Truly Losing My Patience With easy child's Teacher

[Bunny]

difficult child was always an excellent student. We had all kinds of problems with him, but school/homework was never one of them.

Then there is easy child. easy child is a smart kid, and he can do the work, but it just does not come as easy for him and he needs to work a little harder at it. I do what I can with him, but honestly there are days when I just have to walk away from him in frustration over the whining about homework.

Last year, easy child was placed in guided reading support. He was not placed until March and I was wondering how much they would really be able to help him in the few months that were left in the schooll year. I was very (and happily) surprised. He absolutely blossomed!

That brings us around to this year. I requested that he be placed in reading support for this school year. I was told no, he doesn't need it, he's fine. I told them no, he's not fine. Homework is a nightmare and I think that his problems with reading have alot to do with it. Again, no. I just have to make him sit there and get the work done. (Sounds like the old "it's the parents' fault" excuse to me, but what do I know? I'm just the mother). Homework that should have taken half an hour (according to them) was taking an hour and half and often ended with easy child in tears, but he needed no reading help. Yeah.

They do this program called "Fundations". It was never really explained to us what Fundations was, but to me is sounded like it was connected to reading. They take Fundations tests every so often and easy child brings home a sheet with his grades on it for me to sign. A 16 and above is a passing grade. 15 and below is failing. Fail two tests in a row and you get send for "Double Dose Fundations". A few weeks ago he brings this sheet home which shows two failing grades in a row. I know that I should have sent the teacher an e-mail making sure that he was sent for the double dose, but in all honestly, I kept meaning to do it, and then I just forgot about it. easy child brings home the grade sheet the next time and he does really well, so I asked him if he did so well because he go extra help? "I didn't get extra help," he tells me. I sent the teacher a note pointing out the two failing grades and asked why these services were not given to him. Her reply was that there was a mistake on his grade sheet and that he actually passed one of the units that was marked as failing. Really?

Yesterday easy child comes home from school with a letter addressed "To The Parents Of easy child" It's a letter, that I need to sign and return, telling me that they want to put him guided reading support. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!! Have I not been asking for this since September??

And she finally advised that Fundations is not reading, it's phonics.

Truly, I am losng my patience

 

[InsaneCdn]

{{hugs}}
<I can't type what is going through my mind... but you can probably read mine, just like I can read yours...>

 

[DammitJanet]

Phonics is not reading? Since when. Someone needs to inform a whole lot of people of that theory. I like a combination of whole word and phonics. Im not sure how old your son is but there are a lot of things online that he may like to play with that will help him with struggling reading skills. One is called ABCmouse or something close to that. Also I love some of the videos on youtube for word lists. They have great cute video's to help kids learn words. I downloaded a ton of them for my granddaughter.

 

[aeroeng]

In 2000 the National Reading Panel analyzed over 30 years of reading remediation research and determined that phonemic awareness was the most effective technique to support reading remediation. So I would bet the phonics program was truly helpful. But, you were still correct. He should have been in the reading support group all along. Very frustrating.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Bunny - Does easy child have an IEP? any dxes?
If not, I'd be pushing.
School doesn't WANT to go that route - but... obviously, they aren't getting her what she needs.
(you know the drill - or go look on Special Education for the latest rounds we've helped others through...)

 

[buddy]

arrrrggggg so so sorry.....

 

[Bunny]

Janet, thanks for the suggestions. I will look into things.

Insane, no he has no IEP and no diagnosis's. He just seems to struggle with reading. He's very capable, but he seems to have forgotten alot of his reading strategies and would much rather have someone just give him the answers than figure it out himself.

I just got off the phone with the teacher. I understand what she is saying, but I'm still not pleased in any way. They have seen him struggle with reading all year. They have given him extra help in the classroom, used small reading groups. Unfortunately, he "did not qualify" for help until now, because he failed something called a Dibbles test. Never thought I would be happy for a failed test.

 

[Wiped Out]

Frustrating!!!!!

 

[InsaneCdn]

Bunny...

Let's see - he's 7, right? (or does your sig need an update? we often forget that!)
Which would put him in about grade 2.

Just my experience, but...
Red flags now = bigger and more red flags next year or the year after.

The kids have until the end of grade 3 to master basic skills - reading, writing, arithmetic.
After that, they are expected to USE those skills to do "real" work, and the load gets heavy, fast.

If he's into the last half of grade 2 and still struggling with reading... then either he has a Learning Disability (LD), OR there are other issues that show up as a reading issue - working memory, for example.

The fact that he "failed" the standardized test should give you a good reason to push for a full set of evaluations. (I'm not in the US... others will have to help you with what to ask for). Catch whatever can be caught, as soon as possible. This "reading" problem might just be the tip of an iceberg that you don't see yet.

The cost to NOT dealing with this early? is... other problems get added... anxiety, depression, behaviour issues. And once those come into the picture, it becomes a much harder battle to get to the bottom of the real issues. While easy child is still a easy child... please consider going digging.

 

[DammitJanet]

It could be a reading Learning Disability (LD) or he just could be slow in catching on for some odd reason like not getting the foundation in the early years. If he simply didnt get the idea of phonics because they didnt use them when he was in the early years and just used whole words and he is a phonics type kid, he would naturally be lost. Sure there are words that have to simply be whole words only but some words can be phonics. Take the way my granddaughter is learning right now. She has sight words and words she goes A
on one hand and then claps it over to the T sound on her other hand to make the word AT.

You may want to try Sylvan to see if they could catch him up.

 

[DammitJanet]

It is abcmouse.com and it goes from age 2 through grade 1 but if your child has a reading difficulty I am sure it would be good for him to play on. I plan on having Keyana play on it this summer and then having McKenzie start it as soon as she is old enough. We are already starting McKenzie on Your Baby Can Read. She started at 3 months and is already clapping and kicking when those words come on! Now I will actually be amazed if this program works but we shall see...lol. I think it is amazing that a baby will clap when the word clap comes on the TV!

 

[Bunny]

I just wrote a letter to the school and will be sending it certified, return receipt requested, asking that easy child have a complete learning evaluation done. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for the help!!