2 wk into year and frustrated already

He can comprehend if you discuss the subjects with him and tie the new concepts into something that is familiar to him. Nine years of speech therapy isn’t down the tubes…I have a child who is 13 years old. She has had 9 years of speech therapy as well but I have learned over the years to help her by discussing new things and making connections to her background knowledge. She has a decent IQ in the high average range but she really struggles with comprehension because of a low vocabulary. She can decode words fairly well but she doesn’t know what they mean. that is where the discussion with mom comes in and she says Oh, now I get it….Com,pare and contrast his a hard concept for a child with speech and language issues to grasp. you can make a venn diagram and show him how things are the same and how they are different…..

Just because he is a grade behind in reading doesn’t mean he won’t be able to comprehend things..it just means that his decoding levels are lower but you can use books on tape and work with him to help him learn to read better.

Maybe this is not a good idea but I will give it a try anyway.

When I was a fifth grader it is when we learned how to use the dictionary. I know by now that most kids can do that but what about getting a large print dictionary and when he doesn’t know a word, look it up and then discuss it’s meaning.

If don’t know how your son is but my brother and son will shut down if they don’t know how to do something. I work very hard to not get upset, I just keep them talking and find other ways to get the material across.

How about making a poster to compare or a drawing. Looking it up in an encylcopedia or online?? Since my brother is so far behind with language arts/reading, we need to be creative and try to work on his strengths, it doesn’t always work but we still try.

Also, is your son on a 504 plan, does he qualify for that?

K.

Maybe you could consider getting books on tape for some of the studying. Flash cards are great for memorization. Practice with memory games helps the brain to store information in a meaningful way. My kids played memory games for fun as kids and now use them as methods for study in college. The brain needs to be trained - try some tricks. Books on tape is a national business and the school should be able to help you - or check out the net.

what memory games would you suggest for a 10y. old?

We used regular Memory and yes it is a little low for a 10 year old but my kids will still pull it out and play each other and they are college age. It depends on how you approach it. Also, you can use two decks of cards and just use half of them (2-8s) and play with them. Anything that will require them to store information and try the matches. In addition, if you have a school supply store near you they make memory games for teachers to buy, again they may be a little cutesy but if you approach this in the right mind - like food for winning!- you can get a buy in. My memory games are so worn out and I love it. You can also do paired associates with terms and definitions on index cards and play memory with them. I should have invested in index cards for the number I went through with my kids. This memory game format works for anything you have to memorize and it can be a game too!

If you live in a large town, the public library may carry (or can get) audio-tape versions of the textbooks that the schools use. This made a huge difference for my son. Also, although the teacher would have been horrified, I found that videotapes on similar subjects to what my son was learning, viewed beforehand (or instead of), really helped him retain more than the textbook alone. He retained a little something as opposed to next to nothing. The Discovery, History, and Learning Channels videos are good, and so are the National Geographic videotapes. These videos allowed him to add some interesting facts to the class discussions, and I think the teacher looked on his work a little more favorably.

what great ideas. I tend to forget that we can go back to the basics. not every intervention has to be an expensive investment or trendy new program.

thanks.

We play Hearts with our kids. They love it, and besides practicing memory skills, they have to learn strategy, and work on their manual dexterity as they learn to shuffle, deal and handle the cards. My 11 year old NLD’er can’t shuffle, so I do that for him, but they both deal, and after a year of playing, they are getting good enough that we don’t have to cut them much slack!

Karen

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the videos, etc., I think it’s pretty SMART honestly it’s a compensation technique. - And if the teacher doesn’t like it so what?

OKay from an advocates perspective here.

1. If they feel he doesn’t need help,is it possible the assessment done was not adequate? If the schools eval. showed that he is not eligible for special ed. then I would request and independent evaluation at the districts expense.

2. You state that his IEP’s had accomodations in it before. Where are those accomodations now? Where is the IEP?

3. He is a year behind in reading according to the school,this is causing hard times doing homework and classwork. I would start by requesting that they take a look at what they are expecting him to do. If homework is too long,shorten it. If reading beyond his grade level,read it to him.

4. If they tell you ,you are expecting too much,ask them what they expect from him?

5. you might not want to get into it with the school,but if you wait on this the year will get more frustrating. He has an average IQ,forget about him? This is the message from the school? Well,I say,hmm,LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND.

You might also want to explain to them that IDEA ‘97 entitles him to FAPE. It is appropriate that, if you put him in this class, that you enable him to do the work. That is books on tape, oral testing, and REMEDIATIONetc. Free and appropriate means the SCHOOL provides it and it is to be provided in the least restrictive environment. I am assuming this is a child with an average IQ? If so, then he definitely deserves to be in a general ed classroom and given the tools to provide FAPE. JMHO.

