Can parents force the school 2 promote a child mid/end-year?

My son repeated fourth grade. We made the decision (he passed the FCATS but we moved him to a parochial school which had a more difficult circul), which is different. He did fine at school but was angry at home a lot. He got over it but it took most of the year. Now he is in sixth grade and is no longer sensitive about it. Three years ago he practically died of embarassment when “caught” playing soccer with his age mates (soccer league is by age not grade) by one of his classmates. Now he is on YMCA football team with one of his friend’s older brothers and it is no big deal.

He has been much more successful having repeated a grade. LD kids are often immature and he has many more friends being with kids a bit younger. What the mother is proposing makes no sense for the child, especially this far into the year.

I know other kids who have repeated a grade and they all are sensitive about it for that year. Everyone gets over it.

Personally, I would just refer her to the principal. That is what they get paid for!

Beth

Right, this is an administrative issue. What is your school’s policy on retention decisions?

Basically, this is a placement question - which is an IEP question, which means an IEP meeting. The team can decide; the parent can then decide wthehr to take it to mediation or due process or whatever. (Of course, he’s likely to keep his negative attitude at least at home, if mom’s feeding it.)

I don’t know the “rules” or Law on this. I would think though, that it ought to be decided on an individual basis.

Not all LD kids are immature.

My daughter was held back in first grade, before she was tested. At the end of second grade, the IEP team agreed that she would be better off with “same aged peers”. She would “skip” third grade and go into fourth.

We moved, and the new school disagreed. She was kept in 3rd. Now she is 12, and in 5th grade. She is 5’9” tall, physically and emotionally “mature” for her age.

Now she has problems with depression and is in counseling. Her friends are all her age or older. She feels awkward, self conscious, and miserable with her classmates.

We are going to try to get her in class with her same age peers. Her psychologist said her maturity level is 7-8th grade already, she has advanced verbal comprehension (above 7th grade) but about a 3rd grade reading level.

If we had it to do over again we would have fought it all the way to due process, rather than retain her.

Speakerwire, I don’t think that moving her up a grade is going to help her self esteem much if she is reading at third grade level. What is being done to help her reading?

“What is being done to help her reading?”

That is an issue we are working on, the answer is—for the past year—nothing, the Sp.Ed teacher is not capable. (new, not trained, and no supports in place)

She comprehends above grade level (some subject scores are high school range, some comprehension scores are college level).

She communicates easily with students her age, older students and adults. She feels as if she is “babysitting” when socializing with the kids in her class.

Perhaps the boy this thread is about has, or will have, the same sort of situation?

Speaker wire….

Have you considered using a program such as Rewards this summer to tutor her in reading? If she is reading on a 3rd grade level, I would start with Rewards Intermediate. Website for this program is http://www.rewardsreading.com . This program does not require any specialized skills — just a parent willing to spend about 30 hours working one-on-one with the child. It is completely scripted, so there is very little prep time.

I know this wouldn’t solve all of her problems, but improved reading skills would certainly make her life easier. The older the children get, the less you can rely on the school system to do anything meaningful in the area of reading.

Nancy

I agree with everything that Nancy said. Please do not count on a school to remediate a reading disorder. Learn to do it yourself or hire a qualified tutor. She is reaching the point that her good comprehension will fail her because she won’t be able to read enough words in high school texts to make sense of what she is reading. Children who depend on sight word reading rarely progress beyond third or fourth grade level. She needs intensive one-on-one intervention as soon as possible especially since she is already experiencing depression, etc.

Thank you both, so much!

I will check out the site, we will do anything we can to help her.

thanks, beth from FL for the positive remarks.
also, to speakerwire, i am sorry that your child is haivng these problems.