I have two sons who have been diagnosed with issues that effect their learning. Both boys have average IQ’s but have struggled with learning various aspects of learning especailly that which is language based. My oldest son did not receive good services until he entered the 7th grade. Proir to this we were in another
district and it was just dismal, he made little progress. Since entering our new district things have gone extremly well. He has improved to the point where teachers in his old district would not recognize him. No he is not cured, he still has some of the same issues, but he has learned how to work around his difficulties that remain, some have been remediated fully. At the beginning of 7th grade he was in an LD self contained class for 50 % of his day working on the 3 R’s. This year he is a freshman in high school and has been dismissed from special ed. He is taking the same course work as his peers. He struggles in his Lit and Language class but does average to above average work in the rest of his classes. As a matter of fact his Language grade is even coming up to average. He knows what the terms mean, median, and mode are and can apply them. Math is a strong subject for him. He went from a child who could not take notes and listen
at the same time to a student who takes some of the best notes. His reading reading sills improved 5 grade levels in a 2 1/2 year time frame. His ability to reason and think abstractly have significantly improved. His GPA the 1st half the school year was 2.67, not bad for a former special ed student. He was recently tested independently by a nueropsychologist who says he still shows nuerological deficits but has learned to commensate for them well. Most important he has great self-esteem and is highly motiviated. My youngest son who falls on the Autism spectrum came to our district basically on the pre-primer level for most skills
(2nd grade when started district). Now in 4th grade his skills have sky rocketed after 2 years in a self contained class. He recently tested with reading skills ranging from early 3rd grade to mid 4th (word attack being his best score/comprehension his lowest). His math skills are on grade level, his science and social studies scores have come up to mid 3rd grade. His teacher has listened carefully when I shared information with her. She even tried Ken Campbell’s Great Leaps I leant her with her class. She was so impressed with the results that she is petentioning the school to purchase the program. When I suggested he use an
AlphaSmart for his writing she agreed to give it a try. He know has lots of confidence, trys hard, and has great self esteem. Sometimes the program does work. I agree that not enough people share the positive stories. Once in a while I try and come on here and share my positive stories. Although things are going
better for the boys sometimes we still have questions and concerns so we stay here on the board, reading and getting ideas.
Re: Something positive
Robin — if anyone actually wants advice, I’m pleased to oblige. I decided not to keep reposting the same things and put several of my tutoring outlines into a folder to be forwarded to anyone who wants them. Just email me if you do.
Re: Something positive
Here are some of the things that helped him:
They helped him to get organized. They showed him a system where each subject had its own three ring binder and was given its own color. For example math was red, the textbook was covered in red, the notebook was red, the two folders inside were red, when he wrote math homework in his planner it was written in red. There were two folders inside the notebook, 1 for items going home, 1 for items going to school. Each notebook had a pencil holder with the supplies for the class (i.e. pens, pencils, erasers, ruler, ect). Then for about two weeks they monitored the use of it ensuring that he filed papers in the right folder, grabbed the right set of books ect. You will not believe how much this decreased his late and missing assignments.
They sat down with him one on one and actually showed him how to take notes. They tried a few different methods until they found one that worked for him.
They used Earobics to work on auditory processing skills. They also played tapes at various speeds, some with backround noice, and other variations to get him use to picking out the relevant sound.
For spelling skills they used a program called sequental (sp?) spelling. They also used a program that had a visual component to it but don’t know what it was called.
For reading they used partner reading. One to one instruction where he and the instructor would take turns reading. During this time if he did not know the sounds of the word the instructor would tell him. He reread things until he could read them through without error. He was encouraged to sound things out but also taught to use other clues such as pictures and the other words in the sentence.
For writing they used a program (again dont know what it is called) where they basically did an outline first. They actually also used this with reading in this case I think it was called story mapping. Again the repeating of the skills until they were mastered helped. A skill was not built on until the previous was mastered.
I think the most important compenant though was that the special ed kids were taught the SAME thing as their peers but just in a different manner. For example in 8th grade the regular ed kids read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and so did the special ed kids, the difference was the special ed kids also watched the movie and made a comparison between the two. This really helped to bridge the vocabulary bridge.
Programs used with my youngest son were similar to the older one but they also used: GREAT LEAPS, an Alpha Smart, role playing, 1 to 1 speech, group speech, and lots of visual aides such as graphic organizers.
Both boys have made great progress. The real jump came for each of them AFTER they experience some success in the regular ed class. There strenths were celebrated and used. For example my oldest son can draw wonderfully, he was always chosen to give the visual story of a book, or the art part of a project, after gaining the feeling of I can do it he switched to other roles. For the youngest his strength is computers and he is the go to person for the class when it comes to this. All kids (people) need to feel respected. In special ed a lot of the time this don’t happen because only the weaknesses are addressed.
I hope this helps.
Lisa
Re: Something positive
Lisa,
I really enjoyed reading about the adversities your two sons have overcome. It gives me hope and I know that my son will be fine. My son, also, has language based problems. Central auditory processing disorder has really made it difficult for him to read phonologically. Your school district sounds wonderful! Where is your school district if I may ask.
