My son started high school this last week and I am not sure how things are gonna go. No, he did not have any bad experiences but two of his teachers told the students that spelling counts and the English teacher wants him to use pen. He has it written into his IEP that he should not have points taken off for spelling but he is at an age where he does not want to be treated different. I know he won’t bring the issue up to his teachers but on the other hand he did talk to his resource teacher the first day and told her what he expects to get from her. His spelling is really bad for example he wrote his “faverit food was Mic and Chesee, he like frinsch fies, he lreans slowly, and he does not have a gril firend yet.” No, these were not all in one sentence, his sentence structure and ability to do paragraphing are great. I want to respect him and don’t want to raise a stink but don’t want him penalized either. He asked the resource teacher to work on his reading, study skills, and organizational skills but not spelling. There are only five students in the resource room, he is the only fresman. Do you think maybe I should talk to the resource teacher and have her talk to the others? What approach do you think will work? He has purchased his own planner, uses it, and has brought all his assignments home so far. I know this is only the begining of the year but that in itself is an improvement for him. Dont want to blow his self-esteem.
Re: 1st week of high school
Thanks for the thoughts K. He was able to talk to the resource teacher because the 1st day of school was freshman only and he is the only freshman in the class so was able to talk to her. He stated to me very clearly if this were not the case he would not of talked to her. Along with all his improvements the last few months he has shown more of a self awareness. He does not want his peers to know he is a different learner because they will label him “retarded” and no one wants to be considered stupid. I think I will have a private talk with the resource teacher and see if she has any suggestions. Thanks again K. Good luck to you your brother and son this school year.
Re: 1st week of high school
Lisa,
The resource teacher should as part of her/his job fill the teachers in on the accommodations of your son. I don’t count on this happening. I have all my son’s accommodation on one sheet of the IEP with a description of the disability on top of the page which I give to each of the teachers. A friend of mine has a son who is a lot like your son and he went up to each teacher and asked if he could talk to them briefly about his accommodations and gave the list to the teacher himself. A time could be set up at teacher’s convienence sometimes it was possible to do it in the passing break. Your son is doing a good job of self-advocacy but since he is new to it he still needs your guidance. I also would suggest that he uses a laptop at school to help catch the spelling errors.
Lisa, I will gladly send to you via email a copy of the sheet I givemy son’s teachers. Just click on my name and send me email.
Helen
Re: 1st week of high school
I agree with the use of the laptop. He will also then be considered kind of “cool”. There are wonderful softwares for spelling/dyslexia challenges and they include auditory spellchecks. They are a lifesaver. Just FYI.
Re: 1st week of high school
I’d talk with my son first and find out how he feels about your idea to speak to the resource room teacher. Certainly I’d also tell him how impressed you are with his efforts this year and how you only want to do what he’ll find helpful. Find out what he says. He might be all for you speaking with the resource room teacher.
Re: 1st week of high school
Your son has a case manager who will talk to the high school teachers and also will send out the goals, objectives and accommodations during the first day of school. Give his special educator some time, there are a lot of things that we must do besides getting ready to teach five classes. I went to school early to put up my bulletin board and straighten up my files because I know that when the rest of the teachers are working in their rooms, I will be copying IEPs, discussing team teaching with a new teacher and going to sped meetings that noone except sped teachers go to. I also, if I can, make contact with my students’ parents who are on my case load this year. Just be patience and let him do some advocacy, it is rare for kids that are young as yours. Be happy!
Re: 1st week of high school
The resourse teacher may not be his case manager. Give the special ed teacher time to do her job before you give the accommodations to the reg ed teachers. As my kids would say, “chill” a little.
It sounds as if he is doing a good job of advocating for himself. Why don’t you start by talking to him. It sounds as if right now he needs you to keep encouraging him and offering advice and assistance when he needs it.
How about suggesting the use of a word processor to help with spelling? Or even purchasing a dictionary he could keep with him in his backpack? Maybe a reading pen, although I am not sure if they will scan written text or just printed text?
You could speak in private with the resource teacher and ask her to suggest that he work on spelling. Maybe if it came from you indirectly through a teacher, he would be willing to work on it.
Just a thought!
K.