help - she's failing calc!

Unfortunately we appear to be a day late and a dollar short to this whole experience! New to this website, not new to the frustration of telling teachers there’s a problem, only to be told it’s developmental, etc. Doing some major self kicking in the butt for not having pursued the “problem” more aggressively for the past 12 years…

Our daughter is a 17-yr old senior @ a smallish combined middle/high school that unwisely chose to go to a 4-block system 5 years ago (90 minutes of class per day for 1/2 the year, totally new classes in January). She is a very bright kid, taking mostly honors classes, getting A’s & B’s - self-referred for LD assessment last year. Cannot spell her way out of a paper bag (thank goodness for computers); cannot retain math; blanks for tests; cannot break things down, but can do whatever is required if things are broken down for her; terrified to learn to drive - does fine behind the wheel, but clutches it so tightly, hunches forward, hyperventillates, etc., (not a pleasant sight!); physics teacher told assembled LD assessment group that she cannot solve problems if she reads them silently or orally to herself, yet can solve them without help if teacher reads them (without emphasizing words) to her; is unable to work fund raisers selling 50 cent ice cream cones, since she can’t figure out how much to charge people or how much change to give back, etc. Yet since 5th grade has wanted to major in Geology in college, is an excellent reader, has self-taught amazing amounts of material in geology, entomology, Ancient Egypt, etc.

So here’s the problem - the school district, since she gets A’s and B’s, refuses to help her. Was told she CANNOT be LD since she is passing Spanish, can speak coherently, can read, and has outside interests. Chose to ignore the 22 point difference between her verbal and performance, etc.

Rather than raise blood pressures, my husband & I chose to play ostrich for 9 months - until we got a call from our daughter’s AP calculus teacher the other day, telling us she has a 53% average in the class, and unless she manages to really ace the two tests next week, will have her first F on her report card. (How special that we got advance warning - one week - colleges won’t take that type of a grade seriously now, will they?)

She of course opted not to warn us about this - lying about how well she was doing in the class (C vs. F - they are about the same, no?).

Since she wants the degree in geology, calculus in college appears to be necessary. Her rationale for taking the course in HS was to prepare herself for it in college - not master it in HS, but have a basic understanding when she takes it in college, and therefore not fail it there. (being a small school, they only offer calc as an AP course, not regular).

Short of telling her to reasess her goals and give up on her dreams (we’ve always encouraged her to have a back up plan, in case interests changed, courses were too difficult, etc.), does anyone have any suggestions? She’s pretty down right now - the tears flow freely - since she is under the impression that she will never to able to get her degree - since she is, after all, too stupid to pass the necessary math courses (thank you school district for your encouragement). I truely believe that if her interests continue, she will be able to do it - assuming that at some point the maturity to go for help kicks in - and if she is fortunate enough to find a college that will give her the personalized attention she needs (any suggestions?), and teachers, staff that will work with her to teach her certain subjects in different ways. HELP???!!!

I apologize for the length - I think you can tell the frustration, anger, fear, etc, we feel! Any suggestions, help would be greatly appreciated.