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saavik 
Yep, it is the end of the first trimester of school for my kids. My son's teacher has been blowing me off lately when I go in to talk to her. She has been saying "we'll talk at the conference". Well, the time allotted was 20 minutes and there were three teachers there to talk to. It was not very encouraging. The teacher just kept saying she couldn't get him to do his work by himself and had no ideas to put forth so she brought in some other person to evaluate him who didn't really present anything new either. So three months later, we are still at the "try this and see if it helps" stage. No forward progress on their part so my kid is now even further behind. They want to send all the work home with him that he doesn't finish at school which is at least half of what he is supposed to be doing at school. So after 7 hours of school, I'm supposed to sit him down to work for another 1-3 hours. He's 7 years old! How can anyone in their right mind expect a 7 year old to have an 8-10 hour work day? He is so done by the time he gets home that it's almost impossible to get him to even look at home work and quite frankly, if I have to make him do the work at home, what is the difference in that and homeschooling him?!
I haven't been feeling to great this week. I don't think its RA. It feels like I'm coming down with a nasty cold, but it is toying with me. I feel crappy but it hasn't progressed to full on sick and it hasn't gone away either. So my bad mood has darkened a bit more. Just in time for the holidays!
Comments
I'm sorry to hear that there hasn't been progress, Cheryl. Is your husband still adamant about you not home-schooling? Shoot, you're doing that as it is, and it must be tough on him to have the added burden of MORE school every day. My heart goes out to you. What happened to the "professionals?" There's got to be something, just waiting to be discovered. I hope that can happen soon. Hugs, D
bc3
OK, so the teacher asked me to come back in today to talk more about my son. She said that since she hadn't seen any improvement over the last couple of weeks doing just remediation, she now recommends that he be evaluated for a learning disability. She agreed with my assessment of his problems and feels I am on the right track. The school system can have him evaluated for generic learning disability or I can have him screened privately and get a specific diagnosis. I asked if this would be helpful to her at all since I'm already doing some of the things suggested for dyslexia. She told me that if he had a diagnosis, the school system would be required to provide special services for him every year and we wouldn't have to go through all over again next year. The work we've been doing at home with him is now starting to show. He has definitely gotten faster and more confident with his writing. I plan to talk to my insurance provider this week and see if this sort of screening is covered.
saavik
Progress! I sure hope you can get the coverage. It sounds like that will keep peoples attention and keep paying dividends. Way to go with your persistence.
D
bc3
Schools in this country could be doing so much better. I know there are so many dedicated, excellent teachers, and I applaud them. But, when we have to diagnose our kids to get them the help they need? I know it is necessary sometimes, and useful, and right. I just got frustrated (for you / about it) when I read about "then they would be required" to help him. Ugh!!
Sorry to vent.
It sounds like the work you've BEEN DOING is paying off. Keep up the good work!
B
Bistro
The saga continues. I called my insurance and was told they would not cover any testing because the school is mandated to do testing by law. I explained that they would test him but not for any specific problem. The do enough testing to see if he qualifies for special education services or not. I looked into the cost of specialized testing and it was a bit on the steep side. I decided to go in and talk to the people at the school to see what the testing would involve and who would do it and such. I was told to speak with the dean of students and was amazed to hear what he had to say. He has been very interested in my son's situation and has done a lot of observation and research of his own. He is apparently the one who recommended the teacher approach me about requesting testing for him. Its is his job to build a case of evidence to show the board to prove a child has a problem and needs testing. I as a parent can ask for testing at any time and the school has to do it wether they have evidence or not. So the dean was hoping I would request it so the testing could get done much sooner with a lot less paperwork involved. I would have requested the testing last month if I had known that rule but the teacher asked me to give the remedial reading a try first and see if there was any improvement. I have to say, I was very impressed by the dean and he was actually excited about getting to help my son. At least I feel like we are finally getting somewhere with this school problem now. I hope the psychologist is as helpful as the dean.
saavik
That's excellent news about the dean. You've got an ally. I hope all goes smoothly. d
bc3