my philosophy... what do parents think?

Teacher to be: I think most of this philosophy is sound. My child is homeschooled and we are required to take SAT at our homeschool umbrella.We have been taking them all week and of course it is a timed test. My son was unable to finish the math yesterday. He is very SLOW in computation but when untimed has placed in 9th grade(he’s in 4th) for math.This is just 1 example of accomodations that some very bright but learning different kids need. If he were in ps he would probably be failing 4th grade but is actually doing mostly 6th grade work at home. I can give him oral test etc. and we don’t do much busy work unless it is absolutely necessary. Teach to the GIFT of the child not the disability. This may mean mainstreaming isn’t the most important thing in some instances.The most important thing is to teach the way a child can learn. My child is a visual-spatial learner and simply hates drill and repetition.(Go to the gifted development center web site).In a regular classroom he was so frustrated with all the paperwork and bored with going over something over and over that he actually turned off learning! It took us a while to get the desire to learn back.You will probably have children with very high IQ in your class but the system does not allow for “dual exceptionality” children. You are either gifted or LD. What a waste!! Jan

You might be being too idealistic but the world and its children need more idealists. I wish my sons had been your students.

Dear Teacher to be,

I do want to start by saying I hope your post on negativity above was also written by you too.
I read this one first and immediately had concerns. Then reading your post on negativity I realized you have concerns too.

You state:

As a teacher, I feel that it is my responsibility to build success for my students. This is my primary concern. Before beginning to work on academics, I feel that it is important to have this basis of success to motivate students and get them at least somewhat interested in school and learning

Okay,first off,kids need to be allowed to build their own success. The thing that no one seems to understand is how an lder thinks. They are smart,they tend to be very intuative,they pick up on false or imitation sucesses. Giving them an award for trying hard doesn’t cut it. They are interested in school and learning,they only become disinterested in learning when someone has screwed that up for them. It doesn’t have to be a teacher,could be anyone. Could be their peers,the only thing that would help this is to honestly talk about it. Success is motivating, very true statement,THE KIDS idea of success,not the teacher’s or parents idea of it.

Then you state:

I feel that it is also very important to make sure that students are included as much as possible in the general education setting so that they can still develop healthy social relationships with their peers. I believe that assessing students progress is extremely important and that instruction and assessment should follow the general education curriculum as much as a possible.

If you place a kid from special ed in a regular ed class with the main objective being to develop healthy social relationships,this would be a huge mistake.
The whole idea of thinking their peers are only in reg ed. is self defeating already,don’t you think?
Some of those peers are why the kid no longer wants to go to school or is disinterested in learning. The main objective turns into survival not learning. If placing a kid in a regular ed classroom to follow the curriculum as much as possible is a huge mistake too. Placing a kid their, should be with the objective of the kid being SUCCESSFUL with the general ed curriculum.
How you help them to be successful there should be the objective.

My 2 cents:

I am LD,been LD all my life. I will die LD,it is who I am.

I am successful,a nurse by trade,and the Mother from Hell on the side.How did this amazing impossibility develop? Not from school,I learned to survive school. Later I learned how I learn. I developed strategies to be able to learn my way. I type using two fingers,I write at a 90 degree angle,I read sideways,I found out what I can do. I love learning,I am motivated in things I am interested in. I also LOVE being LD.
Some of my best attributes are a direct result of being LD. There is a positve side. I am very creative, I am thinking way ahead of everyone else,when someone is on A,I am already on Z. This can be annoying to others,it surely can be annoying to me, hard to talk to someone who wants to think it over,mull it over,come up with the very same thng I am already thinking about. It’s that,come on come on get to the point,kind of thing. I visualize everything,I never think in words,always pictures,when you say House,I visualize a HOUSE,not the word. This comes in handy now a days.

I have talked to Ld kids,of course I have two of my own,but it is funny to discuss the weird things teacher do to us.

1. Make you show your work,what is up with that?
God what a pain in the tush this was,I could give you the answer if you wouldn’t make be stop at b-y,before getting to z. Why in the hell do I have to write out the problem go through all YOUR steps to come to the answer,your not even going to look at my work for god sakes,I mean I have the answer,what more do you want? What is the purpose? To see how screwed up I get having to look up and down,over and up to do a multiplication problem? I could be soo much more successful if you would let me see it in front of me and do it in my mind instead. Yes,we can do this:-) Sometimes we can see the numbers in our mind eyes in front of us.