Lillian
Re: Something positive
I like the organization idea. Might just try that one out on my son. Of course, I bought him a folder for school–with two pockets—but it hasn’t come home in a long time.
beth
Re: Something positive
Beth the trick with this program is you MUST use two seperate folders (they are actually see through/they are more like pockets then folders) that stay in the book. One is clearly labeled home and one school. I think the key to the sucsess of it though was someone actually showed him daily for 2 weeks how to make it work. It was well worth the effort as the number of late and missing assignments have gone down to almost 0! The folders staying in the book is suppose to trigger the childs memory to turn things in (they see the folder when they open the book and remember) my son it is a very helpful system to him.
Re: Something positive
We are in southern Illinois in a town called O’Fallon. Our high school has ranked in the top 100 in the nation for a few years now. I think it is because the students arrive there with a good foundation. Our special ed graduation rate is not as high as our none special ed rate but it is higher then the national average as is the number of special ed students who go on to college.
Re: Something positive
What do you mean see through folders? I had one folder and labeled each side—obviously that hasn’t done it!!!
I also think the fact I was the only one doing it didn’t help either.
Beth
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I should not call them folder, they are more like pockets. They are made of plastic and are “see” through, but come in colors. I will try and find what they are officially called. It helps not to have to open a folder to put things in or take out. Being see through allows them to see what is on top.
Re: Something positive
If you find out let me know. I can go to the local office supply store and see what they say too.
Thanks.
Beth
Re: Something positive
I’d like to find out the name of these “see-through” folders as well. My daughter’s OT is SUPPOSED to be helping her with organization, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. MS is looming, and I’m worried.
My biggest problem is that my daughter doesn’t want to do/have anything that makes her look real “different”.
Re: Something positive
What awesome ideas for organizing our kids. I have been struggling with my son using his planner which the administration in his middle school preached the first couple of weeks, then the enthusiam dies….I also have my son doing daily sheets that he is required to write down assignments from each teacher and in his planner and have initialed, I can help him with his work when he gets it home. This is also defrays the fustration of last minute — “I have a book report due tomorrow and I am on chapter 2” ugh!
I would also check with your school, when my son reaches seventh grade the teachers have to update their grades weekly. This way the student can check what is late or missing on a weekly basis. Parents can check too. But, they try to make it the students responsiblity. I have a hard time with that R word, their idea of R is making it the parents.
One more suggestion my son has a math book that he can not write in. I copied the book so he can take notes and copy overheads on the pages where the information is listed. This way the information is together and we can talk about it with him having visual cues.
I hope this helps, take care
What works for us
My ds has one binder for everything. We use a divider (stiff plastic, not paper, for durability), labeled on the tab, for each subject. Behind each one is an 8x11,three hole punched, transparent plastic envelope (we’ve tried to color key to the color of the divider) in which he puts all papers (returned homework, loose class notes, etc.) for that subject. I think the plastic envelopes are called slash envelopes or possibly slot envelopes. The slash is a diagonal opening at the top that makes it easy to put papers in. We bought everything at Staples.
The one very best thing we did is put at the front of the binder a divider labeled homework. The slash envelope behind that contains all homework for all subjects for that day. It is supposed to be empty at the end of the day. This turned out to much more effective than putting homework for a subject with the other papers for the subject—the homework somehow never got turned in.
The school gives the kids a planner and that goes in front of the homework envelope. Blank looseleaf paper goes behind the homework envelope. His binder also has a case with three punch holes in it in which he puts his pens and pencils.
He takes all of his notes in one spiral notebook—it has colored dividers (but no tabs) and he takes notes for each subject on the sheets behind the divider he assigns for each subject.
He has everything he needs for all subjects in one binder and one notebook. That way he has only two objects to remember to carry around, in addition to his texts.
He has kept up this system for three years with no problem. His homeroom teachers are very good about ensuring all the day’s assignments in each subject are up on the board every day. (I meet with the new homeroom teacher every year before classes begin to ensure they understand the necessity of writting assignments down for kids like my son. Luckily, the principal agrees that teachers must give assignments both orally and in writing on the board to catch as many of the kids as possible and encourages me in these discussions.)
Re: What works for us
Thanks. I will print this and Lisa’s messages out and try and sit down with my son and figure out what will work for him. I think they are both good systems and giving him choices may make him more committed to it. That, I think, is the key.
Beth
Re: What works for us
As I’ve mentioned before, what works around here is Keep It Simple. Any organization system that has several different parts to sub-organize and to lose is going to make the situation worse rather than better for me or most of the rest of my family. A Cadillac system is not going to do much good for a kid who can’t pedal a tricycle yet. Try to do the most with the least.
Re: What works for us
We’re still working on the “best” system. To throw a “wrench” in, my daughter also uses a dana, which is a small keyboard/palm pilot combination so now she keeps her homework assignments on that, but still needs to folders for paperwork.
Lisa M, If you don’t mind sharing can you tell me what program or programs wer used with the oldest child.My son will be entering HS next year and we can use all the good advice we can get.,it’s gives others hope when we hear bout remediation.Thanks for sharing.Congrats to the two boys for their hard work,Robin