Hello.
I am new to this message board but I have read several posts and there seems to be alot of experienced people who relpy to these so here it goes.
I am concerned about my son who is 11 and in 5th grade. We had him tested toward the end of 2nd at our own expense (because the school seemed blind to his difficulties) to learn that he was ADHD inattentive type and is borderline dyslexic but his scores weren’t low enough to consider him disabled. 3rd grade went pretty good using in class modifications and a very, very patient teacher. His 4th grade year was a bit more difficult as the pressure to write is greater. After many papers with low grades in writing we had him tested through the school which determined he had a learning disability in written expression. We set up an IEP and classroom modifications that included 1 hour of resource time and reduced workload.
At the beginning of his 5th grade year at a new school I met with his teachers and proceeded to go into his IEP only to find out they didn’t know he had one. He performed the first few months well in class with no resource time and no special modifications but now we are having more trouble getting assignments completed, being able to concentrate with what seems to be a rowdy class and a teacher that as my son says “She was having a bad day”. The teacher, comparing my child to the rest of the students, feels he performs fine even though he misses assignment and generally get grades in the C’s or lower.
I am trying to figure out where I dropped the ball in making his school stick to the IEP even though his teacher says everything is fine and she doesn’t think he needs modifications. I am under the impression that an IEP should be reviewed, benchmarked for progress etc. None of which has been done. I am lost in not knowing where to start again… teacher, principal.
This sounds like I’m rambling on but I am concerned that this whole year has set him up to fail next year. I am concerned that the school he came from in 4th grade was more challenging than what 5th grade provided so I dread 6th grade. I have made several attempts to dicsuss him going to resource or somewhere quiet to do his work and I keep getting the same answer, “He doesn’t need it.”
A disability in written expression doesn’t just go away does it?
Thanks and sorry so long…
Re: IEP not being used in classroom
I guess that is where the problem starts because the teacher wasn’t part of the “original IEP team” so when I talk to her I get the impression that everything is wonderful. I have been in the school several times and gone through desks, lockers etc but my son (bless his heart) thinks he is getting too old for that. I have spent the last 5 years every afternoon in the classroom.
I am almost thinking instead of “making” the teacher use the IEP that maybe I need to call another meeting first. Then she can make her own suggestions.
Thanks Julia for your support, I’ll keep you posted.
If your son has an IEP, then it is never the teacher’s choice to “utilize it or not”. I spend every Friday afternoon in my son’s classroom, ostensibly to assist the teacher, but also to make sure that he is getting the resources that we, the “team”, agreed upon in the IEP.
Hold their feet to the fire. Many good classroom teachers know next to nothing about LD (I don’t say that because I don’t have respect for teachers; my husband has been one for 28+ years!).
Good luck!
Julia