I am wondering if it is too late to do anything to help a child who is now in sixth grade and it seems obvious to me she has dysgraphia and dyscalcula, or that there is a high probability. This is a child who has an IEP, but she qualified under an ED lable as well as the gifted.
Much of her education has been self teaching, or my interventions to try to help her learn things, as she has had very little time in the classroom due to many complications of the IEP being followed and such. She basically has had third grade and fifth grade in a regular classroom where she received daily instruction in the curriculum from the teacher. Due to her intelligence and that most of the work was done at home, so therefore no time constraints, she had managed to stay on grade level. This year in sixth grade it is becoming obvious she cannot maintain the same standards of work, partly because the work is harder, and partly because she cannot write legibly enough for the work to be graded sometimes, and partly because if she does laboriously take the time to write legibly, she does not have time to complete her assignments.
I always suspected the dysgraphia, but they discounted any problems regarding that, rejected my independent findings regarding visual motor difficulties, but did write accommodations into the IEP. She has an AlphaSmart and is supposed to get reduced writing, but it isn't happening. The AlphaSmart is in the room, but when she needs it, she has to get up and walk in front of the class to get it and she does not want them looking at her, so she doesn't use it. I have tried to encourage her to use it, but I think along with not wanting the other kids to look at her, and that they ask questions, is that the adults told her in the first few days of school that they knew she could write legibly if she just took her time. Yes, she can if she takes two hours to do a 30 minute assignment, and she can't do it consistently.
As for the dyscalcula, she has never been able to memorize basic math facts, such as when she looks at 6+7 she doesn't automatically remember that is 13, she has to add it on her fingers or count points on the numbers or something. I have never been able to find a way to help her learn her multiplication tables either, we have used many different strategies to attempt to help her learn those. She still uses tick marks on her paper to count it up, or other ways to determine the answer, and often loses track of what she is doing because she can't read what she has written in the borders. Then of course it takes longer than allowed to be able to come up with the answers.
Until this year she has been able to maintain an A-B grade level, but this year, with increased demands she is struggling and will be lucky to make a C average. Previous to now she has compensated with her intelligence and been able to get by.
After all this rambling, I guess my question is what can I do to help her overcome these unidentified problems? I am sure it would be pointless to bring it up at an IEP meeting, because their testing is always going to show she has no deficits (funny how that works, isn't it?), and I am not sure what can be done at this late date to help with dysgraphia and dyscalcula, since she is in sixth grade.
Thanks for any help.
mistmouse
Much of her education has been self teaching, or my interventions to try to help her learn things, as she has had very little time in the classroom due to many complications of the IEP being followed and such. She basically has had third grade and fifth grade in a regular classroom where she received daily instruction in the curriculum from the teacher. Due to her intelligence and that most of the work was done at home, so therefore no time constraints, she had managed to stay on grade level. This year in sixth grade it is becoming obvious she cannot maintain the same standards of work, partly because the work is harder, and partly because she cannot write legibly enough for the work to be graded sometimes, and partly because if she does laboriously take the time to write legibly, she does not have time to complete her assignments.
I always suspected the dysgraphia, but they discounted any problems regarding that, rejected my independent findings regarding visual motor difficulties, but did write accommodations into the IEP. She has an AlphaSmart and is supposed to get reduced writing, but it isn't happening. The AlphaSmart is in the room, but when she needs it, she has to get up and walk in front of the class to get it and she does not want them looking at her, so she doesn't use it. I have tried to encourage her to use it, but I think along with not wanting the other kids to look at her, and that they ask questions, is that the adults told her in the first few days of school that they knew she could write legibly if she just took her time. Yes, she can if she takes two hours to do a 30 minute assignment, and she can't do it consistently.
As for the dyscalcula, she has never been able to memorize basic math facts, such as when she looks at 6+7 she doesn't automatically remember that is 13, she has to add it on her fingers or count points on the numbers or something. I have never been able to find a way to help her learn her multiplication tables either, we have used many different strategies to attempt to help her learn those. She still uses tick marks on her paper to count it up, or other ways to determine the answer, and often loses track of what she is doing because she can't read what she has written in the borders. Then of course it takes longer than allowed to be able to come up with the answers.
Until this year she has been able to maintain an A-B grade level, but this year, with increased demands she is struggling and will be lucky to make a C average. Previous to now she has compensated with her intelligence and been able to get by.
After all this rambling, I guess my question is what can I do to help her overcome these unidentified problems? I am sure it would be pointless to bring it up at an IEP meeting, because their testing is always going to show she has no deficits (funny how that works, isn't it?), and I am not sure what can be done at this late date to help with dysgraphia and dyscalcula, since she is in sixth grade.
Thanks for any help.
mistmouse