or read. Students that are getting the proper modifications may be able to concentrate on organizing - it does take a conscious effort. Take these same organized students, put them in a room without the proper modifications, and they will probably become disorganized.

To me the real problem here is what is causing her son to be distracted & disruptive and how will focusing on these negative behaviors alone help him. Also, should they concentrate on him being more”organized” or just let that go and teach the kid to read. It seems like they put the ball in his court - get organized- & then you will learn to read.

Having a meeting, “agenda” set beforehand is okay with me, if they really have a “brainstorming” meeting to present some positive & consistent solutions to deal with the behavior. (and maybe some reasons for the behavior - ie can’t read.) This should be presented to the parent(s) to get their opinions and input as well - then a plan of action can be developed. It didn’t seem like this was the case in this instance.

I think another factor that you need to look at in the disorganization equation is what the LD _IS_. I don’t have much experience with dyslexic kids, but I live with an NLD kiddo, and have a couple of friends with severely ADHD children. From what I can see, neither set is particularly organized. The diference is that my frinds’ ADHD kids, seem to enjoy their clutter. It doesn’t bother them… at least until they need to find that homework paper.

My NLD son is very distressed by disorder. But he can’t fix it by himself. He loves having his room neat and orderly, but you can’t send him to his room to “clean up” and expect anything constructive to happen. He will actually come and get me, and ask me to help. He’s anything but lazy, but he just can’t figure this out on his own. It’s just too much for him to handle visually, and there are too many steps involved. I don’t have to do the work, but I do have to break it down into steps, and feed him directions one at a time. “First put all the LEGOS back in the green bucket. Now put the K’nex back in the white tub. Now put your dirty clothes in the hamper…”

His school work is the same. Our school system really stresses organizational skills in 4th and 5th grade. (he’s in 5th now) They all have a study skills class, and a specific way their trappers are to be set up with separate labeled floders for each subject. Even so, if he’s handed a pile of miscellaneous papers at the end of the day, just before going home, he couldn’t get these organized by himself without his SPED teacher helping him.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that for it to be useful, I think you need to figure out WHY a kid is disorganized.

Karen

Amen to that!

Our daughters school spent more time blaming her then taking a look at the fact that they were NOT giving appropriate directions to her and reacted to her behavoir inappropriatly. We ended up writting a letter to attach with the IEP and made it VERY clear that the teachers are the adults and stop blaming the child for all the mistakes they are making. AND take out the horrible comment about our daughter being “extremely manipulative” They cannot do ANY behavoir decissions without you! I’m not popular up at my daughters school but her self-esteem is more imporant to me than what the heck they think about me.
I’m NOT suggesting getting into a big fight with them but write a letter and clear about how you feel and what you think would work for your son
JanineKay