2. Reading out loud.
What a crazy thing this is. What possible purpose does this serve?Ahhh,yes,I have been told by teacher’s,well this will help us to make sure you know what your reading,WRONG.. I learn to decode words in 3 rd grade,but had no comprehension until 8th grade. Really,I swear. I could read out loud,but I sure as hell couldn’t tell you what I read ,not to mention the sick feeling in my stomach,and the lump in my throat on the days that you would stop me and make me soooouuunnnnddd it out,in front of the class. Go slow,start at the begining,okay can I kill you now?

3. Red pens.
OH MY GOD,to this day I HATE red pens. What purpose does this serve?
Please tell me what mistakes I have made,sure why not,I mean it will help me to not make them again,right? I know if you you rewrite all my letters going the right way,one day,out of pure shame I will magicly write them correctly. Even better,point them out to me,make me rewrite them,this will help,right? But those damn red pens,make big x’s,circle whole paragraphs with a red pen,and BAM,I can rewrite the run ons,use correct grammar,or figure out the algebra.

4. Gold,Blue,Red,stars.
WE must makes sure everyone understands there standing in class,I mean start at kindergarten showing us this. I mean we don’t already know we are having trouble reading or writing the way you want us too,why not even show us how we rate. How many kids have kept their gold stars? I mean there wasn’t that many of them. I signifies the amount of self worth. It gauges how valuable you are,is this the idea?

5. Divide the class in groups.
I was always in the blue jay reading group,never was I an Eagle.Hell not only was I blue jay but I was an injured one,because they would pull me out and send me to the resource room for additional reading help,so three times a week I was not with my group I was with the spec ed teacher. Never to be an eagle,not in reading or in life. Again that station in life. I swear the Eagles even had all the freaking gold stars,bunches of them,enough to motivate them to be the Eagle group.”we are higher then the Blue Jays,look they have to goooo sloooow,souuuuunnnnnd it out,we don’t even need the teacher. We have enough gold stars to help us along”. These are our peers.

6. Big sighs and long looks
God what a pain we were. We never did it the way the teacher wants,god why can’t we just do it the way the class does it? If pitting us against our “peers” didn’t work,maybe sighing heavy,or looking at us above your glassess would make us do it like evryone else.
Again,I have told and retold this story to others here,but at the risk of repeating myself..
Had a wonderfully caring reading teacher in special ed. I will always remember her caring ways,but. I was in 1st grade I think,still believe there was a tooth fairy,santa claus. I must have just saw Peter Pan,because here she came over to me,after pulling me out of the Blue Jay group,she said” here is a really nice book here,it is reeeaaal easy,you are going to read this book today!” BIG smile,she was excited and motivating, In my 1st grade mind,I thought hell she gonna sprinkle fiary dust over me and BAM,I’m going to read! This was the day I learned there was no fairy dust. But the one thing I will always remember was her long look and the big sigh before she sent me back to be with my peers. The injured Blue Jay…

I will say,I wish she had laid be down on my side,gave me that book,and said,try it this way,because in 8th grade this is when I figured out I could do it.The words stopped moving around on the page,I never had to focus on where they went again.

Okay so after all this rhetoric,my ideas? Well, remember they are smart. In some ways they are smarter then you,let them do it their own way,don’t force them into a world of stations in life,enjoy being different,celebrate it..Turn the tables make the Reg ed kids wish they could come to your class too,hell invite them, make them see how very cool it would be,let them go back and tell all the other Eagles,that blue jays,have a heck of a lot of fun,and get to lay down to read,or better yet,read with there hands,go on field trips to do math,or use laptops to write,or make lunch following a recipe.

Celebrate how interesting it is to be LD,being different is good,not bad. Socializing with their peers,what peers? The “normal” kids? Will they then start acting “normal”? What is normal anyway? Normal is only what others have made for them,not what they know on their own. When we start realizing how very fortunate one can be, being LD will we stop making kids feel like not going to school. These ARE the kids who will or can be the fast thinkers the developers of companies,the salesperson or the computer programmer,or a hell of a good nurse.

Socks, I must say I agree with you. I too did poorly in shcool until I learned to teach myself. Now here I am an Airman in the United States Air Force serving my country and the mother of 3. I have found that some of my “differences” have actually helped me to suceede (maybe not in spelling!). When I was in grade school I did not even qualify as a wounded “Blue Jay” I was in a group all my own. I went on to graduate high school 7th in my class of 136, not bad for a below “Blue Jay” status person. I have 2 kids with LD and they to have their unique gifts and I am sure they will do well as adults because their uniqueness is celebrated and they know they are important. On a side note my 8th grade son just this year is picking up on reading better because the words no longer swim on the page.

