I also did not mention that we live in Ma. my son is 14 yrs. old. There has been
many non-compliances along the way and I followed the chain of command.
After his sped teacher flunking him without prior notification to me, I went to
the top and got the tutoring.
However we want sped cert. teacher doing it , where she would be familiar with his learning style. They tried to fight me on this but I stuck to my guns.
Has anyone else been in the scituation of not being notified before there child was flunking,?[ especially after a June 6th IEP meeting??}
Mary Ellen,
I too have a son with CAPD (12 yrs.) and have found that tutoring with its one-on-one format is effective whether it be by a SPED teacher or not. However, I would take exception to that when it comes to tutoring in spelling and writing where he needs to be taught by the Wilson method (he finally is reading well). However, in other areas it is the one-on-one attention that matters. Specifically the fact that there is time to preview and review material. Whenever my son gets a new teacher I make a point of having a chat and going over what works with him and what doesn’t*. I also request that I be given materials that he needs to read so that I can read it with him and go over any new vocabulary and concepts. This has been a great confidence booster for him and he finds he can participate more fully in class discussions.
As for not being “informed” of problems until after the fact, I’ve been there. My answer was to switch schools and become much more active in his education. I help out the school by taking on certain responsibilites when I have to (such as making sure his FM auditory trainer is serviced on a regular basis) and have frequent interaction with his teacher. We too live in MA and the attitude toward SPED kids varies from school to school. I just live by the credo that I am my child’s first educator and best advocate. However, if switching schools is not an option and you can’t make headway with the school’s SPED department go over their head (e.g., Superintendent of SPED for your district or State Dept. of Education) and by all means consult an advocate and do everything in writing with cc’s to all concerned.
* One mother I read about writes a mini-manual with tabs which explains her child’s disability, how it effects her child, and what works in the classroom. I think this is a great idea and plan on doing this for my child since we can’t be sure that every new teacher reads the IEP (specifically some of the ancillary teachers that maybe have your chld one day a week). I read about this on a web site relating to hearing impairment and CAPD and tried to find it for you but cannot. I’ll try later and forward the address to you when I find it. BTW I have found that sites for hearing impaired and cochlear implanted children have great suggestions which apply equally to children suffering from CAPD. This is because even a slight hearing impairement effects auditory processing. FYI a great book is “Hearing-Impaired Children in the Mainstream” edited by Mark Ross published by York Press (I found it on the Barnes & Noble web-site). Not every chapter will pertain to your son but many will, such as use of auditory trainers, classroom management, acoustics. Best of luck. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any question.