? For Teachers

When I was a Resource teacher , I used to bring articles to our team meetings for us to discuss. It was never a huge problem because we had a pretty motivated group of resource teachers who liked to learn new stuff.

There are a couple of research syntheses on this site that you might think about printing and sharing with the folks at school. That way they can’t say it is lack of information…

Robin

Hi Marion, I am also from Pa, New Castle to be exact. One of the reasons that I left Pa. was because of their archaic school mentality. Good luck in changing anything. I was able to bring PG to Fairfax because of parent pressure. A parent wanted it for their child and so the administration found me and recruited me. After I ran a pilot program, it was decided to be the program of last resort for the middle school-high school non-reader. I couldn’t believe that they didn’t accept it for elementary school and so I have just resigned from Fairfax and will probably be teaching in Loudoun County VA next September. I would recommend that you talk to your special education training administration for your county. If you can’t get it in your school, contact Read America for a tutor. Good Luck!

Hi Marion. I am now taking a class about learning disabilities and we discuss issues pertaining to how to get the materials needed to provide the best education for our students. I am no expert, but as a future teacher, if I felt that certain materials would benefit my student I would not stop until I received these materials. Personally, I would research the material and prove that my student would benefit from this program. As a parent you are your child’s strongest advocate. Talk with others and ask them what they think. Do not let anyone break your spirit. Be persistant, if your child has an IEP, discuss having this written in the IEP and then the school system will be responsible for providing the program that could possibly be vital to your child’s success. Search education related sites such as, education world and others, in order to gain the reasearch in order to prove that this program is needed.

One strategy is to specify the aspects of those programs that your kid needs - whether it’s building his phonological awareness and knowledge of the connection of speech to print & vice versa, bolstering vocabulary, or whether he needs a very structured, systematic, approach or lots of multisensory stuff to overcome specific processing problems (or any and all of the above). Unfortunately it can be a very tough row to hoe, especially if the teachers are wedded to the way they are doing things either by inertia or groupthink. Why have they never heard of these programs? What interventions *do* they provide? Reading is an awful lot like religion — it’s sometimes possible to “enlighten” someone who simply hasn’t seen there is “a way” but it can be more difficult to “convert” someone… and converts to any program/method can be zealous to the point of forgetting that what works for one kiddo may not be the right approach for another.

Hi Marion,

It is difficult to get schools to change their ways and start using the research-based, proven programs that are out there. Someone can always say “well, that’s not MY experience” or “I read an article that contradicted that”… “I heard that so and so method is just as good”… some people call this “The Reading Wars” and it must be very frustrating for parents like yourself…

I can say that the districts I know around here who are most sensitive to getting the best programs into their schools are the ones who have been sued, usually numerous times, over using ineffective programs, and eventually they just decided, “well, if we’re going to have to pay mucho bucks for tutoring/private schools, why don’t we just train our own teachers in LMB, P-G, etc.”? Good thinking, it’s just a shame it takes so much time and money and effort to get to that point!

I’m using LMB in my resource classroom in an LA Unified School, with great success, but do you think they know anything about it, or offer much support? Other than the teachers and principal at my own school, absolutely not, and LA is so big, it’s hard to get the word to the right people… so I’m thinking of going to a smaller district down the road that already has a clue, and wants teachers like me. I like my school and my teachers and my kids, but sometimes you just get tired of hitting your head against a brick wall, so I know how you feel… if you’re willing to be the one who sues, on the other hand, a lot of parents in the future might just be thanking you. There is certainly plenty of research out there to back you up, and there are parents, teachers and others on this site who can help you make it happen, if you’re willing to do the work. But in the meantime, I’d say you’ve got to do what you need to do to help your own child, so don’t let anything else divert you from that priority…

Good luck and keep us posted!

Sharon