Jump to content

Menu

Would it at all make sense to


Recommended Posts

Move a kid with pretty severe LD's who is already old for grade into community college "early"?

 

I have been working with a sweet teen who had been retained several times in K-4 before she was pulled out, depressed and close to suicidal as a 11 yr old 4th grader who was struggling even then.

 

She's now 18 1/2.

 

She's also getting quite depressed because her friends, half sibling, and cousins her age or a little younger either graduated last year or are graduating now and talking about college admissions. And she not only still has more to go to finish high school, but she didn't even score high enough for DE at the local CC.

 

But, she could apply just as a regular student, take the accuplacer, and go full-time. Based on her ACT score she would probably place into college English, but not into math. She wouldn't qualify for financial aid until she completes 12 college level credits, but after that could apply to matriculate based on her GPA, and then apply for college classes. Her parents could swing paying for the first year out of pocket. We have good transfer paths in our state, many of which are guaranteed admissions.

 

Is this totally insane to consider?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does she have an IEP with a transition plan?? She might be better off to graduate (yes, mercy, let her go), work a job for a year, then slowly begin to take classes, one and then two, and so on. Is her IQ typical but she has SLDs? Or is there ID as well? Not sure why college is the only path. Is college appropriate or should the parents be putting more on the table?

 

It just seems like your information is incomplete. Why retain in K4?? Something more is going on. If the parents have that kind of money, they would have gotten her OG. Doesn't add up.

Edited by OhElizabeth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is she homeschooled? It's a tricky question to answer without knowing the state requirements for graduation. If she is homeschooled, potentially they could create a transcript that reflects the work she has done for high school credit and issue their own diploma.

 

I do think that if she struggles with high school work, she is likely to struggle with the community college work and would need documentation of her disabilities to file with the campus disability office, so that she can receive appropriate accommodations.

 

We haven't had college-age kids yet, so I can't offer other advice, other than it is not uncommon around here to graduate at 19 instead of 18. Two of my own kids will graduate at 19, and one will turn 19 a few weeks after graduation. I think sometimes disappointment over this kind of thing can be temporary, and sometimes it can cause a lingering resentment. If she has been talking to you about her feelings, maybe she just needs someone to vent to?

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She has an above average, but not gifted, IQ based on neuropsych testing GAI-FSIQ is considered to be non-indicative because she has such a spiky profile. Global learning disabilities, plus ADD inattentive, plus some longstanding health issues that complicated matters.

 

As far as why she was retained, the first was due to "immaturity". Then, a year or so down the road it was "some children just need a little more time to catch on to reading". It took until 3rd grade, with two retentions, for them to actually test her. Mom has LD issues of her own, and just plain didn't know what or how to follow through and force the issue, but was pretty darned sure something was wrong. After they pulled her, and had a private eval done, they paid for about 2 years of intensive reading tutoribg and she is now testing on grade level in comprehension, but her speed is much slower than typical. The thought was to focus on reading first and other areas would catch up, but between being 2 grades behind when she left school to homeschool and then spending 2 years on reading, that really added up. And while other subjects did leap ahead along with reading, math didn't. All told, it has left her pretty far behind as far as actual high school credits.

 

She's currently holding down a part-time job as a lifeguard and swim instructor and doing extremely well. She is easily one of the most "adult" teens I know. In many respects, she's more grown up than most college freshmen. She has developed good compensatory strategies for keeping up with her schedule. I'm not sure college is the best path for her, but the girl really wants to go to college-in part because her co-workers mostly are college students. Her mother was unable to complete college due to her own LD issues, so she really, really sees graduating college as a sign of success.

 

And, FWIW, the cost of CC is about $500 class, so the girl's college fund will go a long way there. Once she has a high school equivalency of some form (and I suspect 12 carefully chosen college credits would be easier than the HiSET) my state has free CC tuition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've kind of ended up being her guidance counselor of sorts-kind of a sounding board that sometimes actually knows something :).

 

She qualifed for accommodations on the ACT with the documentation she has, so I think she should be able to get accommodations in college.

 

She is homeschooled through a cover program, which has specific box checking requirements for graduation. If she went outside the cover program, she would have to pass state EOC exams. I think she could stay enrolled in the cover School and get a high school diploma if she managed to tick their boxes with CC classes, even without qualifying for DE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it possible she has dyscalculia?

