email I just sent to English teacher and principal...

[susiestar]

The teacher is saying 102 students because she teaches this class 5 times per day. it is STILL part of ehr job to have every student give the presentation. it is NOT the student's job to scedule the class and no other student had to remind the teacher, did they? that is garbage.

As for no ideas, why not suggest she go to the sp ed teacher or the f'ing LIBRARY OR GOOGLE to find some? she could look up 'accommodations for executive function disorder' if she cannot think of a way to help a student.

i VEHEMENTLY disagree that only exceptional teachers can help our kids. In the midst of a class, with a new problem, yes, it is hard to have a solution. This is NOT the first time difficult child has had this problem, and this teacher could read a professional publication or use google or a library (does the teacher know what htat is? You might have to remind her that it is the room with all the books in it, dumb as she seems) and FIND a way to help a struggling student. WHY is it the parent's job???????????? Do parents go to college to learn to do this???? I don't THINK SO!

This person just does not want to do her job. Write a letter requesting testing for the various things your child may have, every freaking Learning Disability (LD) and processing disorder you can find ANYWHERE, and give it to school before school is out. Remind them that they have 45 CALENDAR days, not school days or school year days, to do this testing. Cause the LAW says calendar days - includes Sat, Sun and days off school including summer - to do the testing. MAYBE cut them some slack for summer and let them test first week of school, but no later than that or they are in violation of the law and can lose federal funding for EVERYTHING by refusing to test. Cause, yes, that IS the penalty. I had to learn this because some koi they tried with Wiz. The school psychometrist (therapist with special trianing n giving tests) told me they had to pay her for 2 days work to give the tests over the summer because her contract is 9 mos and seh waas thrilled with the extra $$, by the way. If I had not gotten what I wanted from our school, the evidence that I had would have put ALL federal funding, not just funding for sp ed things - free lunch and ALL funding is included - could have been POOF! gone. And my district knew it and knew that I knew it.

This teacher is L.A.Z.Y. and you can tell her I said so. And I DO know all that a teacher has to do.

 

[InsaneCdn]

i VEHEMENTLY disagree that only exceptional teachers can help our kids.

in real life... the only teachers that came up with non-mandated, creative, effective solutions for difficult child were... exceptional teachers. And in my opinion? any teacher who can come up with non-mandated, creative, effective solutions... IS exceptional.

MOST of the other teachers either followed what was mandated, or sought out help from sp. ed. etc.
And then, of course, the few bad apples... who wouldn't even do what was mandated, or worse, who worked directly against difficult child.

 

[ksm]

The key is to look at the subscores and see where they come out. If you want to post your d's, I could give you some comments and maybe some suggestions about how to help.,

svengandhi - thanks for offering to review it for me. The sd psychiatric pretty much glossed over everything - even things that looked like red flags to me. I have been looking for the packet of papers... I put it up as I didn't want difficult child to run across it and read it. I had made copies for the therapist, but now I can't find the copy I "put in a safe place".

but when I do - or when I get a duplicate copy - I will post it. or send it to you by personal message. THank you for your time. KSM

 

[svengandhi]

K -

I would be pleased to offer my thoughts. If you do decide to PM me, please send me a post because I don't check my notifications on a regular basis.

Hope things are better today.

Sven

 

[Marguerite]

With things like medical reports or neuropsychologist reports, I strongly recommend scanning them. You can put them in a password-protected folder if you are concerned your child may be negatively impacted by reading them, but if you have electronic copy then it is easy to quickly print out a copy for a new doctor or new teacher as needed, without risking losing the originals. We've got difficult child 3's reports all scanned in. Not the other kids, and I should do that. With easy child 2/difficult child 2 needing a new doctor, and then another new doctor, then a neuropsychologist all just this year - we were dragging her hard copy file around with us and I was concerned we would lose it. Doctors asked us to leave the file with them and each time we're asked this, we run the risk of not getting it all back, or having someone lose the file.

On the subject of exceptional teachers - ALL teachers should be able to identify (at least superficially, as a first port of call) any student with learning difficulties. They should ask for help as soon as it is apparent that help is needed. They do need to also get parents on board with this, and some parents will not extend themselves to accept their little darling could have a problem. But that is not those of us here. ALL teachers should have enough understanding to be able to find another way to work with students who need a little more help. They should not expect that all the student needs is the chance to learn how to fend for themselves; especially if you, the parent, have made it clear that the child cannot function without support.

Any teacher who cannot do this, is exceptionally bad.

My suggestion for the next letter to the school - be specific. This teacher will use every opportunity you give her, to weasel out of responsibility. So say, "I formally request an IEP for my child, to be implemented in the new school year. I enclose copies of her neuropsychologist assessment and draw your attention to the executive function deficits. I wish to be part of this process so that my experience of my child can be used as an asset to support the school in meeting this student's needs. I also require (and will work to help develop) a Learning Plan for my daughter. These will help redress the imbalance in her educational opportunities and in the process of supporting her now, we have a much better chance of her learning over time to improve her academic performance to bring it closer to where she would be if she did not have executive function deficits. I look forward to hearing from you with a meeting date at the earliest opportunity."

Marg