Sons teacher

[kiwik]

Well I finally got the nerve (9 weeks into the year) to ask for the IEP that was indicated in his assessment report which I gave to the teacher at the end of the year.

 

His basic answer was no way I could take it to the head of the junior school, the principal or my MP but the differentiation in the class was adequate and he had taught ages of kids and wouldn't need help from outside his class.

 

He offered harder homework but it was said in such a way I suspected he would deliberately make it too hard. last time I expressed concern about the homework he gave me harder basic facts sheets that were really just more of the same.

 

He also said that I should ignore my sons increasing reluctance to come to school - because some kids just do that and it means nothing. I said well in my case and his fathers case it meant we didn't want to go to school because we were miserable and by high school I had depression issues. He said things Had changed and that wouldn't happen now. At that point I left before I lost it.

 

I have an unemployed, homeless and drug addicted younger brother who had exactly the same experience starting school in 2000 as I did in 1974. Have the schools magically changed in the last two or three years? I am not actually saying he needs more advanced work I would just like him to have a couple of hours a week to stretch his mind with other gifted kids.

 

[Harriet Vane]

Go up the chain of command. You have a legal right to an IEP. Bypass the idiot teacher.

[kiwik]

I'm not sure I have a legal right here but there is precedent. I am worried if I go over his head they will support him and he will take it out on my son. If i do i think i need to be prepared to move schools if need be.

 

Thanks for the support I am probably just looking for sympathy because i am annoyed.

 

 

[raptor_dad]

I agree! Going from this and the info on the DITD forums, you have three choices 1) Homeschool, 2) Be very pushy with the school, 3) Kick the can down the road and hope it gets better. If you were in the states and on a Sep-June calendar year the option 3 might work however Down Under that doesn't obtain. So your choices are be pushy or homeschool. Given this... I would push as hard as possible this year and see if the principal is supportive. I wouldn't expect this teacher to improve, but IF the principal is supportive next year MIGHT be better. If not, you should consider whether homeschooling is possible for your family. From Ruth(lewelma)'s comments I gather a soft anti-intellecualism and /or egalitarianism is common in NZ. This philosophy and a kid who is pushing 3 SDs out from the norm is going to mean trouble down the road. I sympathize, in some ways having a kid with a similar intellectual profile AND 2e issues makes it easier to opt out but its a hard choice either way.

 

Good Luck,

-chris

[Kathy G]

are you able to homeschool? Are you able to move schools? What are the options? After many years I don't trust schools anymore. We use them only for classes if they fit, otherwise we do it at home where we have control. Not everyone has that option. What are your choices? This teacher knows nothing- trust your instinct.

[Greenmama2]

I'm sorry you're having a hard time.

[lewelma]

I would push for at least 1 class from the correspondence school. If he is skilled in maths for example, he can stay in the class but during maths time, get out his own booklets. The correspondence school would provide the teacher for that particular subject. Even if it was only in 1 subject where he could stretch his mind, it might be enough to make his school experience better. I know of a gifted boy who did year 8 maths and year 7 language arts through the correspondence school when he was 6. He stayed in school. When I was teaching high school, I had a 13 year old boy who was working on year 2 maths during my class. In one year he finished years 2, 3, 4, and 5 in maths because he could finally go at his own pace. The booklets were written to his level, so I did not need to teach him -- he had a correspondence school teacher. This approach should reduce the work load of your ds's teacher rather than increasing it, so he might be more willing to consider it. So try to find either his best subject or the one that he can do the most independently and get him into the correspondence school.

 

I have not have a lot of interaction with the primary schools, but it seems to me that this is the role of the dean, not the teacher. Also, I have know parents who *had* to get the testing done before the school would take them seriously, as every parent today wants their kids to be "special."

 

If I remember correctly, you don't live near me, but if you are ever up my way, we should get together. Sounds like you need :grouphug:

 

Ruth in NZ

[kiwik]

The teacher has seem the WJ111 cognitive results and report which show him at >99.9 percentile. His weakest of the five combined sets was 99.5 percentile in verbal and of the ten subtests was 93 rd percentile in spatial but the lowest scrore after that was the 98th percentile.

 

It is not like I'm imagining things- I was more surprised than his pre school and church teachers.

 

Unfortunately it is somewhat hard to prove you are good at maths when you mostly do sums up to 20. I saw in his learning log the other day something labelled "I am learning to add and subtract to 20", it was one of those pictures that you colour by colouring things that add to 8 purple etc. It looked like he had lost interest half way through to me.

 

Lewelma - great idea but a teacher who claims to be qualified to teach maths to high school level is not going to go with that. They do send kids to other classes but he would have to get his basic facts perfect first. If I can get him through this year the middle syndicate actually stream their math classes mixing y3 and y4 together.

 

I wish I could home school but I am a single mum and have to work. I am exploring options but I need the free childcare to be honest. I am looking into the democratic school (google nelson democratic school) who have started a 2 day a week school. I know someone whose home schooled kids are going and he says there is a least one child who attends a state school the other three days. I think the school in question is zoned but I will look into it. The principal at my sons school is known to be anti home schooling and alternative schools so I would have to find another school which my son would find hard. I could find the $30 a week but the parent help aspect would be hard.

[lewelma]

The teacher has seem the WJ111 cognitive results and report which show him at >99.9 percentile. [snip] They do send kids to other classes but he would have to get his basic facts perfect first.

 

This is nuts. Basic facts do NOT equal math skill. I can assure you of this, given my son was still memorizing his subtraction tables at age 10 and is now, 2 years later, working on the questions from the international math olympiad. You need to talk to the NZ gifted advocacy group. http://www.giftedchi...rg.nz/index.php I am sure that they can give you advice on what to do next.

 

Ruth in NZ

[kiwik]

To be fair they didn't actually say he would have to get his basic facts perfect BUT they are only testing on basic facts and the fact that he isn't getting the tests perfect (or in the case of the colouring in the answers) even completing convinces his teacher he is making appropriate progress.

 

His colouring in has improved a lot this year. Maybe when my younger son gets to school I will point out his advanced colouring skills rather than his academic needs.

 

I have to finish dealing with another battle before I can take on the school system. I can't fight everybody at once :-)

[lewelma]

I have to finish dealing with another battle before I can take on the school system. I can't fight everybody at once :-)

 

Oh Dear. good luck.

[kiwik]

It has been an interesting year so far.

[Uff Da!]

but a teacher who claims to be qualified to teach maths to high school level is not going to go with that.

 

 

 

It's not really about whether he's qualified to teach up to a high school level though is it? It's about whether he's qualified and trained to work with gifted, asynchronous children.

 

Ugh. Hugs Kiwik.

[kiwik]

Well yes but he doesn't see it that way. The silly thing is he isn't particularly asynchronous and all I wanted on his IEP was that once a week he got something to look forward to and that the principal would release him to attend one day school if necessary. The teacher wouldn't have had to do a thing. I didn't even get that far.

 

And of course the main evidence I have of him not being that happy is that he has had mote soiling accidents in one term than he had in three last year. But the teacher thinks that is my sons problem and peer pressure will fix it.

 

Thank you all for your sympathy and hugs.