My daughter, age 12, 7th grade is LD. She has an iep and generally does well in school with the accomodations/ modifications. We happen to live across street from a severely disabled 12 year old girl who is now going to my dau’s school (blind, mentally impaired). My dau sees the girl with her aide in the halls and says hello. The teachers have recognized this and have told me that no other students do this. Now the girl’s teacher has asked me if my dau may want to be a peer mentor for the girl. My daughter would go into the girls class 1-2x week for 15 mins and either read to her, play games, sing songs… The girls teacher will take the leadership role for about a month, then slowly allow my dau to take over. My dau wants to help and is excited about it. Is ok w/ me, however I don’t want my dau to miss important work or core classes. They understand and feel the same. They will pull my dau out of either gym or enrichment (a homework catch up class). Hopefully this will help the girl interact with peers and allow my dau to experience a leadership role in school (which she doesn’t often have due to the LD and her reserved nature).
I don’t see a downside to this, but wanted to get others thoughts.
Thank you.
my LD daughter as peer mentor
I don’t see a problem with this as I am LD & I help out in the resource room at one of our grade schools. I teach a boy who is in the 4th grade but is functioning at a kindergarten/1st grade level (just learning shapes & colors - through sign language). He has normal hearning though.
T. J.
This is an excellent opportunity for ANY 7th grader. Our middle school has just such a program in place. More info on it is available here http://www.district196.org/shms/STAFF/SIEFKES_T/cbf/htmls/cbf.html
I like the idea of having a mentoring program open to all interested students. By promoting it like any other school club, the school puts volunteerism on a level field with sports and academics.
If it were my child interested in being a mentor, I’d prefer this set up, even if she were the only mentor initially. Kids can be cruel in the middle school years and I’d not want cracks about the two “different” students being together. Opening it to everyone (even if no one else is interested) mutes that.
I hope your child does this. It is a wonderful opportunity.