I use to be under the impression that LD classes is where they “dumped” students who interfered with other students learning and not much was expected of these kids. I have read so much about kids being in LD classes and never catching up or improving. Seldom did I read about any beneficial response. It was with a heavy heart that allowed my oldest son to be placed in LD classes. He is diagnosed with ADHD, inattentive type, CAPD, and receptive expressive language disorder. We had tried medications-he was a non-responder, we tried an FM system, resource room and speech. He was frustrated with his regular classes and was getting no where. This was 7th grade last year, when we arrived in this new district. He was reading at a 3rd grade level and was anywhere from 2-3 years behind in all academic subjects, he hated school, and did not apply himself. The teachers first focus was his self esteem, self image and organization. The beginning of the year was horrible he made little progress and got almost all D’s, towards the end of the year things started to improve. We thought the beginning of this year would bring much of the old but to our surprise he is doing very well. He even got a B in his regular social studies class! Three of his teachers have commented on how attentive and hard working he is! It is like a complete 180. His reading has improved to almost the 6th grade level and he completes 80% of his assignments-almost all on his own. His only remaining weak area is reading with a 2 year delay. With such a postive response to the smaller instruction size we decided to hire a 1 to 1 tutor. He has been with her for 1 1/2 months and we have already noted a dramatic improvement. He has learned to read the questions at the end of the chapter 1st to form a purpose for reading, he skims and scans, and is better at picking out pertinant information. His tutor has commented on how smart he is and what a pleasure it is to work with him. This year when they asked me if they could place my PDD-NOS son in a LD class it was an easy decision. I am looking forward to the rest of the year.
I wish we could all be so lucky to find a teacher who knows how to teach a child in their zone of proximal development, provide the scaffolding they need for success and then slowly decrease the support so that they can be successful on their own.
Part of your son’s success I am sure is due to your support and also his own maturity and improvement in his self-esteem. I have seen this happen with kids who are ADD…the tranformation between 6th and 8th grades is a sight to behold as they become more mature and responsible.
It is great to hear that your children are doing well.