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MistyMountain

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Posts posted by MistyMountain

  1. I only wish they had easy-reader science books that had a much higher level of science. I've found those sorts of things in the library now and then, but inevitably, if it's a topic he's actually interested in, my son already knows vastly more than the book. I think it's a common problem for kids whose concept understanding greatly exceeds their decoding. In fact, the enormous gap between what he could possibly read and what he might want to read is probably one of the reasons he hasn't learned yet.

    This is my son. My ds hates reading because he is nowhere near being able to read things that interest him. He can still not manage the easier books on topics he likes and they are so simple to him and he already knows the info. He did try some captions the other day.

    • Like 1
  2. My friend has a son who is nonverbal but understands everything. He isn't deaf but uses signs to communicate. He goes to school and gets lessons. He can sign to answer questions or type using a talker that predicts what he is typing. I have had him read and I can tell when he is reading by the sounds he is making and I ask him to tell me if he needed help with a word.

  3. Interesting about the info about speech therapy that teaches sounds and traditional. Teaching ds sounds is exactly what helped my ds learn to talk and then helped him with articulation as a preschooler. He didn't really need the techniques they used in EI but they told me to teach him how to make sounds and once he picked up the sounds he started talking. Then he had an articulation issue and his ST taught him how to make difficult sounds and it worked.

  4. OT is not a primary service here either. I talked to an OT and she was the one who said that showing a discrepancy between achievement and cognition is a way to get an IEP. I guess I will just request the school evaluation as a start. He has been screened by an OT and they found issues but he still couldn't get services.

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  5. I do plan on using the tutoring place. I get 30 sessions partially covered which is a start. They do screen for adhd and they said their results can be used at the school. They screen for a lot of things like dysgraphia and the evaluation is pretty long. They use Barton for the reading tutoring. He is on the border with reading but I think he will struggle with spelling. Several local parents recommended the place.

     

    The school he is at now uses Spalding and copy work and dictation next year for writing. I think that is better then the site word heavy reading method and invented spelling writing method the neighborhood school uses. The neighborhood schools scores dropped recently but they are not title 1 so they do not have those funds. I am trying to get an IEP because he will not be able to keep up with the writing next year. I didn't think he would and his teacher this year confirmed it. They have several copy work sentences and spelling tests eventually have twenty words. He is a very slow writer and sloppy writer and copies one letter at a time. They really focus on penmanship and letter formation and for most kids they do well with that for writing. Spalding seems ok for the reading aspect for him. His progress is slow but there is some progress for the first time. AAR wasn't a good fit.

     

    A neuropsych in my area costs 4500. I know a mom who got one and they still let her son down. The evaluation is just the beginning. Then I need to figure out what to do. Plus my oldest has a comprehension issue I want to get looked into eventually too. Our budget is limited. His 3 year speech IEP is coming up in the fall. I will request evaluations through the school but I just heard they are not very good but I am not sure what they entail.

  6. My ds is like this and I don't think he will be able to read the books he craves for a while so I just get books on his topics and read through them even if they are long slogs and then have him watch documentaries. Sometimes audiobooks fit the bill. We have gone to science talks on his topic or to planetarium shows. It is hard though because reading aloud is slower then reading in your head and he can't just pick up things whenever he wants.

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  7. Thank you. It is an alternative public school. They have the same funding as any other schools and need to follow an IEP but they also like to say maybe this school isn't a fit. I know my state doesn't even recognize dyslexia and dysgraphia but I am hoping that info will show the teachers what is going on if that is what testing shows. I know I can request a evaluation through the school but I could not find anywhere what the testing entails and if they used something like the WISC. An OT I was talking to was saying that if you can show a discrepancy between achievement and intelligence that is an avenue that sometimes works for getting an IEP but not OT support. He is extremely percetive. His teacher said he is brilliant and he is way up here but his achievement is way down here showing her hands up high then down low especially in writing. His reading is not the worse in the class as she said but much lower then his perception and reasoning skills. He isn't really reading yet. He is just a beginner. He can understand at a high level and narrate back in detail books at high levels. He understands lots of science and history concepts. He understands lectures for adults on certain topics. He is great at storing information and retrieving it. His teacher said he will not be able to do the writing next year. She asked if dyslexia runs in the family. She confirmed everything I was thinking. She has lots of experience and can read kids well.

     

    His teacher also mentioned RTI as an option but I don't know much about that. I guess that is responding once he is failing. They do much more writing next year and the day is longer. I do not know what to do with him because the neighborhood school uses a site word heavy reading method and the intervention is more of time with the method.

  8. I am getting ds tested a tutoring place with a really good reputation. They will be doing a evaluation that covers quite a bit and will test for dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD etc but not IQ. Ds goes to school and his teacher said he will have trouble with the writing next year. Getting an IEP isn't easy from what I hear but I heard if you can show a discrepancy between achievement and cognition it is possible. I have no idea what kind of testing they do through the school and if it is an actual test or something more achievement based. Where can you get just IQ testing done and would a typical test recognize a potential twice exceptional child.

