Is the public school moving backwards?

[Heathermomster]

DH came home last week and related the most amazing story.

 

The 9 yo DS of a co-worker was diagnosed with dyslexia/dysgraphia at the ps in our area. The tester told the family that it was the worst case of dyslexia she had ever seen. The ps tells the family that they aren't able to handle the boy's reading SLD. The boy's aunt steps in and attends the local dyslexia school's two week OG training program.

 

DH's co-worker then takes the ps to court so that the boy's aunt can perform a daily one hour reading pull-out. The family won in court, so now the aunt has approval to remove her nephew 1 hour per day during normal school hours for reading intervention..wth?

 

DH did not get all the story details that I care about, like is the aunt a former ps teacher, or why didn't the ps send a teacher to get trained, or will the ps offer a salary to the aunt for doing their job, or who the hell was the tester that made it possible for the ps to not do their job, or what kind of program will the aunt use to remediate, or what grade is the boy in?

 

This story riles me..,DH did ask why they didn't homeschool, but these people aren't interested in that. I don't get it.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Heathermomster

[PeterPan]

The outrageous thing is the family shouldn't HAVE to homeschool just to get proper intervention for the most common SLD on the planet. I don't think it's reasonable to say people should have to homeschool to get basic access.  If the gov't is going to fund public education, they should compel schools to do proper intervention.  Even school choice and scholarship programs fall down, because the dyslexia school costs $30K, outpacing the SLD scholarship of $10K.  That means, even with an aggressive scholarship program that is higher than in most other states, parents STILL don't have much choice.  The most they can do with the tier 2 scholarship is homeschool and hire tutors basically.  

 

So I agree with you, it's astonishing that the school was not embarrassed enough to do better by this student.  I hope they put it in the paper, write some editorials, etc.!  No 9 yo should be told he's HOPELESS, mercy!

Edited October 25, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[Lecka]

Here the building principal decides if students can have excused absences to leave school for therapy.

 

My older son was approved when I took him early for OT one year.

 

It sounds like their principal said no.

 

It sounds like they wanted to handle the other things on their own for now.

 

If he makes progress they have proof to argue the school should consider the tutoring next year.

 

I don't know if it is so strange to think a child has friends in school and wants to stay with them, or that a commitment to teach reading isn't a commitment to teach math as well.

 

Something about me -- I felt overwhelmed to also teach my older son math, and he was learning math in school. Also I had toddlers at home in that time period and my younger son was diagnosed with autism.

 

Reading was my focus.

 

I do think the school sounds lame, and I hope the family goes for more in the future. Like the school providing the tutoring! But hopefully if they show he makes progress, it shows itis what is needed, that his needs can be met, etc.

[Lecka]

In fact they sound like they are doing better than I was doing when my son was in 1st grade.  I should have pushed harder on having him leave school early to go to speech therapy.  It would have been much easier on him. 

 

It is really not satisfactory, but I guess..... hey, they have taken their first step in advocacy.

 

They may take another step next year, and the year after that.

 

Or they provide a precedent for a family coming behind them.

 

It is really far from ideal, but I see it as a positive step in its way.  I hope so anyway! 

 

But this would depress me so much if it happened in my town.  So, so much.  But it would partially be depressing because it would be a step up. 

 

I was told my older son is only the second child, ever, at the elementary school, to have an IEP for dysgraphia.  There is no way there haven't been more kids with dysgraphia.  But I think a lot of interactions we have will lead to more kids getting help in the future. 

[Lecka]

I agree, too, it is STRANGE when kids are leaving school during school hours to get private therapy. 

 

It is being approved right now for a boy in my younger son's autism program, and he leaves for at least 6 hours a week during the school day.  Maybe more. 

 

Why hasn't the school been providing those services all along? 

 

I don't know.

 

But it pushed me a bit to do more for my son this year, to be honest, knowing that this was allowed for another child. 

 

Edit:  to answer my own question ------ insurance will provide these therapies, sometimes, that the school is not providing. 

