Sea Change at the IEP Meeting

We went to my son’s triennial IEP meeting. Present were me, hubby, resource and speech teachers, school psychologist and district people. It was startling to say the least. First – we all agreed that the IEP should me “math and writing disability” and not “language disability”. So that will change. The testing I had done with an independent doctor confirmed and expanded upon the testing performed by the school psychologist. I explained my son’s FAE and ADD diagnosis.

The startling change was the culture. I was offered home-bound instruction (with proper medical excuse). I had previously been strongly discouraged from seeking this, which consists of two hours a day of individual tutoring supplemented by parent instruction. I was previously told my son would never qualify, the district would never agree to it because there was insufficient money to provide itinerant teachers.

I was offered part-time attendance. Part-time attendance is not authorized for homeschoolers by the NYS Regents  but apparently it is available for kids with IEPs who are enrolled in school (again with medical documentation). I had NO idea this was possible.

I was told they are modifying the way they deliver instruction within the school day. Instead of “push-in” in the classroom, or pulling the kids out and having them miss core instruction, they will pull them out in groups during study hall time and tutor them then. This is what my daugher receives at her expensive private school (she is not learning disabled but still needs some help).

Well, hallelujah, common sense and flexibility are reigning supreme in my school district! While I have enjoyed homeschooling my son I DO hope he can eventually return to the public school system. There are advantages there for him at the high school level which would be difficult for me to provide.

There has obviously been a huge change in my school district at the district office level. I sense collaboration among the professionals involved. I sense that my concerns are being taken seriously and people are focusing on my son’s needs and not the inner turmoil within the school district. I sense calm and purpose and an optomistic outlook. There have been changes in the staff at the school and at the district level and they have apparently been a good thing.

For the first time I came away from one of these meetings feeling GOOD and filled with HOPE. What a huge sense of relief I have right now!

The Truth Hurts

I’ve been overwhelmed by information lately. Information about my son’ s learning issues. I was undecided about sharing our new diagnosis with the world, but this blog is based on truth and helping others so here goes.

Let me preface this by saying that my son and daughter are adopted. We brought them home from Russia 10 years ago when they were 3.5 and 2 years old. They are now 13 and 12. They are a joy to us and we love our family very much. We are thankful that we were lucky enough to find each other.

My son just received a diagnosis of “Fetal Alcohol Effect“. That is a less obvious form of “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder“. It results in wide ranging damage to the brain’s “executive functioning”. Children with this disorder have normal intelligence but face struggles with many things. Common problems are:

Higher mathematics
Abstract concepts
Working memory
Organization
Visual-Auditory learning
Time and money concepts
ADD/ ADHD

We always suspected this might be an issue but we were unaware of the wide-ranging nature of my son’s problems. We are spending time adjusting his curriculum and modifying the way we interact with him. This is a very helpful diagnosis because along with it came suggestions for strategies to make life easier for all of us. At the same time it has been a lot to take in and it’s certainly not something we were happy to hear. It takes time to digest this knowledge and settle our emotions.

We know now that our daughter has also been affected and are making arrangements to have her tested. She is having problems with her working memory and it’s showing up in her school work. 

I’ll be posting a lot more about this as we go along. We are developing strategies to make learning easier for our son, and life better for us as a family.  I am anxious to share what we discover.

Back to Reality

Well, it’s been a nice, long vacation. Now it’s BACK TO SCHOOL!

My son just completed his testing for his IEP. They recommend that his IEP designation be changed from “language disability” to “math reasoning and writing disability”. His testing showed us some encouraging things. His reading comprehension has gone WAY up and it was great to see because we’ve put a lot of effort into that. His speech teacher commented that she’s never had a speech student test so well in vocabulary. That’s another thing we’ve worked hard on.

His math calculation ability was ok but his math reasoning ability was very low. Those word problems and abstract ideas are eluding him and that’s going to be a challenge for us because I am terrible at math! Time to enlist his dad. Oh boy, I hope that goes well because dad is a bit disorganized.

Writing is something I can be of help with. The basics of expository writing are familiar and comfortable for me.

The school psychologist wrote that my son’s greatest challenge is his processing speed. He learns everything and can apply what he has learned but he cannot keep up in a fast-paced classroom or perform well on a timed test. I completely agree with this assessment.

I decided to enlist some further help and my son has just had further testing done be a specialist in private practice. I’m lucky that my insurance will cover it under a mental health benefit. I get the results next week and I’m very anxious to hear them. We need to pinpoint exactly how to help my son reach his full potential. Nothing less is acceptable for us.

On a lighter note – we were stranded for nine hours in the Atlanta airport over the holidays and my son, the aviation enthusiast, finally got enough airport time and just wanted to go home.

Constructivist Math

Here is a link to a great video. It explains, in plain language and with examples, the “constructivist” math programs hindering our special education students (and many others).  Investigations Math, taught in our local public school system, was a disaster for both of my children but especially my son. I am now teaching my homeschooled son pre-algebra  in conjunction with mastering long division and fractions, and having great success with traditional methods. My daughter, who is in a private school, is being tutored after school so she can catch up. From the time they were in 4th grade they were bringing home work we could not understand or help them with and we have 3 degrees between us, two in engineering. I argued against these programs for years without success and they are still being used.

There is much disagreement about these programs and I know that some homeschooling parents use Everyday Math and consider it a success.  These programs have been anything but for us.

If you’d like to understand more – just watch the video.

A Great Book

I’ve discovered some great books! The first one is Math Doesn’t Suck  by Danica McKellar. It’s aimed squarely at middle school girls and contains wonderful explanations of pre-algebra math concepts. She uses amusing and cute visual analogies without talking down to girls. I just love her monkeys hanging from factor trees. Each chapter stands on its own and can be read and understood independently from the rest of the book. I love it!

MATH FACTS

Today’s subject is MATH. I am not a believer in the “constructivist” math often taught in the schools today and prevalent in New York State. It is not “real math”, it is “fuzzy math”. My children have been told that they can get wrong answers and still receive full credit for their effort. That doesn’t sit well with me and in the real world it is nonsense. A math problem has an answer and if you cannot get the correct answer each and every time your skill is useless. 

Constructivist math tends to be heavily dependent upon word problems. Math taught this way is terrible for children with a language disability. A child who is having difficulties with English should not be failing math simply because he cannot understand a convoluted  word problem.  I have seen state math tests, given in districts with large numbers of English language learners and low literacy parents, in which every single math problem is a word problem and it should be no surprise that scores are low.

 I believe in slowly building up skills and confidence and providing children with the advantage of knowing their “math facts”. Teach them the math FIRST and don’t make it into an English course.

Now, the end of my rant and the solution to the problem – SAXON MATH. I purchased the SAXON 7/6 HOMESCHOOL package for my son, who is lagging behind in math due to poor instruction. It teaches new skills while providing plenty of “mixed practice” so that skills learned are not forgotten. Each lesson provides a “warm up” of facts practice, a math lesson, and supplemental practice sheets. Regular short tests are given which enable immediate intervention. Saxon Math provides a combination of number problems and word problems but the word problems are simple and straightforward and not the main focus. My son is doing well and building up the confidence he needs. I should have done this years ago.

You can purchase the complete curriculum directly from Saxon. It includes the lesson book, an answer book, and a practice & test book. Used curriculums are frequently sold on Ebay and in homeschool forums but may not contain all three items. Be sure you check the contents.