Re: Not progressing at all

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/6/2006 11:06:11 AM Eastern Standard Time,

danasview@... writes:

How is he doing from your OWN perspective, not considering the scores?

Maybe his academics are not progressing, but he is progressing in

other areas. My son was like that for a while.

He is SO TOTALLY different at home. He does go off and do his own thing but

when we do something structured he follows and does whatever it is with us. He

is very verbal (although he still stims, has echolalia and scripts) and has

no problem asking us for things or telling us what he wants. He is a bit

bossy at home. He is semi social with us and very affectionate. He follows

commands better, responds to questions faster.

Generally at home we feel he is doing alot better in some areas, the same in

some and worse in others, but overall we see improvement. Nothing carries

over to school though. I just don't get it

Kerrie

[Guest guest]

>

> Those are the words I heard at 's school today.

This is a good justification to demand at least one, perhaps several,

independent evaluations.

How is he doing from your OWN perspective, not considering the scores?

Maybe his academics are not progressing, but he is progressing in

other areas. My son was like that for a while.

> He started off at 2 1/2 in an integrated class of 12, this year at

almost 4

> he was moved to a self contained of 12. For Kindergarten they are

suggesting a

> self contained of 6.

Just changing the class size is not sufficient. The school needs to

modify his ENTIRE program. A smaller class size is not the solution

if he is absolutely NOT learning the material.

Dana

[Guest guest]

Don't cry,maybe they are not teaching him the way he can learn.

Does he get any 1:1 research based instruction for his unique needs?

Usually the answer to this is no.He is going backward in scores because he

is not learning

based on the way they are teaching him.This is not his fault,and not yours

either.

start out reading your state's regulations No Child Left Behind and IDEIA

They are trying to life skills track your son by removing him from the

enviroment that has the regular education curricullum.Do not let them,but

stay polite as many LEA's can be somewhat

difficult to deal with

theresa

[ ] " Not progressing at all "

> Those are the words I heard at 's school today. His scores on

> standardized testing are lower than last year. Basically his raw scores

> are the same

> but his overall score is lower because it is adjusted for age. He is

> older,

> more is expected and therefore his final scores are lower than last year.

>

> He started off at 2 1/2 in an integrated class of 12, this year at almost

> 4

> he was moved to a self contained of 12. For Kindergarten they are

> suggesting a

> self contained of 6.

>

> why are we going backwards?? Off to cry..........

>

> Kerrie

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kerrie,

I'm not sure what is happening at your school, but I do know that

many kids are completely different at school than they are at home.

In parent-teacher interviews I used to get interrupted by parents

all the time with something like, " No, I'm 's mom, you

must be talking about someone else! " This because I was telling

them what a great kid he was (polite, hardworking, funny,

implicated, whatever). It sounds like you might have the opposite

situation here and if you do, then there is a reason for it.

If you think your son has progressed and if you think that he does

much better at home than at school, then the school isn't giving him

what he needs. IME, many schools/teachers take a one size fits all

approach. Also, IME, schools/teachers tend to want to measure

things that are easy to put on paper, which are often the least

important things. Many teachers seem to get hung up on one thing

(perhaps an area where your son has regressed?) and that clouds

their judgement in other areas. Have you considered going into the

school and watching what they do with/for your son? That might shed

some light on the situation.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. But from my experience as a parent

and teacher, I believe that you must be a strong and relentless

advocate for your kid in some school situations. This might be one

of them.

Best wishes,

Anita

>

>

>

> In a message dated 2/6/2006 11:06:11 AM Eastern Standard Time,

> danasview@... writes:

>

> How is he doing from your OWN perspective, not considering the

scores?

> Maybe his academics are not progressing, but he is progressing in

> other areas. My son was like that for a while.

>

>

>

>

> He is SO TOTALLY different at home. He does go off and do his own

thing but

> when we do something structured he follows and does whatever it is

with us. He

> is very verbal (although he still stims, has echolalia and

scripts) and has

> no problem asking us for things or telling us what he wants. He

is a bit

> bossy at home. He is semi social with us and very affectionate.

He follows

> commands better, responds to questions faster.

>

> Generally at home we feel he is doing alot better in some areas,

the same in

> some and worse in others, but overall we see improvement. Nothing

carries

> over to school though. I just don't get it

>

> Kerrie

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kerrie,

I know that it is horrible to hear this, but with standardized testing....

it is measuring specific areas and if they are not taught.... then there can

be problems. Today, teachers are teaching to the test because of all of the

pressure placed on passing standardized tests. Try not to be upset with

this. I always want to know their clinical observations too. IE: If it

was a ST test, is this data consistent with what the therapist is seeing

during the therapy session. Many times our children can have a real good

testing day or a bad testing day. So I would ask the therapists and

teachers who are evaluating and teaching him if their impression of the test

results match his performance.

Secondly, I would use this data to drive better goals and objectives written

for his IEP. This is a good time to look at his strengths and weaknesses

and teaching strategies in teaching him. I am a teacher (elementary) and I

am always providing them with teaching strategies on how to best teach him.

There is a specific hierarchy in teaching and sometimes I really question

whether his current teachers know this. Things that are obvious to me isn't

to them. They should be chunking what they are teaching him into smaller

units and retesting periodically. They need to use repeated practice to

learning until the skills are generalized and applied into his natural

environment. There is something missing there.

Remember, he is not in Kindergarten yet and if your state allows that extra

year in EI (age 5).... you may want to hold him back. What is the

compulsory age for your state? In PA, it is age 8, however, with having an

IEP, I could have held him in EI another year and either sent him to

Kindergarten at age 6 or to 1st grade. Just a thought you may want to look

into.

E-mail me off list if you want to discuss this more anytime!

Keep your chin up! Our children develop at different levels and there may

be other developmental areas he needs to work out before all of the

academics.

Jackie---

----- Original Message -----

> Those are the words I heard at 's school today. His scores on

> standardized testing are lower than last year. Basically his raw scores

> are the same

> but his overall score is lower because it is adjusted for age. He is

> older,

> more is expected and therefore his final scores are lower than last year.

>

> He started off at 2 1/2 in an integrated class of 12, this year at almost

> 4

> he was moved to a self contained of 12. For Kindergarten they are

> suggesting a

> self contained of 6.

>

> why are we going backwards?? Off to cry..........

>

> Kerrie

[Guest guest]

> Generally at home we feel he is doing alot better in some areas, the

same in

> some and worse in others, but overall we see improvement. Nothing

carries

> over to school though. I just don't get it

My son was a mess at school -- he would just sit there like a lump,

with a sad or scowling expression on his face. In his K journal there

are lots of entries like " I WSH I WZ HOM " . When he got home, he had

screaming horrible meltdowns and was suicidal. I think there was a lot

going on: the other kids made him anxious, he hated being told what to

do every minute of the day, and of course he felt crummy most of the

time. This continued even once I started chelating, and I'd had him on

Feingold and enzymes for a long time.

I ended up homeschooling him for 6 months, very casually and no

pressure, while I motored through more rounds. After that he was ready

for school again, and actually excited about being with kids his age.

IMO if you're seeing improvement at home you're on the right track.

The academics will come eventually, there's no rush at all at that

age. He's learning from you, and once he's feeling better he'll take off.

Nell

[Guest guest]

> Generally at home we feel he is doing alot better in some areas, the

same in

> some and worse in others, but overall we see improvement. Nothing

carries

> over to school though. I just don't get it

This definitely sounds like he needs an entirely different program at

school.

Dana