HI. My son is 14 and will be a freshman in HS in September. My concern is that the school only has “support” for HS students, and the kids have to ask for it! Even tho he has an IEP, (which I havent signed yet) there is only one goal which is “academic suport”. The objective is that he “will ask for support in all classes.” Thats not what I would consider special education! What can I do for my son?? He has a lang. based disability, reading problems, short-term memory and ADHD. HELP! (ps.. we live in MA)
Re: SPED & High School
What “supports” is he supposed to ask for?
When I taught h.s. special ed I encouraged parents to have things like tests being read to a child *written in* and set up ahead of time, and *not* an option for the kid. It’s very rare for a kid to, essentially, raise his hancd and say “Oh, please, teacher, I’m a retard, can I go take my test in the retard room?” (THat’s about what it feels like to the student)
On the other hand, if it’s a given that they report to another classroom on test days (and if they forget or they need to report to the regular class first for attendance, then the teacher gives them a pass and says “you need to take this to the office for me”). They get the test read to them so instead of being a reading test it’s a Science test. (Sometimes you do have to make sure the resource teacher isn’t feeding ‘em answers, though.)
Same goes for support wiht organization… first question for you is do you have an ally at the school — somebody who can and will work with you?
Re: SPED & High School
HI.! MY NAME IS ANN MURILLO AND I HAVE A LEARNING DISABILITY AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS. CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME? I HAVE TROUBLE WITH READING COMPREHENSION, MATH SKILLS ARE LOW. I’M 25 YEARS OLD AND MY READING LEVEL IS 3RD GRADE LEVEL, MATH IS 5TH GRADE.
ANN MURILLO
Re: SPED & High School
Libraries and Community Colleges often have adult education courses for very cheap or free. They can sometimes help with getting testing done for learning disabilities, too.
Re: SPED & High School
It doesn’t sound like you have much of an IEP, maybe you should get an advocate. Try going to MASSPAC.COM, they have a list of advocates for Massachusetts. I am in Massachusetts as well and have a 14 yr old brother going to high school next year. It took an entire year to write one IEP and now we just found out it is basically useless.
My brother as auditory processing disorder and dyslexia. He recieves an entire page of accomodations. From having tests read to him to extra texts books at home, you name it, it’s in there!!
Try the library or bookstore on how to write IEP books, that is what I am doing to try and learn how to write a better IEP.
Thanks and Good Luck!!
K.
Re: SPED & High School
Sometimes community colleges have programs for adults with LD who need remediation.
this seems like a typical scenario to place the burden on the child. How can a child know to ask for help when sometimes they can’t articulate what they need help with and often they don’t know they need any clarification?
This situation for all of our children will only improve when special education is better funded. I wrote my state and national lawmakers yesterday encouraging funding. I suggest everyone do the same. The sad fact is that smart kids who don’t get the education they deserve can end up in trouble which is more costly than the cost of proper education in the first place.