Child with dyslexia, need HELP with school

I pull many students from language arts, some from science and SS. It is impossible to pull all students from just one area, since all teachers teach language arts from about 8:30-10:00 daily at my site.

If I know a child loves either science or social studies (usually the former), then I do not pull them from that class. Talk to the teacher, call an IEP meeting. If you are looking at the child as a whole, you will make the choice that is best for that child.

Interestingly enough, I just asked that my school do what your school is doing for the same reasons as they cite. My son also loves science and social studies. My thinking is that he abs. needs the reading, writing, and math. He has learned most of his science and social studies from us and can continue to do so.

Beth

A child won’t be able to access high school science and social studies if he isn’t a good reader. I do not pull children during language arts or math time if at all possible. Perhaps he could just miss science or social studies, not both. That would be a good compromise. The other alternative is to increase the private tutoring so he doesn’t have to miss so much class. I would look hard at what the special ed. class is doing to be sure it is worth pulling him out.

He has a right to access to the regular curriculum — including Science and Soc. Stud. How old? And how far behind is he with the skills, and how good is the remediation?

Janis makes a good point to assess if what he is being pulled out for is appropriate instruction.

My son was pulled out for whole language reading that didn’t actually teach him to read. He also loves social studies and science. He was totally frustrated.

I stopped the pull out and told them to keep him in class. I taught him to read at home using methods that actually worked for him.

He is in second grade and is about 1 year behind in reading. At this point the reading is not that much a part of scinece and social studies, it is more hands on and discussions and experiments. He is able to really be a part of the class and not feel like he is behind and this is so good for his self estem. The classroom literacy is not really at his level or what he needs to be working on, what he gets in sp ed is what he needs, indepth work in phonemic awareness. Our school used to always pull kids out at literacy time but with the state testing being so hard on school and there scores they have change there thinking, science and social studies are not tested, just reading and math. We are having trouble getting them to look at our son as a whole child and not just his LD, its hard when you have a 7 year old who hates school so much.
Joan

Joan, did you consider having him repeat first grade? My child is repeating first this year due to being behind in reading. But I will also say this, the second grade class should be having multiple reading groups, and your son being only one year behind, should absolutely be accommodated with a reading group IN the classroom.

Do you know exactly what programs the resource room would be using with him? Often, if the child is removed from regular language arts, they never catch up to the regular curriculum. I know, I’ve seen it over and over again. My child will not be pulled during language arts. Having the double dose is what will help her make it. I also struggle with when to let them pull her (for speech/language). There is no good time.

Janis

I also have a son who has dyslexia and loves science and history. I have read many articles that state that many LD children fail in life because their self-esteem gets crushed and all of their strengths are taken away from them. I believe that the most important thing is to keep their self-esteem in tacked. The best way to do this is to work on their strengths and to use them to boost their weaknesses. When they get a job latter in life, won’t they work in the areas that they are best at? So I think that the teachers should be finding as much strength as they can. I know that reading and math is very important, but they do need to be well-rounded, happy children. There are many LD children that never feel that they are good at anything and drop out of school as soon as possible or out of life.

What are your son’s goals and what amount of time is written on the IEP? If you absolutely do not want your child out of those classes then I believe you have a right to make that request as a parent and I think your concerns are just. If your son is having difficulty keeping up with whatever they are doing in the gen. ed. classroom, I would question the benefit that time (literacy time). I had a second grade student that I served that was approximately 1-2 years behind in reading. He was very frustrated in the a.m. in the gen. ed. classroom which is when they had reading. We chose to take him out of gen. ed. reading and I gave him intensive reading instruction. The rest of the day was much more postive than what he had been experiencing before this occurred. Prior to this he had been receiving title I reading along with gen. ed. reading. We function on a problem solving model in my school which allows us to discuss what is and isn’t working with a student and then develop interventions. The student I served was initially seen by me as an intervention to address his need. He made significant gains and I attribute it to the fact that the instruction was intense and what “he” needed. Unless the special ed. teacher and the general ed. teacher work VERY closely together, it may be difficult for your son to see the connection of what they both are doing to improve his reading. It may even confuse him because it may seem like two completely different entities. I understand the school’s difficulty in giving “prime time” to each student, but one should always strive to give the time that would most appropriately address a student’s needs and not the school’s needs. I would suggest that you ask for an IEP meeting to discuss this and do it quickly as I know how difficult it is to schedule from a teacher’s perspective. Do you have parent advocates available to you? We are able to refer parents to parent advocates if they feel they want a third party to attend the IEP meeting with them. They can be very helpful in the IEP process. I would also suggest that you write down all you concerns before the meeting as some IEP meetings can be a bit overwhelming depending on how they are run and the written notes seem to help keep focus.
In my opinion… I would not take your son out of science/social studies unless I absolutely had to. I would take him during the literacy time. This has been our practice in the district I serve, but I know it is done both ways.
additional question… Will he really be getting a DOUBLE dose of reading if you take him out of science/soc.? Granted he will have 2 reading times. one with gen. ed and one with special ed. but if the sessions are completely different it is not really a double dose but 2 completely different reading sessions. For example… If the gen. ed. teacher is working the short a sound in the a.m. then the special ed. teacher should reinforce in the p.m. That would be a double dose. On the other hand, if the gen. ed. teacher reads a story with the class that is above his reading level in the a.m. and the spec. ed. teacher works on short a in the p.m. where is the connection. I think your son is at a very critical time of development and instruction must be precise and very well planned. Perhaps that is the school plan. I don’t have any idea of knowing, but I would encourage you to continue to be involved and make sure progress is monitored closely and you are able to see if he is making growth. I am not familiar with the testing you refer to that your school is so concerned about, but if the IEP is well written and progress is monitored closely then that is what is most important. All for now… Best wishes to you and your son.

Thank you for your support, could you please refer me to what articles you have read that gives facts about LD students and there self-esteem and the importance of keeping that high.

Joan