Guest guest Posted July 27, 2006 Report Posted July 27, 2006 Here is my question for everyone. For those of you whose children are included in regular education classes, how far behind their peers would you say they are. Micah is at a pre-school level still learning his numbers and alphabet and some sight words in kindy, but socially he is doing really well. I hear some of you speak about your kids in school and they sound like they are not that far behind. For me, it doesn't matter because my ideal is to assimilate Micah into his community and if he is reading at a 1st grade level in the 4th or 5th grade...so be it. I just wondered how your kids were doing and how you all feel about this. Loree Quote
Guest guest Posted August 1, 2006 Report Posted August 1, 2006 Nick just completed high school with his age peers at age 18 and next month he will be attending a local community college part time. He has great difficulty with math and English. He has a strong interest in history, current events and professional sports. He is very social and amiable. This summer he is working as a counselor at the day camp run by our town recreation department. He does well with the younger children. How far behind is he? I don't know how to answer that at this point. As he and his peers graduate from high school, their abilities cover broad spectra in many dimensions – academically, physically, emotionally, socially, artistically, politically and so on. Nick is strong in some areas and weak in others. While he has difficulty with reading printed material, he absorbs information readily from television and the Internet. He demonstrates keen cognitive abilities and good judgment. He can carry on a conversation about any subject that interests him. His sentences are complex though he still has oral motor difficulties that impede his speech and fine motor difficulties that impede his writing and typing. How far behind is he? I don't believe linear scales have much meaning at this stage. This afternoon we filled out a questionnaire for his college academic counselor and Nick had to answer questions about his academic strengths and weaknesses. He is remarkably comfortable in recalling the subjects where he received low grades. " Remember math, dad. I got a D. " He also identified his strengths and his goals. As I think about it now, this may be his foremost achievement – learning about the various levels of his own diverse abilities and being comfortable with them. I don't believe he would have developed this degree of maturity if he hadn't worked through all those classes in algebra, geometry, English and history with his age peers. I once heard an opinion that human comparisons are diabolical. Maybe we should meditate on that when we become anxious over how far behind (or ahead) of their peers are our children. > > Here is my question for everyone. For those of you whose children are > included in regular education classes, how far behind their peers would you say > they are. Micah is at a pre-school level still learning his numbers and > alphabet and some sight words in kindy, but socially he is doing really well. I > hear some of you speak about your kids in school and they sound like they are > not that far behind. For me, it doesn't matter because my ideal is to > assimilate Micah into his community and if he is reading at a 1st grade level in the > 4th or 5th grade...so be it. I just wondered how your kids were doing and > how you all feel about this. > > Loree > > > Quote
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