My daughter is in the 3rd grade. Every grade before this she has done well. She has made A’s and B’s on her report card. This year she is having a very tough time, but is passing with A’s, B’s and C’s. The school said they thought she may have ADD so I had her screened through a doctor. She has no characteristics and the doctor said she did not have ADD. The school then had her screened for dyslexia. She did not appear to have this. Then they tested her phonetic base to see if she knew her basic sounds. She tested to high to qualify for help. They said she had a good phonetic base. So I took her to Sylvan Learning Center and had her tested in Reading. There they said she was on 3rd grade level, but had many gaps. So we began going to Sylvan to work on those skills. In Texas, beginning in the third grade they give the TAAS test. They gave a practice this week and my daughter did not do very well. Now the teachers are all worried that she won’t pass the tests and want her to be tested for sp.ed. so she won’t have to take the test. I am frustrated. I am a high school special education teacher myself and am disgusted with the idea that they are more worried about the school’s overall rating than with her academic success and self-esteem. I know how the sp.ed. system works and I don’t even think she would qualify. I also don’t feel that she is getting what she needs in the classroom. Does anyone relate to this? Any suggestions?
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
Talk to the school psychologist they might be able to go over with you your concerns and what they can test for.The speech therapist might also help determine if it is a language based problem that is creating the problem.Write a note to psychologist so you will get a reply for your concerns.
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
I have a 3rd grade daughter that is struggeling as well. Her grades are fine but things take longer for her to grasp. The school did not test her though because all they care about is the fact that she is grade appropriate. They are finally have a meeting regarding giving her special help because she also tested poorly with the stadardized tests. It seems to me that the special ed programs are only for the kids that can’t get by in a regular classroom. If I didn’t continue to beg for help. She is having social problems aswell and if she hadn’t tested poorly, she would have been written off and just struggled by. I have my daughter tutored twice a week outside of school. The gudiance counselor even admitted that perhaps without the special work outside of school she might not even get by. But what are we suppossed to do, let our kids fail so that the school will give them the extra help they need or worse off put them in a special ed class that they don’t belong in. Doesn’t seem that they need something else for these kids???
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
The school then had her
screened for dyslexia.
What does this mean? Did they do the Psych eval with all subrtests and a full SL eval. That is what can indicate LD. Whenever I hear “screen” my ears perk up.
"Scored too high to get help..."
This phrase is a huge red flag to me. “Did not appear” to have dyslexia — the screening process will miss girls with good language skills who may have serious “holes” as the Sylvan folks said. “Tested too high to qualify for help” screams to me that they sensed problems… but dang it, she’s too smart and her parents have provided her with a good enriched background, so she’s not failing badly enough yet.
Can the sylvan folks tell you what the “holes” are? Do you have an idea of waht the holes are? What does she struggle with? Does she learn what she hears well but has trouble with independent reading? Is writing a big deal?
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
Maybe you should consider an assessment for a learning disability. This type of assessment should include screening for vision, hearing, speech, or language problems. If a discrepancy should appear in any of the core achievement areas, she would qualify for a learning disability and be eligible for special education services through her school. If this does appear it may provide her the extra help she need to find success in the classroom. In turn, these successes may help to boost her self-esteem and get her back on track.
Another idea to consider is helping her develop her organizational skills. Sometimes around the 3rd and 4th grade, with all of the curriculum and expectation changes, some students may become overwhelmed and seem as if they are falling behind. Maybe working with your daughter to develop her own personal structure or system to keep her assignments organized will help her at school.
As a parent, we would continue to monitor closely her grades and test scores. You can always have her tested at a later point. With regards to the state tests, on the federal IEP form she can be pulled out and given the test without time limitations and have parts read to her if you think that would help her feel better about taking the test. (except reading comprehension.)
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
What is she having a hard time with in 3rd grade? Is it everything or just one or two subjects? That would be important information to have to really comment on this.
What do you want for your daughter? You know the system. Do you want her in special ed? If you don’t, she doesn’t have to be there. Refuse the testing and tell them she has to take the TAAS.
If you want her to have an IEP, though, you’ll have to have her tested. Without an IEP, how will you get her anything different in a regular classroom?
If her only difficulty is in reading, Sylvan might help. But if she’s having trouble across the board, the situation might call for more than what Sylvan can provide.
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
I think others have asked the question, but do you think your daughter needs special ed? Do you think she might have a learning disability? Since you are a special education teacher I would imagine that you have encountered these questions with many children — but I guess it is always different with your own children. I was considering going to school for special ed. myself, but I decided to apply for the reading masters program (I won’t know if I’m accepted for a long time).
I had a problem, similar to yours in some ways, but different in others. I have been concerned about my older daughter’s difficulty with reading and writing for a long time. Her writing actually lags way behind her reading. I was finally able to get her qualified for special ed. (in the back door because she scored too high on testing). This year her teacher told me, “We’re concerned that she might not pass the writing SOL (Standards of Learning test in Virginia, similar to the TAAS).” Well, duh, I thought. I’ve only been trying to tell you for four years that my daughter has difficulty with writing! She does have to take the test, but I don’t know if it is included in the school’s scores since she is in special ed. She was classified as ED (long story!), so her scores may still count.
I agree it’s awful that the school is more interested in the school’s test scores than what is best for your daughter. Of course, if your daughter needs extra help, it could work out well. (These schools are under tremendous pressure to get good test scores, though — that’s a whole other topic!).
At least you are familiar with the special ed. “lingo” and can write letters with authority about the outcome that you desire.
Good luck to you. Dealing with school systems is not easy!
Margo
Re: "Scored too high to get help..."
,Regarding the dyslexic test, the school gave her a test made by Scottish Rite. This tests her phonics and word attack skills. They also look at her processing skills. Sylvan tested her receptive learning(ability to learn) and in reading. They found that she had an overall reading score of 3.1(3rd grade, 1st month). The test found that her sight vocabulary skills are strong(about 3rd/4th grade level. Her comprehension was 1.4. Sylvan feels that the root of her problem is phonics. They gave me a detailed breakdown of what she can and cannot do. She makes straight A’s in spelling and is a good writer. She just cannot sound out unfamiliar words and skips over when reading and results in no comprehension. Sue wrote:
>
> This phrase is a huge red flag to me. “Did not appear” to
> have dyslexia — the screening process will miss girls with
> good language skills who may have serious “holes” as the
> Sylvan folks said. “Tested too high to qualify for help”
> screams to me that they sensed problems… but dang it, she’s
> too smart and her parents have provided her with a good
> enriched background, so she’s not failing badly enough yet.
>
> Can the sylvan folks tell you what the “holes” are? Do you
> have an idea of waht the holes are? What does she struggle
> with? Does she learn what she hears well but has trouble
> with independent reading? Is writing a big deal?
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
She makes A’s and B’s in spelling, language, social studies, science and math. She makes C’s in reading. She struggles in all areas that require alot of reading, but she does well. She struggled on the TAAS practice test in Math because of the story problems.
Re: struggling in 3rd grade
I think I’d do the testing now. She’s bright enough so that if there is an LD, she could well be one of those kids where the school says “oh, dear, there does seem to be a problem — but she’s not eligible for help because it’s not bad enough.” Nothing more frustrating than whne *your* extra efforts are what means the school decides that they’re doing enough. The information will let you know how much of her problems are that the school hasn’t bothered to teach phonics so that kids can learn it, and how much is that she is wired to have an especially tough time with the phonics end.
How is her anxiety level?
Is she verbalizing any fears about the test?
You might go ahead with the LD testing just to cross
that off the list and help the teachers to keep exploring
options with you.
Anne