This LD stuff is such a roller coaster. I feel so good about the progress ds is making in his new reading pullout class-he is doing so well-and the writing notebook he brought home from his ISAT remedials-WOW
But will it ever translate-will he ever function at grade level? It seems like yeah, hes moving ahead but so is the curriculum and its like me chasing a truck down the road-Im never going to catch it
Wrote his monthly book report last night. Its non-fiction so it had a new format. He had to ask the meaning of numerous words on the instructions-I was glad he recognized what he didnt know and asked, but there were so many key words. “intended audience”-clueless on both! ‘region’-no earthly idea! “endangered”-in your dreams
We have done reading reflex-we have spent a fortune on tutoring(private-uses the LB and OG stuff) It doesnt stick
And, if it did, if he could actually pronounce ‘region’, he still would have no idea what the word meant???
He insists he hates reading-he daydreams when he reads because its boring. Says teachers always think he doesnt know the words but he does; he just cant remember what he reads
Id like to say “WOW-so thats it!” but I know darn well he DOESNT know the words. And he is on Adderall-could be wrong med, wrong dose but could be an excuse too.
Im getting real tired of “I dont like to …” and “I dont want to….”
And even more tired of both of us ending up in tears during these discussions
I was thinking of homeschooling for 6th next year and just remediating his reading-it seems my frustration always goes through the roof with book reports and science projects and grade level assignments he just cant do!!!
but Im not sure my frustration will go away when the school assignments go away. Maybe I just get too frustrated to effectively teach him.
Re: frustrated parent #2
Is there any chance that you may put him into a private school for LDs?
I am still not sure whether this will produce a long term effect, but it did miracle for our son attitude and frustration. He works VERY hard in the new school, he is challenged every day but not to the level of frustration (as he was in regular classes at school).
Huge difference that allowed him to get out of his depressive mood…
Re: frustrated parent #2
You truly are not alone, although I know how it can feel that way. My son is in 2nd grade with pull-out resource with a different teacher from last year who is not doing thjis again next year. She’s nice, but doesn’t know what to do other than Open Court. I gave her reading reflex, but she hasn’t had time to read it yet Since it didn’t work at grade level, she’s using the 1st grade books now. How do you all work with your kids? My son’s had it when he gets home from school. This year he literally gets only a few minutes of homework(at my insistence) after 2 years of torture at home and he reads 2 open court booklets a day at home. Thanks
Re: frustrated parent #2
Hi marycas,
I was definitely in your shoes a few years back and did decide to homeschool in 7th grade. The hsing rule-of-thumb is to allow the student one month of no-school to de-stress for every year of traditional school. Because we started hsing during the middle of 7th grade, I couldn’t in good conscience allow that much time to elapse, but we definitely started off with a lighter academic schedule. For the first year, we focused strictly on remediation of reading (Pace/MTC) and math and completed various therapies (FFW, IM, some NN). We didn’t do any formal social studies or science, just some field trips and fun hands-on activities.
You could take the summer months off so that both you and your son can de-stress and then just focus on remediating his reading and working at his pace when the school year begins. It’s amazing how much easier life is when all your evenings aren’t tied up with additional schoolwork. Yes, there’ll be times when you’ll still get frustrated. Those times usually occurred when I would become afraid that we weren’t doing enough or moving fast enough.
We ended up hsing schooling half of 7th grade (2nd semester only), all of 8th and half of 9th (my dd attended the local public school 3hrs/daily and I hsed 4hrs). She is now a sophmore and attends the local public highschool full-time. And YES, she is now reading at grade level!
Blessings, momo
Re: frustrated parent #2
Having taught 6th grade for a number of years, I’m not certain that many 6th graders truly understand the word ‘region’. Your son is not alone. And the worksheets he’s bringing home sound poorly written to me. “Intended audience’ is not a phrase I would use with 5th graders. It does more harm than good.
That said, I’m a big fan of homeschooling. Traditional school never fits perfectly well for any child much less children with learning differences. I wanted badly for my own LD son’s school to allow him to focus on his reading and to excuse him from one or two ‘extra’ classes. I was willing to pay for a trained tutor to come in and work with him on his reading. He couldn’t read what they were reading in Language Arts anyway. I might as well have been talking to the wall and - I was a teacher at my son’s own middle school.
Needless to say, he never got successfully remediated but he did get tortured - and so did I - with books he couldn’t read and assignments to write a book report he couldn’t write about the book he couldn’t read.
Much of what we do in school each day is ‘filler’. It is NOT essential for any child much less one would do better devoting the time to improving their reading. Whatever else you do, I’d encourage you to consider reading out loud and listening to books on tape. Children who have difficulty with reading can be helped in their comprehension of it - and eventually their enjoyment of it - by being exposed to it through listening to tapes or being read to. It can open a door that later they walk through.
I rent tapes from www.rentedbooksontape.com and my local library.
Good luck.
I have no answers but just wanted to offer you my support. I certainly know how you feel. It is a rollar coaster. But just as you think it is as low as it can go, you go back up!!
I pulled my son out of resource room in second because of a very incompetent teacher. I taught him at home part time (work wouldn’t allow full time). It was a big relief and I found myself much more patient without the stress of school.
Beth