 

Here it is insurance coverage.  But it is things that schools cover in other places I think.  B/c the thing is, not everybody has the same insurance coverage.  And then I feel like there are people who could be getting insurance coverage, but they don't know how to go about it, so they just take what is offered at school, and don't do anything else. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Lecka

[Heathermomster]

DH has known this fellow for maybe 7 years. As they spoke, DH mentioned that our DS has 3 SLDs, and DH attempted to assure him that things were going to get better. Better, as in his DS will learn to read with appropriate interventions and accommodations. Dysgraphia in my view gets worse as kids age in the classroom, but that's a different vent.

 

The fellow was overwhelmed, as we all were/are when you receive a diagnosis combined with the added excitement of the court system. I did not want to homeschool when DS was diagnosed late 1st grade either. I basically suggested that DH provide my name and number if they need or want support.

 

What irritates me most are people who say that middle class families should keep their kids in the local school to make the school better for all children. Well, it is late Oct and nearly 3 months into the local school year. This family took the ps to court simply for a 1 hr daily pullout that I'm assuming started this week. No other needy child will receive OG tutoring. This family has spent a few thousand dollars for training and attorneys while the school has not changed at all. It just seems that in the interest of the students and tax payers of the county/city school system, the local school board could have diverted their funds for basic OG training of the staff instead of attorneys. But whatever...the AEA runs the state.

 

MIL is a retired reading specialist and always refers to the 1990s as the "decade of the brain". There is no excuse for a lack of appropriate reading remediation and instruction.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Heathermomster

[Crimson Wife]

Here the building principal decides if students can have excused absences to leave school for therapy.

 

My daughter misses the last hour of school on Mondays and Fridays for her auditory-verbal therapy sessions. She doesn't miss much academically as half of that is PE and the other half is either computer lab or Social Studies (which in her grade level is total fluff).

 

I could try fighting the district for more speech therapy but the school SLP doesn't have the specialized training in cochlear implant rehab that her AVT's do. The principal knows that the biggest obstacle to my DD's success is the speech & language delay so she has approved missing school for therapy.

[Kanin]

Wow, that's so outrageous. Even if I had a family member that COULD tutor, I would insist on the school district paying because they legally have to! They're getting a pretty sweet deal by having the aunt tutor for free. The school could be on the hook for paying for a $25,000 a year private school if they can't help the student.

 

I agree with OhElizabeth. With maybe 20% of students having some level of dyslexia, when will school districts get with the program and make it NORMAL for kids to have it, and NORMAL to teach them? It's not like it's impossible to get training. Ay yi yi.

[kbutton]

How about this one...came across my FB feed. Kid has profound hearing loss not helped by hearing aids, and the mother is illiterate and not ever really informed about options for her son. He was warehoused for over a decade with kids who have intellectual disabilities. http://kimatv.com/news/local/grandview-school-district-pays-1-million-settlement-to-deaf-student 

[PeterPan]

Oh my.

[Lecka]

I think there is a lot that is really not the best where I am, among parents who don't advocate or don't follow through.

 

I am among the top three most advocating parents in my younger son's program, and I have gotten some things fixed that were messed up and could have continued on messed up (wrong, incorrect) indefinitely.

 

And this is in a good program.

 

I think I see a good outcome for the child here -- now his parents are getting him reading remediation, now he will have 5 hours a week. It is a waste he didn't get it earlier, but he can get it now.

 

I think there is an argument too to start services now and get the school to pay next year. One thing at a time can be enough.

 

Or maybe they get their confidence up and lessen their good impression of the school

and decide to homeschool!

[MyLittleBears]

Wow, it does really seem outrageous that the school could not provide a service for so common a disability as dyslexia. We are having a similar deal with our local ps. Our ASD son need social skill training with a group other than his siblings and his SLP. He need peers to work with and get feed back from. When we had our meeting they said they can't provide it because their SLP only shows up once a week for 20 minutes and works with lower functioning kids. Well, what would they do with ds if he was in school? By law they would have to provide  the service (I'm guessing it varies from state to state) So our private SLP advocated for us so that they would do testing in order to gently force their hand. The was not being difficult intentionally  but it was odd that they just didn't have a clue how to handle it. It was mind boggling. The parents just need to push and advocate or these kids just fall through the cracks.