  9. I see periwinkle blue and a light chocolate brown or a bronzey brown. My husband saw blue and grey. My kids saw white and brown. I have a hard time seeing how people see it as white. It isn't the lighting or shadows causing it to look blue. It is very much blue. Even in the color balanced washed out pictures it is blue to me just a lighter blue.

  10. I have Katy's perspective too and I am not at all a bootstrapper. I do know that poverty is extremely hard to crawl out from and most people cannot and it is not because people do not work hard enough. I think policies in place in our country are not enough. Inequality is crazy in the US and we have so much poverty for a developed nation with a high GDP.

     

    My perspective comes from a lot of reading on the topic including several books and admiring how many European nations do schooling. I think that having a growth mindset rather then a fixed is a good thing for kids. I think all minds thrive when their interest and passions are explored and I think all kinds of minds are capable of being more educated. Kids need to know it is ok to have to to have to work hard at things. I am not denying nor is any who talks about talent, grit, perserverence or the growth mindset that general intelligence or talent exists but I do not like using that as an excuse why some kids are not thriving under the current system. Things do not stand like that now in this country. A lot of kids end up falling through cracks and getting discouraged and this is especially true in kids with low incomes but there are countries, schools in our country, after school programs, experiments and individuals who have found ways to reach all kinds of kids. There are ways to foster resilience. No place is perfect. A lot of Asian countries have extremely high pressure and kids are in tutoring all day and in some of those countries rural kids do not get a good education. Even in countries where they are doing better over time no nation says things are perfect now. I do believe we can do better though. The linked article is one aspect of fostering growth.

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  11. We need to train teachers better. Education should be a competitive field with good candidates not something where they are achieving below average. They should be educated in the field they are teaching and have a lot of training both in school and then on the job after they graduate. 

     

    We need to separate sports from school. Having a sports team is not only very costly for a school but it hurts achievement. When kids are in school it should be about getting an education not how the high school football team is doing. Kids can take sports recreationally.

     

    The day for younger children can be shorter especially for the kids grasping concepts well at the time. If a kid is having a harder time grasping concepts then they should be provided help for as long as they need it. They should not be pigeonholded because they need help. Kids should be told that it is ok to struggle sometimes and that they learn through hard work.

     

    We should have high expectations for our kids and good general guidelines that are high but the teachers should have more autonomy on how they achieve this.

     

    Do not sacrifice recess and active breaks. Kids learn better when they get active breaks.

     

    All schools should get the same economic resources. High tech classes with smart boards and expensive equipment is not needed.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  12. I never said all kids can be doctors or engineers. I am saying that we can have higher expectations of our kids and that kids can meet higher expectations then we give them credit for and that just because kids have to work harder at some things we do not have to give up on them and say they are doomed to not get a good education and to have opportunities beyond menial labor.

    • Like 2
  13. I am not comparing the ranking of countries compared to their international standing but countries that have taken action and risen over time. In these countries in the pockets of poverty and where there is a high immigrant population it still holds true about the students doing well.

     

    They did look at lots of exchange student surveys about the opinion from our students who are abroad and students that come here. By and large they think that our kids have lower expectations and they do not work as hard. Tracking is reported as starting later in general.

     

    Grit does make a difference in how successful someone is and talent does come from a lot of practice if someone is interested in what they are practicing and put the right kind of practice in. Grit and perseverance matter more the IQ when it comes to success. They experimented in NC with giving regular kids access to what they do in gifted programs with being able to spend time learning things that interested them and those kids raised their overall scores. Talent exists nd not everyone can do everything but fostering grit is a very positive thing we can do to help kids. There are lots of studies on grit and practice and how it does make a difference.

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  14. Most other countries do not start tracking kids before they reach high school. Tracking comes later. That was a major reason beside the better trained students why countries like Finland and Poland raised there scores over a short period of time. They help the students that are having trouble keeping up and do what it takes to get them up to speed. They do not assume they always will be like that.

     

    They did experiments where they waited one year to track students and the international test scores for those kids were higher.

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  15. Just because a kid has to work hard doesn't mean all they can do is menial things. Talent exists and not every one has the same IQ score but interest, practice and grit are very important. In our culture we think that you are either good at something or not. In other countries they do not have that view. They set high expectations and if you fail you just work harder. I wish we had more of a growth mentality in this country because it really makes a difference. I think a lot of kids are capable of more then we give them credit for even if there is some struggle, learning disability or whatever that makes it harder for some.

     

    I am not saying though that poverty is someone's fault or that anyone can do anything.

    • Like 3
  16. I'm actually still baffled by this being Year 4 for your ds.

     

    When I was a kid, it was a big deal that I started Grade 1 as a 6 yo (Jan birthday). Everyone was 7. No preschool.

     

    So many different ways to approach education....

    I was thinking that too. To work on plus 1 facts sounds low for 3rd grade but not to work on speed for math facts as a 7 year old.

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