As many of you know I have been having difficulty with just what services my 9th grade freshman son needs to do well in school. One group thought that since he did well in his classes he was demostrating he did not need special ed, another group did not. I was getting two different sets of opinions and all from professionals. I sat down today and spoke with the director of special ed and we both actually came to the same conclusion. We determined he did well 1st quarter because it was mainly a review of things he knew already and he had the support he needed. Through review of his school records and recent tests we were able to determine that he remembered things that have been taught more then once well but has great difficulty with new material. He has tons of backround knowledge, good compensating skills, and good comprehension. What holds him up is his actual reading skills. On recent testing he showed the ability to comprehend well but VERY poor word attack skills. The director determined he was a word quesser that used his knowledge and what he could read to determine what something was about. She admitted this will not work for high school level work. Our difficulty came in trying not to “insult” his intellience yet still get him the help he needs. We determined he needed to stay on an IEP, he needed his accomodations in place, needed exposure to regular ed classes, but also needed reading help. We changed his tech ed class to a reading skills class that works individually with students reading based on their needs. Since he tires easily with too much listening and reading we arranged his schedule so reading was 1st so he could get the most benefit. Math his strong subject will be at the end of the day. They are going to provide all his teacher with his accomodation page, and best yet he gets to stay in all his other regular ed classes since he has demonstrated he is cabable givin the support. The director complimented me at the end of the meeting for being so polite and tryint to see both sides. She also thought it was great I was so willing to help and not just leaving it to the school. I guess something can be said for being calm and polite.
Re: Congrats, Lisa!
Thank you Susan. Believe me I am not always calm and rational. The reason I was calm and rational this time is because I got some good advise from this board and the Nethaven chat room. I owe a big thanks to all who offered up the advise. Thankfully I did not go talk to the school the 1st day things started or I would of been spitting nails. Everything the school offered I have in writing. My son starts his reading skills class next semester. The special ed director the same day of the meeting sent out copies of his accomodations page to all his teachers. I have noticed over the last few days that they are finally being followed. For those of you that are curious why his reading skills class does not start until next semester is because they felt for the rest of this semester he would be best served by the resource room. This is because he is currently in a Literature class which involves reading. We all agreed that the exposure to this class although above his level has been good for him. He has learned the literary terms, about different generes, and some basic reading strategies. Since exposure to this class and his other regular ed classes he has had an increase in vocabulary, comprehension of ideas, and best of all confidence in himself. This is a very tough class with a very tough teacher. The special ed director said and I agree that if he can handle this class he will be prepared for anything else the high school has to offer. He even surprised himself recently by passing the two big tests on To Kill A Mockingbird. He scored a 72 on the fill in the blank, multiple choice, matching test. Best of all as if to prove to us he has better comprehension then you would think he scored an 88 on the essay test. This is a book he listened to on tape. The resource teacher helped him to study for the test, she showed him how to determine if something was important, ect. For the most part I feel his school has good intentions and a good program but like all things sometimes just get sidelined by other agendas. Thanks again for all the support.
Meant to respond to this earlier and got tied up in that big thread. Glad you had a successful experiences!
In defense of those with hotter tempers…perhaps they met the sped director from the underworld. I’ve met a few that could turn Mary Poppins into a shrew. (Yes, it’s always nicer when we are polite…but if you lose your cool: tomorrow is another day, Scarlet!)
Now we’ll see if they put something into action. Walk the walk, as we say—after they’ve talked the talk. Sorry for being skeptical, but just seen a lot of talkers and fewer walkers.
I hope all continues well. Stay on top of it. :-)