Hi! Time for another update and call for advice in the ongoing struggle here is Illinois. In the spring I will have the 504 meeting for my son who has CAPD. We will be selecting his freshman year classes. I was feeling pretty optimistic about this until I spoke with another mom. Her daughter was on high honor roll all throughout middle school. Her weakest subject was math so she took 2 year Algebra I. She got straight A’s and thought that she would just move into the regular geometry class. The teacher told the mom that she automatically signs off for the kids to move into the lower track class. The mom made her case with the school and the girl is in the regular class and doing well. Anyway, her point was that you must choose classes carefully because there can be a cascading effect throughout the years. This really worries me because in my dealings with the school I have found them to be evasive and sometimes they have flat out lied to me. I want to do what is best for my son but am very concerned about maybe not being fully informed. Is there anyone I can contact to act as our own guidance conselour in terms of what classes he really needs at what level for college? I feel this would be money well sprent. Thanks!
Kat
Re: Advice before selecting high school classes
While *part* of our time has been spent in the same parts of the universe, much of it hasn’t — but my experience with counselors & “the system” parallel Victoria’s. Maybe it’s caseload, but they have little formulas (whether formal or not) and much like when you’ve gotten into a self contained class it’s Roach Motel time (you check in, but you don’t check out)… once you’re out of teh Good Kids Classes loop, you’re out — and every minute out, you’re being dumbed down.
(IT’s not universal though…. there *are* places where they try to make the “lower” skill levle classes smaller, with the more experienced teachers, to bridge that gap… but I’m afraid it’s rare… and if you’re abilities are above the rest of the classes, even with a good teacher you’re not going far.)
And they WILL tell you “you can’t take that class” when in fact you can. ASk to see the policy in question in writing; if it’s not in writing, then it’s not a policy.
Re: Advice before selecting high school classes
Hi, Kat.
Talk about timing! I was at an orientation with my older child yesterday. He starts high school next year.
The councillor on stage did actually as was suggested. He started with the classes that would be necessary to get into a top tier school and, working backwards, showed how that meant certain classes would need to be taken in the first year. Then he did the same with a “good” public state school. That left some flexibility in the first year. Finally he worked backwards from the bare minimun to graduate. It was *very* interesting.
I say step the middle school councilor. Make an appt today with the high school councilor. I would forget (opps! :oops: ) to mention the LD and see what they suggest. THEN ask about the LD.
Take care,
Barb
Suggestions
THank you so much! I am really going to do my homework and make sure everything is in writing in his 504. I harbor no illusions about my son and college-he wont be going to Stanford or Yale but I just want to make sure that he at least has a shot to go somewhere.
I will keep everyone posted
This forum has truly helped me keep my sanity during this whole experience!
Kat
Re: Advice before selecting high school classes
I can tell you that depending on the state you’re in, the community colleges are open to “anyone who can benefit.” Ours does have a placement test; some don’t even have that so people reading on a second-third grade level can attend — though granted, they don’t often graduate. (This tidbit might be something you *don’t* tell the kiddo :-))
Some questions
Kat,
I have two LD son’s; one a Junior in HS and one in his second year of college. Before answering your question I would need to ask you some questions.
What support is your son receiving in Middle School?
Is he in a regular 8th grade Math class?
On the yearly State testing what percentile does he score on reading, Language arts and Math?
What grades has he been getting in Middle School?
Re: Advice before selecting high school classes
Community colleges in Virginia have math and English placement tests, but they are only used to, dare I say, place students in the proper level from remedial on up.
John
Re: Advice before selecting high school classes
I think there is a vast expanse of available colleges falling between the extremes of Yale and community college. Many of these schools would be entirely appropriate for a bright LD student and can offer accomodations for LD. Unfortunately, competition for slots in any college except community college can be intense and those who don’t have the right courses under their belt will be left behind. As a parent whose child has just finished applying to colleges, I can tell you that it is very important to many schools that the student have taken the most rigourous courses available at his or her school. So, when bright LD children like this boy are shuffled into the lower level classes, it does make it more difficult for these children to compete for college admissions later on. Even more important is that most children with LD are of average to above average intelligence. Some are gifted. We should not deny them access to challenging classes on the assumption that they are not capable enough to succeed.
Evasive and flat-out lies — yep, that’s my experience, especially with middle schools.
Guidance counsellors automatically signing off kids into a lower track against all school policies and even laws — yep, standard procedure most places.
Do NOT believe anything they tell you. Unless it is in writing, preferably a formally printed proclamation, and signed by someone on the school board, it’s all a fantasy.
What you have to do is work backwards.
First get you state university’s catalogue, available in every public library and usually online. Look first at general admissions standards, *and* at admissions requirements for more demanding programs such as engineering or pre-med or honours programs. Make a list of the high school courses required.
Then go to your school board and/or high school and get the official handouts listing courses offered and prerequisites. Try to talk to a senior high guidance counsellor about what classes are required for university entrance and what are the prerequisites for them — senior high counsellors are often quite different from middle-school, and often just as disgusted as you are with the poor preparation kids are getting.
Once you have figured out what you need to go where you want to, then look back at the middle school and fight for what you need.
A general rule, which your friend was smart enough to follow, is to take as much math at as high a level as you can possibly succeed in. Math is the gateway course to all science and technology and thus most modern careers, so by keeping up with math you keep your options open.
I have a student right now who is in a selective high-powered national ballet school, definitely on track to be a professional dancer — and I am tutoring her in high-school graduation/university entrance math, because both her parents and the school recognize the need for these young adults to have a backup career if they do not stay in dance all their lives.
Also mistrust any lower-level classes. Sure the counsellor will tell you now that they are fine for college entrance — two or three years later when the senior high counsellor tells you that was wrong, what do you do then? They don’t let you go back and retake the classes, even if the kid would stand for it.
Lower level classes are there for kids who need them, but if you can succeed in the more demanding classes, make sure to take them. I have two young relatives who got tracked down and very much regret it.