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IEP issue
I think it's very pro-active and great that you want to do this, and of course just about anything you do to support this at home has got to be helpful. That being said, however much you may want to support your child's education at home, unless your really going to go all out and home-school entirely, you may not want to let the school lay this at your feet this way. Spelling is still an issue for my daughter, and she's in 7th grade. Great ideas, but she often misspells the same word in several different ways on the same paper. You are not really going to know whether this is related to a specific learning disability or not until he's tested. If it is, and your son is going to remain in this school, he is going to need more support from his school with this. Even if it's not dyslexia or dysgraphia, or some other specific learning disability -his AD/HD may very much affect things like handwriting, spelling, remembering the steps in long division, and memorizing multiplication tables, in addition to making him just a little more likely to forget to write down homework assignments, losing assignments, simply not turning things in, and doing not so well on timed tests. Keep good records of what's happening with this, and keep asking for help from the school. Whatever you do at home needs to support his in-school education, not replace it entirely. I'm a big believer in judging individual progress, not necessarily only comparing with what everyone else is doing, at least up to a point. I know that concept can get out of control, and over done, when high school students aren't able to read, etc., and I'm not suggesting that you never compare your kid's progress with where he should be. However, if this is a particular problem area for him, expecting some miracle-program to catch him up might not be realistic. When it comes to vocabulary, it isn't just about spelling, anyway. How is his comprehension of the vocabulary he's being taught? I would hope that would weigh more heavily than just spelling, just like the content of a paper or a paragraph should weigh more heavily than neat handwriting. This sounds like an area for testing, and maybe even for further modifications, since just cutting down the number of words didn't work. At the same time, I'd want to make sure he's getting access to the part of this that really matters-comprehending and being able to use the vocabulary. The spelling may simply never really come naturally for him. I would find out first if this really is what the school wants, or just a pet thing of this particular teacher's. Then I would bring my concerns to the school and request testing, in writing. There going to do that, and they'll be on a timetable. Talk this over with the school when that testing comes back, there will be a meeting about it. Share what you've done at home, sure, but don't let the school get out of acknowledging that he's having a really hard time with this, and that this falls into their realm of responsibility. Their goal should be to help him, not just tell you what he's not good at, or use it as a reason to put him in slower classes-unless there's a real need for that. Even if there is, you have every right to then find out what exactly they want to do, and why they think whatever they propose is going to work for him. That's also a good time to find out what else you can do at home to support this. Rather than trying to come up with a replacement for whatever program they have at school, I'd be trying to instead, fit their existing program to meet your son's individual needs. That's the real purpose of an IEP, anyway.
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22 Oct 2010 @ 1:36 PM
24 Oct 2010 @ 11:43 PM