We made the decision to have our LD son repeat fourth grade last year. This goes against most of the advice given to parents of LD children so I wanted to tell those interested how things have worked out. He switched from the public school to the parochial school his siblings were attending.
Last year was demanding for everyone. The parochial school had much higher expectations in terms of work load than the public school. Only math and one of the social studies books really was repeating the previous year. The reading texts, for example, were still fourth grade level but were not the same as he had used the year before.
He was mad at us off and on for a good portion of the year. (He had participated in making the decision but then changed his mind but we wouldn’t change ours!) But still with support from us and and a few modifications he made the second honor roll (A’s and B’s) for the first time in his life. He was never so proud as when he received a medal at the end of the year for being on the second honor roll all year.
He just got his report card yesterday for the first marking period in fifth grade. He again is on the second honor roll. He got a 95 in reading. This is a child who ended first grade not able to read. His teacher wants me to meet with him and her next week to set goals up for improving his organization. I figure we have come far when that is her major concern.
We continued to do Neuronet therapy with him last year and then this summer he did Seeing Stars for four hours a day for four weeks.
There is no doubt that it would have been easier for everybody had we held him back in K or first grade as is often recommended. I asked in first grade whether we should hold him back and was told no. I now understand that is because noone thought a child with as severe as disabilities as he would ever catch up anyway (he has both dyslexia and nonverbal learning disabilities).
He still can’t spell and his undertanding of language mechanics is way behind. He reads at the slow end of normal (25%) even after lots of interventions and has some other kinks. But both my husband and I feel like the extra year we gave him by retaining him was a gift. It gave us more time to remediate underlying deficits. We were always playing catch up from first grade and it was wearing. I now feel like we can get him ready for middle school. He also has done much better socially being with a group of kids younger than him. He was always on the margins in public school and now has lots of friends.
Beth
Re: Year two after holding child back in fourth grade
Thanks Elizabeth. My son never seemed to read the books even on LD children so we have sorta muddled through. I think that fact made it easier for me to make a choice that any search of research on the topic would not support. Afterall, the studies deal with “averages” and my child has never been average!
Beth
Re: Year two after holding child back in fourth grade
Congratulations to all of you. Your active participation in making the “gift of time” productive and positive is a large contributor to the success your son has had. You did not passively wait for something to happen, but you took very definite steps in many areas. You are a good model for us all. Thanks.
Beth!
Beth, Hello, I have been a lurker on this board off and on for the last year. I have always read your posts with much interest! I am especially happy to see this update today!, as I am embarking on IM Therapy for my daughter Tara. Congrats on the wonderful progress!!!!
Tara will be 7 in January. She had a brain tumor as a baby and subsequent other neurological issues. (hydrocephalus and seizures)
She is currently in regular 1st grade and has therapies and resource time each day.
She should technically have a non-verbal learning disorder diagnosis, but the neuropysch says she has a couple of issues on top of Nvld- so they are labeling her “diffuse brain injury”.
I would be very interested to ask you some questions on IM if you have the time.
Kathy in MO
[email protected]
Re: Year two after holding child back in fourth grade
Hey Beth,
That is super news! Very impressive. You may as well write a book because few people get results as good as you have! It is very difficult when you are looking at two different LD areas.
Thanks for letting us in on this very good news!
Jansi
for treating each child as an INDIVIDUAL!
Your journey exemplifies the perfect path for an LD child, IMO. You investigated his problems, researched his areas of difficulty and learned all you could about what choices were available, and then made choices based on your knowledge of him, even when those choices went against ‘the norm’ or what is usually done for LD kids.
You ‘ranked’ the importance of each skill and worked on them (tirelessly!) one by one. At the same time, you made sure you worked to accentuate his strengths and didn’t let his self-image falter. You always believed in him, and this belief was communicated to him, no matter how hard the struggle.
I am so pleased to read this summary of his success!