Please remember that many LD students are very bright and belong in the reg. ed. classroom all the time(with you consulting to the teacher); the more children are out of the reg. ed. classroom, the further behind they get in the curriculum. A watered down curriculum and lowered expectations will not help these LD students succeed in middle and high school(especially if they are college-bound).

Wow, socks, wow.
I’m printing that out.

Anne

I’m sorry but here is the mistake in teaching the LD kids. To TEACH them PROPERLY is the key, not watering down the curriculum and certainly not lowering expectations for them. The professionals need to truly understand these kids (as individuals) and then teach them THE WAY THEY LEARN and taking the pressure off them having to struggle through day with their heads bearly clearing the waterline in the gen ed class. Also, saying it slooooooooooowwwwwwwwwer, or cutting things out, or repeating things over and over again is not the answer and that is what happens in the gen ed classroom. I am also a believer in the fact that ALL LD kids DO NOT belong in the reg ed classroom. Even those with mild disabilites can suffer in inclusion if it is not the right choice for them, no matter how much you force the issue. There is no possible way (in my experience) that these children needs are being met. Absolutely not. I think we made a big mistake with pushing inclusion as the most popular choice for least restrictive environment. We are the ones that created the stigma attached to self-contained because we tend to lump all disablities together and this truly does not work. LDs in reading and math do not need to be grouped with ED or BD. There are much more than a handful of kids in my son’s grade that would benefit from being in their own classroom (not labeled in any way, its just another classroom as far as anyone else is concerned). Heck they would THRIVE with a smaller group, similar disablities, but instructed by the APPROPRIATE educators, with the APPROPRIATE techniques. Not this pretending that we are actually helping these kids by pulling them out of their “gen. ed class” when they screw up to redo a paper. Being in the gen ed classroom has only called attention to my son’s disabilities and contributed to his failures. Inclusion is actually trying to teach kids to conform to the norm when the truth is they can’t. They have their own way of doing things and there is nothing wrong with that. Let’s stop forcing the issue and get to what really matters, teaching them the way they learn in the proper environment. This is done by looking at the individual, not waiting to see if they fail then trying to force them to be like everyone else. We know what works, let’s stop kidding ourself by trying to be so darn politically correct with everything. YUCK!

Respect the little human being you teach. Never ridicule. Learning is not a competitive sport. When kids grow up they will face enough competition. Teach cooperation and team work. Kids are already motivated to learn. It’s all the absurd crap schools make them do that makes learning a chore. For Socks it seem school was pretty much irrelavant as it is for most kids. I think the first rule that should apply to teachers should be….. DO NO HARM

Do realize, however, that not doing anything can be doing a lot of harm. A lot of total corrosion and erosion happens with a kid being inappropriately placed, whether it’s in the regular ed class or a special ed class. We can’t see what is happening in a kid’s mind.

I learned an important teaching principle poolside: First, convince your student that you are not going to ask them to do anythign they can’t do. Once that trust is established, *and* by being a good diagnostician, you can ask them to do more, and eventually, hopefully, they’re trying to learn on their own.

The flip side to that, though, is that you have to make the “stuff they can do” real, not just there for the sake of success. One way I do that is to use the “real” texts — even if I just use the pictures — and the real curriculum. And I review and quiz and review and quiz because when they leave my class whenever, I want them to be able to say “I learned this and so in this class.” There are too many people out there who don’t know what we celebrate on July 4 …

… and if they can’t read and write and do math, that’s a priority.

What you wrote truly touched me because I know there are thousands of children that are suffering this torture at the hands of our schools. Thanks for enlightening those teachers that read this. Jan

Our school district uses total inclusion in elementary school, there are no resource rooms; the teachers do not co-teach, although specialists are available to consult. I expect different size systems(ours is quite small), have different needs. Some of the lower functioning students(MR, autistic) do have aides in their classrooms

