I hope somebody can help. We have a 6th grade girl with Non verbal LD and Central Auditory Processing problems and an expressive language problem. :( This however is not the problem. We have been able to get her an almost adaquate IEP and she went from flunking 5th grade to A’s, B’s and C’s in most of her classes. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? It would be except the school, teachers, guidance people are all over us because, we give our child the idea she can’t. :shock: Yes, days, nights, and weekends, 12 years of trying to figure out new ways of helping what we did not understand for the first 10 years of her life, and they think we are telling her she can’t do well in school. Our daughter tends to shut down when incoming imformation is too much. She has made extrodinary progress. We could not be more proud of her. Now for the question :?: How do we get them to understand that it’s not a case of laziness, or that her parents are telling her she can’t. “IF SHE WOULD JUST TRY HARDER :!: ” seems to be the mantra they live by. I have never seen a child try and succeed in such a short amount of time. They should be prasing her to the hilt. We have have meetings, sent letters given printed information explaining these disorders and disabilities to key people. Nobody is listenting. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
questions to ask
I’d ask them - what is it that makes you believe it’s a lack of insufficient effort on her part? She seems to work quite hard to us - what are you seeing that suggests a lack of effort on her part?
(they can’t say her grades - low grades are the symptom of a problem - they are not the problem itself)
don’t even address their other point - that it’s you limiting her than limits her. Or if you must - ask them - why do you think we believe she can’t do well in school when clearly she is doing quite well in school?
Things I’v learned teaching LD 8th graders and with my own now 11th grade son. ( You probably do all of these, but #3 is my family secret)
1) Make sure people see how much you are trying. You are organized, know the assignments, are following along in class. If you’re not raising your hand to answer a question, look like you are thinking about a good answer.
2) As parents, document, respond, be calm, but insistent. If she has spent an inordinate amount of time on an assignment document it by writing a note.
3) (family secret) You have a conversation about how some people just don’t understand learning disabilities (**Watch the FAT City video together.) Actually, at my son’s age we call a spade a spade- Some people are stupid!! Don’t let them get you down, you know how hard you are trying. **I spent years explaining to my LD students how Mrs. ___ considers the D she gave you to be just below average, but still passing. For my own son, because we could…we waved goodbye to ignorance and placed him in a special ed school for high school. Huge sacrifice, but worth every worry free moment.