Prejudice against LD kids

Our district includes everyone. I would suggest that the IEP make modifications so that your child can gain access to these programs. I would try by calling an iep meeting and address the issues.

I would tend to agree with LL and I think I will follow this advice as well.

Here’s something I have noticed. My son goes to the public school although I would prefer to have him at the Catholic school, but they cannot address his dyslexia.

We have the same dilemma you have, tryouts for after school activities. My son has yet to make the cut for anything even though he is athletically talented and interested in almost all of the other extracurricular activities.

However, he is on all of the sports teams at the Catholic school (he is eligible because he attends religious education there once a week). But their policy at the Catholic school is anybody that shows up for registration makes the team. It has been a real saving grace for us because my son finds MUCH success in sports and his self-esteem has soared because of this.

Isn’t that ironic, though. They won’t accomodate LD, yet they don’t even realize how they are helping those very same children with their extracurricular sports and activities policy.

I’m not one to cry discrimination, but I do think that the public school needs to educated to the harm they are doing.

And I believe that LL is right, you would probably have more success in dealing with this during the IEP. You should be able to make your point that your child needs to find success and requires the social interaction and peer acceptance that these school activities will provide.

Good luck, and above all, even though I know its easier said than done, try to keep your cool.

Our district also takes everyone but they have to fill out an application. They state the reason for the application is to show intent and find out why the child chose this paticular club. Included in the application is reading and signing the code of conduct stating you will not violate any of the school rules and will maintain good grades. My LD son is in Marching band, Young Authors, and the art club. The directors of the program are aware of his learning differences and have no problems with his participation. The band director even stated he wished more of the LD students would realize they were elegible to join as he finds them to be very dedicated.

I really do understand about the blood boiling — you want to go into battle. If you want to win this battle, though, you have to think strategy.
Gifted programs almost always have more parents who think their kids qualify than do. So this principal is armed and ready for just one more demanding, pushy parent. You have to figure out which buttons are going to work before you push them.
One of the most important factors is precedent — if your kiddo gets in, will a flood of others make the same demand? So you have to make your case different, and you can — your son has a disability and he has the legal right not to be kept out of school activities on the basis of that disability. He’s got a mess of legal paperwork the Other Pushy Parents don’t. So… a very calm assertion that your son really, honestly qualifies for the program — with accommodations per his disability — has a much better chance than a stormy one (though depending on the atmosphere, the subtle threat of legal action can be very effective).
The other important thing is to get all the info you can about that selection process - are there teachers who’d agree your son should be in one of these groups? Get ‘em on your side. Line up your allies.
And finally, though, is the reality that you have to choose your battles. If this is one that you are going to lose — if it’s very competitive, then it’s also possible that the activity itself is full of the atmosphere of competitive brainiacs. Fighting hard to get into an “enrichment” where snippy overachievers make the kiddo feel like a biscuit would be a serious waste of energy. What teachers do the activity — ones that get along with your son?

All children who receive special education services through the IDEA also have Section 504 protection - equal access to the same education, activities, emplyment opportunities, etc. that people without disabilites are able to participate in. In other words, YES, it is a violation of a child’s civil rights to be discriminated against, or not allowed to participate in the same activities as children without a disability, just because they have a disability. It does not mean that children with disabilities have to automatically be selected to participate because they have a disability, but they must have equal access. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 also states that accommodations and/or modifications MUST be made so that those with disabilities can participate.

Sounds just like what they made Negros in the South do before 1964. The old poll tax and a literacy test. Anybody over 60 remember that ? The folks are picking on LD kids weak areas to deny them access to extracurricular activities in school. An essay is next to impossible for dyslexics or kids with problems in writing neatly or processing difficulties. Think…

Your blood should boil. Mine would.

A school district would never make a child who is in a wheelchair complete a physical test in order to join a club, would they? So why would they have a test that includes reading/writing for an LD child? It’s discrimination. The LD child could take the same test, with accomodations made for time, and format (take it orally, have a scribe, etc).

My husband is dyslexic. He has suffered all his life with people treating him differently. He would be in that office demanding an accomodation. Your child has every right to be in a photography class just like the rest of them.

I agree with you. What does it matter how well a child writes for admission into a photography club? And is it the school’s intention to screen out children with writing issues?

I would certainly go in and calmly ask why the students with learning differences are excluded? Is it the school’s intention to do it this way? (I’d also wonder whether it’s legal to do things the way they’re doing it - a good lawyer could give them a good run for their money on this)

If you can’t change the system and the way they do it, settle for getting your son into the photography club if that’s where you’d like him to be. Their system is grossly unfair but sometimes all we can do is save our own children from its mistakes.

Is this a public school? Public schools shouldn’t be offering little groups taught by their teachers that exclude other children , ld or not. The admission criteria needs to be changed but ideally there should be a creative, enriched group for every child in the school to be a part of.

That “words before art” trade off sounds familiarly irritating.

Maybe the teacher or organizer of the program just does not know better.

I taught for a private accredited Art School and witnessed an odd erosion of the perceptual arts over the years. One afternoon a student came up to me almost in tears because her instructor insisted that she learned how to defend (!) her work in writing before she even considered making it.
So - it may be that one of this teacher or, some other similarly influenced student has planned this program at your school. To them –they are just dutifully following the model that trained them - without considering that teaching Art is an ecological activity.

If you ask the directors what the entrance essay is, then mention how restrictive it is to some Ld children who are creatively bright, motivated and willing they should see what they are doing from another vantage.

Calm’s good …. Assume they do not know better, it’ often the case. Moreover, if it isn’t well, as Pop use to say, “Do you want to get mad, or, do you want to change the thing that irritates you. ”

All the best-
Bill