YOU ARE SO RIGHT ON!
Putting these kids in general Ed is a cruel joke. My son is living proof. He spent a day at a private school designed for LD kids and I spent 15 minuts sitting in each class listening to the class being taught. The classes had no more than 12 kids. The lecture was being taught in an appropriate way with appropriate languge. It was not watered down. It was explicit and every kid sat focused in that lecture, eyes on the instructor. At recess, these kids looked like they had died and gone to heaven. They were so happy to be there. The curriculum is designed to remediate and accelerate to get them able to survive in mainstream and this school has succeded wildly and so have their students. After my son came home that day, he said “Wow that was a school I can really learn in! We studied sea creatures in science, can you take me to visit a tide pool soon?”
His public school has great score’s and a great reputaion but it has failed him miserably. I have spent $14K on Lindamood bell so far in the past two years. Other wise he would now be 4 years behind instead of 2.
Public schools need to set up campus’ for LD kids to go where the can be remediated and accelerated until they are ready for mainstream with accomodations and support.

Okay got to add to this. Ready for mainstream? This IS mainstream.
Again,it tweaks me to hear this kind of statement. Who’s mainsream do they have to get ready for?

Both of my boys are also at a private school for gifted lder’s the whole school has no more than 22 kids in it. Grades 2nd through 12 th grade,they are taught at whatever level they are at.Except science,social studies,there they are taught at the same level.

They just got back from a week long trip to the Florida Keys. They snorkeled the coral reef.2nd thru 12th grades. Yes,this was part of their science curriculum. Gosh they could have read about it in a book,could of use a great software program,hell they could have saw a wonderful video on the coral reef. But no,they went there,they saw it,they saw the reef,they touch it,they experienced it,they learned about it. They will NEVER forget it.
Yes,22 kids,ADHD/LD/ODD/AS/CAPD you name it they all have some or most of these labels. And not to be forgotten was all the way down there(it is a 4 hour trip for us in florida)They went to the Edison House,the Coral castle,they ECHO park,the everglades,the fruit and spice park,monkey jungle,parrot jungle,even ripley’s believe it or not& The Hemingway house.

The kids LD doesn’t matter here,it is a minor annoyance. For example,my oldest 7th grade,has a math level of 3rd grade,he was on a 2nd grade level two years ago when we placed him here. Math time comes,he waits for the teacher who then gives him his assignment,just like all the other kids,he learns on his individual level. No anxiety,no pressure,no stress. Then when reading time comes,he also waits for the teacher to give him his reading assignment,because he is reading far above the 12 th graders. He can not appear to remain on task more then 2 minutes at a time,this was observed by his public school FBA.This school allows him to draw while listening in class. He doesn’t have to look at the teacher,he doesn’t even have to nod and smile at the teacher. The teacher understands for the first time in his life that when he draws,when he looks around,when he looks down,he is getting it! Auditorily,this is how he learns. No more look at me ,listen to me! Hey,Earth to John! No more does he ever have to hear this. This program is a college prep school,they fully expect every student to go on to college, I fully intend on them staying there until that time.

This IS their mainstream,their planet,hell it is my planet,why would I ever send them back to public school??

Social skills? Like I said 2nd thru 12th. There are some 9th graders who are more comfortable playing with 4th graders. There are some 4th graders more comfortable playing with 12 th graders. They socialize pretty well,some play chess,some play Mage knights,some even read,during there break,hard to believe I know. Here, it is okay to be different,no one cares,no one makes them feel different,no one makes them feel bad for being different,as a matter of fact,they celebrate it..

Mainstream? What mainstream? My kids never want to go back,I won’t make them…This is their mainstream,and they love it.

AND my friend it is the way Life goes. We all migrate to people we like,we understand,that are like us,why can’t they?

Okay okay,but correct the spelling pleeeeaaaassseee!

>>Okay okay,but correct the spelling pleeeeaaaassseee!<<

lol!
With two dyslexic kids and one dyslexic husband, I’m
a walking dictionary. Been known to spell through
the bathroom door.

Anne

Isn’t it amazing that we have all these examples of how things
work but so few places where it is available.

Anne

Socks, I want to go to your kids’ school!!!! lol!!!

Socks,

Wow! I didn’t know all that about you thank you for sharing.

My son acted with total maturity and compasion yesterday that brough me to tears. I do not think a “normal” 9 yr. old could have done what he did.

Our dog was hit buy a speeding truck Wed evening at 8 p.m. We couldn’t find him anywhere and redneck driver wasn’t sure exactly what point in the road he hit him. Poor Tobey was out in the rain all night somewhere I was sure he was dead but looked again in the morning.

