Email from easy child's special resource teacher today

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
"Hello,

My name is M and I’m C's Resource Support teacher. S (school psychiatric) forwarded me your email and I wanted to let you know that we share your concerns and would like to help.

I have read his IEP and it looked like the previous district recommended C receive 55 minutes a month of support services and speech twice a month. We will be holding a 30 day placement meeting soon to examine if the placement recommendation is successful or if C might need the services adjusted. If you can let me know your availability, I’ll get the meeting scheduled immediately. Thanks!

Right now I see C 5 times a week for nearly an hour each time. I also have been stamping his notebook to have him come to additional support sessions (beyond the 5 he already sees me) in order to get caught up on the work he’s missed. He has buddied up a bit with some of the other students in our resource class but with his more advanced placement in math his schedule is a bit different than the other students. We’ll work on trying to get him paired up with some students during lunch break so he doesn’t feel so alone. I know it’s really hard to go to a new school especially when you’ve already started the year someplace else. C and I talked about it but he said he was okay. Thanks for sharing more information on that one, we’ll use it as a jumping off point to get him more involved during lunch and with his other classes.

I am concerned about C's work both in and out of the classroom. Christian has not been completing his homework once he leaves campus. In his resource period he is given time to begin his homework with teacher support. We’ve also been working on getting organized and tracking down missing assignments. C has had a lot of trouble writing down his daily homework assignment which might be part of the reason that he’s not doing all of his homework. All of the assignments are posted on the TeWinkle website every day if C forgets to write them down. Also, he can go on School Loop to check to see what he’s missing and check out the teacher web pages. Yesterday I suggested to C that he come and work with me after school until 4 to get his homework finished. He said that you picked him up, so do you think this could be an option? I know he’s been here only a week but we really don’t want him to fall farther behind.

As far as during class, C has not really been participating in his Math or English classes. Both teachers came to me with concerns, so I sat down with C yesterday and asked him if the math was too hard. He said he didn’t understand but that he finally did yesterday. We talked about how he needed to ask the teacher for help if he was stuck. He could have even asked me for help, which may have been easier since we work together in such a small group and it’s less intimidating. I also talked with him about how he’s not the only student who has questions and that when he asks a question he’s really helping the whole class, not just himself. Also, we use Common Core math at TeWinkle and a lot of it uses group and partner work. I’ll talk to his teacher to see if we can pair him up with some students that he might feel more comfortable speaking with and sharing. All of C's teachers are available twice a week during school time to provide additional help if he has questions. I pulled him in with me yesterday to get caught up but can definitely send him to any one of the single subject teachers instead. We all want him to feel comfortable and successful.

I will talk to the Speech and Language therapist to see what we have in the way of social group support. I know that we do a lot of that at the elementary level but I’m also new to the middle school this year and am not completely familiar with the entirety of the services on the secondary level. If you don’t mind, I will forward your email to the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) to get her recommendations.

Thanks again for contacting us. His IEP was very basic and we don’t have his other file information yet from the previous school district, so any information you share is extremely helpful. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you need anything else. I respond best to email, but am on campus from 8-4 or so every day."


I received this email from his Special Education teacher this morning. easy child will be back on his medications on Monday so hopefully that will help along with the school resource teacher and speech therapist. Sounds like they are going to help him make a few friends too so hopefully he won't feel so lost and alone.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
That is a lengthly and quite comprehensive response to your concerns....certainly more than many here have gotten from their schools resource support. Fingers crossed that this indicades genuine caring combined with specific effort to help him do his best. DDD
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
She seems to care. Maybe she even understands Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) too :) I like her tone. She did not sound condescending at all.

Sonic struggled with both understanding all of his work AND asking for help for a long time. Actually, in the long run, the small class he was in for Reading and Math was a Godsend as he did learn to trust the teacher and aide in that room, and the other kids. Is C getting any interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)?
 

jal

Member
What a fantastic, realistic, proactive response you got. I don't post much but have followed your story. Great start on both you and the teacher. Getting back on his medications and the support offered should catch him up quickly.
 

TeDo

CD Hall of Fame
I really like the fact that she is trying so hard to help easy child. One thought that came to mind as I was reading about him telling her when he needs help "since they work together so often" is that with difficult child 1, it takes MONTHS of constant contact before he trusts anyone enough to ask for help. I'm glad the teacher is consistently encouraging self-advocacy but I really hope she gives him the time HE needs to reach that point. It sounds like this school might turn out to be a very good thing for easy child.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Well easy child is back on his medications as of yesterday and the resource teacher made good on her word. She helped easy child after school yesterday for forty five minutes. I gotta hand it to easy child. When he is on his medications he can produce a lot of work. Yesterday he did about a week's worth of Math homework after school. He got caught up rather quickly. She is going to continue to work with easy child after school to help him get his homework done. Yesterday he still had some Language Arts homework when I picked him up, and we agreed that he can work on any extra homework in the morning before school. School starts at 8:40 and I drop him off at 7:15 so that gives him plenty of time to get breakfast in the cafeteria and to get some work done. I still haven't heard back about the IEP but it should be taking place in the next three weeks or so. I feel good about the new school and the help he will be getting. Plus easy child said he made three new friends, which is a super plus!
 
L

Liahona

Guest
That is a very nice turn around. Most kids really do well when they can. How wonderful of him to work so hard after school.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I talked to his teacher again yesterday and she says he is all caught up. I gotta really give him credit. He did a lot in the last couple of days. The teacher says she's still willing to help easy child after school since I pick him up so late anyway. What a huge relief. It's nice to have the homework burden taken off of me a little bit. And God bless easy child. He really is doing a tremendous job and I'm very happy about that.
 
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