I need to ask early in this meeting what they feel he can accomplish. This year-middle school-down the road

She could put him into a pullout group but he would be at the tiptop-we had this last year at his old school and it was not beneficial IMO. It gave him some good, ‘Im competent’ feelings, but he didnt LEARN anything from the level of work necessary for the other kids in group- and meanwhile missed what was going on in class. She was not recommending this option(she verbalized what I just stated) but I definitely got the impression I could request this option and get it.

Do I have the right to request something different than the standard? Are they meeting their legal obligation by saying ‘well, we could put him in remedial pullout group xyz’ even if its not ideal.

I do have good feelings about these folks-they admitted they barely knew him and had not completed testing but ‘it looked like’ he was in the range of average- I could very well walk into that meeting in sept and have them say-boy, this kid needs help!!!!

But, as little lulu has said, has it become a matter of accomodations ONLY at this age-no remediation or special help offered? If so, I need to bite the bullet and start listing accomodations(I like the books on tape)

You need to read least restricitve enviroment provisions of IDEA.
I will paste 300.550,and 300.554 you will see in answer to your question,hell yes! they are required to provide what ever he needs with whatever accomodations he needs in the least restricitve enviroment possible..§300.550 General LRE requirements.

(a) Except as provided in §300.311(b) and (c), a State shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the State has in effect policies and procedures to ensure that it meets the requirements of §§300.550-300.556.

(b) Each public agency shall ensure—

(1) That to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and

(2) That special classes, separate schooling or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(5))

§300.551 Continuum of alternative placements.

(a) Each public agency shall ensure that a continuum of alternative placements is available to meet the needs of children with disabilities for special education and related services.

(b) The continuum required in paragraph (a) of this section must—

(1) Include the alternative placements listed in the definition of special education under §300.26 (instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions); and

(2) Make provision for supplementary services (such as resource room or itinerant instruction) to be provided in conjunction with regular class placement.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(5))

§300.552 Placements.

In determining the educational placement of a child with a disability, including a preschool child with a disability, each public agency shall ensure that—

(a) The placement decision—

(1) Is made by a group of persons, including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options; and

(2) Is made in conformity with the LRE provisions of this subpart, including §§300.550-300.554;

§300.554 Children in public or private institutions.

Except as provided in §300.600(d), an SEA must ensure that §300.550 is effectively implemented, including, if necessary, making arrangements with public and private institutions (such as a memorandum of agreement or special implementation procedures).

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(5))

In other words, using the old “this is all we have” is a violation of this provision. Your district promised your state that they would abide by this in order to obtain funding.

….

Big picture: he’s going to need some kind of tutoring to support his class work. You can continue to do it yourself, you can push the school and try to get appropriate help, or you can hire someone. Decide for yourself if you have more time, anger, or money.
Since he’s at least normal intelligence and not too far behind in reading, yes, staying in his grade level is the best; he just needs that support in some way or another.

Small picture: that compare and contrast civilizations question.
I don’t know what you did when you tried to teach him the word “civilization”. Did you break it into syllables orally and have him repeat each syllable? Can he copy you as you do this? Did you print it and cover all but a syllable at a time and work it out with him? Can he copy you as you do this? Can he sound out the syllables with the rest covered? If yes, he can learn the word in time, and just take the time and be patient. If not, he has serious problems that need some more intensive work on his phonemic skills — something well above what the school can and will provide. A private speech therapist may solve a lot of problems if he cannot copy syllables. A reading tutor can solve a lot of problems if he cannot read syllables.
Compare and contrast is a skill that needs to be taught. Did the teacher talk in class about the civilizations being discussed, or did he/she just hand out the homework? Was there any preparation or modelling for the compare/contrast question in class? Or, conversely, did the teacher assign this as a probe to test the kids’ skills in a new class, and discuss it afterwards? If the teacher didn’t discuss it at all, it’s an example of testing without teaching and is inappropriate, especially at the beginning of the year. But, of course, there is also the question of whether your son just mentally “shuts down” on class discussions and thus may have missed whatever preparation was offered.
You can teach compare and contrast at home. Suppose the two civilizations are Egyptian and Chinese. Take a piece of paper — large if possible but regular notebook will do. Divide it in half vertically and label one column “Egypt” and one “China”. Divide it in half horizontally, and label one row “like” and one row “different”. Then read the text to him a sentence at a time and see if you find a fact that will fill in one of the squares. OK, Egypt had hieroglyphic picture-writing and China had a picture-writing that developed into the characters of today — that’s a “like”. Egypt had a Pharoah and China had an Emperor — another “like”. Egypt built big pyramid tombs but Chinese buried their dead undergound — that’s a “different”. And so on. Once the chart is full, remind him that similar means like each other, and contrasting means very different. Turn your chart into sentences and the assignment is done.
Yes, this takes a lot of time the first few times. With time and effort, he will learn how to write the kind of paragraphs and short esays needed for this grade level. And if at all possible, it’s best to learn it now and not fall further behind.