My son came home from school his dad was working late so he was alone. Calmly, he called me at work and told be Tobey was home but he couldn’t walk and asked could I come home. I rushed home about 10 mins. my son had carried the 50lb dog into the house, laid him on pillows and was trying to give him water with his hand. I called the vet that we were coming they told me they would bring out a cart to take the dog inside. We got there I told my son to go tell them we are here well, Mr. Mind of His own went inside told them we are here and that it is his dog and he will carry it in himself.

We have only had that dog 3 months he is an SPCA special but he and my son are incredibly bonded. If my son did not have his incredible love and ability with animals I don’t think the poor hurt dog would have made it home.

I swear I thought it was the new version of Homeward Bound.

Yes our ld people with their vision and ability to see into people is an amazing talent. I want a bumper sticker that says I am proud to be his mom.

How is the dog doing? Hope he is okay. Your son has a special unique quality and it should be cherished and celebrated. Good luck to you and your wonderful son.

Hi Lisa,

Tobey has a badly broken front leg had to get pins in it, a horrible gnash on his opposite side hind quarter got stiches and a drain. I pick him up today with lots of meds and he will be so happy to see his boy.

Thank you for asking and your good wishes.

Anne

You tell ‘em socks. I couldn’t have said it better myself. I laughed out loud and it brought tears to my eyes to read about someone experiencing school the way I did. I quit my first year of high school, shortly after my math teacher said I had to write out the problems even after I showed him how I did it in my head… and my social studies teacher refused to allow me to take the multiple choice exams in his class because I could pass without ever turning in homework. I didn’t write. I still don’t write. I’m so grateful for computers, even with computers writing is a struggle but without them I’d never have graduated from college.

My children are not geneticly predisposed to conformity. If you were their teacher I would hope that you would help them to compensate for their weaknesses and develop their strengths without thinking that success is only being like everybody else. If all minds were the same the human race would never move forward.

Socks, you give me goose bumps and inspiration. My boys are only 4 and 5. The 4 year old has been in early intervention, for ASD. 2 years now. The 5 year old is just now getting evaluated privately. I kept out of kindergarten last year and have to decide what to do next. I hope I’m able to find educational resources as wonderful as what you have found for your children.

I am going to stay out of the debate over regular ed classroom and ld classroom and just put in my two cents on what a makes a great special ed or ld teacher!!

My brother goes 3 days a week to a reading specialist for Wilson. He works very hard and it is still a struggle. The only thing that has kept him sane and on track has been his reading specialist. She is by far the best teacher I have ever met. She doesn’t just teach him to read she shows him that she generally cares about him. He is in the regular ed classroom for science, math, and social studies, and goes to special ed room for language arts. Even though he has an aide in the three regular ed classrooms he still gets frustrated. Probably three out of the five school days he goes to the reading spec. room and asks for her help.

He has been with her for three years, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. She showed him right away that she cared about him and his success. She gloats to everyone about him, she calls home when she notices that he isn’t himself. I think that by showing him that she cared and was truly going to help him no matter what it made him stay with her and he has made tremendous progress.

I guess my point is, and I understand every child is different, that you can give your child all the help in the world and all the love that you have but when they get to school if they aren’t getting that same kind of attention it hurts them. They need to know that while they are gone and at school for six hours a day there is someone they can turn too when they need it.

K.

Sounds soo much like my youngest. Give your boy and your dog a hug for me!

Good news! Maybe not the bathroom door part,but. I have a dictionary right next to me at my desk here,but if I stopped to check spelling I mess up my flow of ideas. I stray as it is!

Speaking of, believe it or not. It is so funny to watch us parents when we get together. Noone wants to leave and way too many people have said they want to start all over again and go to this school! My son’s teacher sat me down one day and taught me my son’s math lesson,so that I could help him!

It is an awsome school…..

Thanks socks I did give them both tons of huges all weekend. Toby, the dog, is one hurtin puppy with his broken leg and gnashed open hind quarter on the opposite side. But, he is with his boy and still waggin away.

I have re-read your post ldr post again. They are still doing the same stuff to my son. Red pen for neater writing, marking math wrong because his 4’s are like the one I just typed not open so teacher marks math wrong cause it looks like 9. He is not allowed to read books he wants to read she says they are too hard. He has gotten 100% on spelling tests for months but she will only give him a S+ on his report card. It is absolutely insane.

Who in the real world has to read math problems about who had the most apples?

My son is like you too way ahead of everyone else that is why he is a star soccer player and wrestler he visualizes what the other kid(s) will do next and decides his moves.