 

How does she do listening to audio books?  Just wondering since reading is really slow if listening to audio books would help her get through required reading material.

 

For state requirements would she have enough credits to be graduated as a homeschooler by the end of this next year even if she doesn't go to CC?  Could she take some on-line and self-paced courses with scaffolding to fill in any boxes that haven't been filled yet?  Where specifically does she have gaps in requirements for graduation?  Is it just math?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She can get by through most elementary/middle school arithmetic with a calculator or with enough time to draw it out. She does not have most facts memorized. She can memorize procedures and then plug and chug pretty well, but it has no staying power and no connection to a slightly different problem-each type has to be memorized separately. She struggles to read graphs and charts (which depressed her ACT science score as well as the math). She's smart enough to find ways to compensate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That generalization piece, struggling to use the same concept in a new situation, is a challenge. Do you think that goes with the SLD math or is explained by something else? I've assumed the generalization piece with my ds was his autism. For instance, when you read RB's stuff (Ronit Bird, dyscalculia guru in the UK) she never talks about needing to diversify the EXTREME way we have to with my ds. If you change manipulatives, you start all over and lose his facts, that kind of thing. When we learned the number 5, we had to do it in lots of contexts to get 5 to be 5 EVERYWHERE, not just in the one manipulative RB said to use.

 

The frustrating thing is, I don't think there *is* a standard that is easily recognizable like OG for finding a good math SLD tutor. RB's materials are where it's at. Summer is coming up. Have they thought about burning rubber with RB materials for the summer and seeing what would happen? Also, what math is she doing? Getting through RB Dots and Multi would solve her facts problem. I'll bet you could do them each in 1-2 two weeks with a dc of that age. Like I'd really burn rubber with it, kwim? Dots is just $10. Overcoming is where you'd start by her age, but I don't know how thorough it is on the early material. Sounds like it wouldn't hurt her to start at Dots. 

 

The frustrating thing is that she's likely to be *good* at the higher level math in some ways, but she can't hardly get there if her facts, etc. are totally non-functional. :(

 

For the charts and graphs, yeah that was rough with ds. I got some graphing art ebooks from Teacher Created Resources and started there. He couldn't see the patterns (A1 will be below A2, etc.). Have they done activities where you BUILD your own charts and graphs? 

 

Have you wondered if the mom is on the spectrum? 

 

Is the girl very athletic? You said lifeguarding. Honestly, I'm all for working on stuff, but she really needs to have time/energy/money invested into something that is a strength for her. I agree it's pretty rough to hold back two years a dc with an above average IQ who has SLDs. That's just, well I can see why the girl is totally depressed! If she has something she does well, she could do that and ease into the college thing. There are usually majors to let you work around stuff. She's clearly going to need a school with good services and a major with no math. Going CC and close might not actually get her that best mix, kwim? Like it sounds easy, but some place private, small, some place really invested in their kids on an individual level... Has she had a chance to do any extra-currics or find anything she is good at? Have they read DA to see if she has any strengths to harness? Or go to a college and do some career testing?

Edited by OhElizabeth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That generalization piece, struggling to use the same concept in a new situation, is a challenge. Do you think that goes with the SLD math or is explained by something else? I've assumed the generalization piece with my ds was his autism.

Generalization issues in this instance can be executive function related.

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/5-ways-executive-functioning-issues-can-impact-math

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd say it might be just what she needs. I wouldn't do full-time, but start with 1-2 classes in her strengths while continuing to remediate the math (and put in place accommodations wherever possible). I know it can be terribly frustrating to be stuck in high school when you're ready for more.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Update-and a pretty awesome one!

 

After a lot of discussion with a bunch of people, she is going to officially graduate with a bare bones basic high school diploma this year. The cover School was amenable to letting her do so due to her age, level of disability, and frustration (basically, they don't want her to drop out, since they would have to report that in their graduation statistics, and since they are allowed to ser their own requirements as a private school, they're willing to accept that, yeah, this kid has no math at a high school level, but she's slogged away at it from age 14-18, so that's good enough). The Athlefic club director she is a life guard for has suggested that she go part-time and work on an EMT certificate for now, pointing out that swim meets, etc must have an EMT or paramedic present, and that she would be able to be paid extra with that credential, as well as opening up more options for her. An EMT certificate is 16 credits, with a lot of practical/hands on, and he thinks she would be good at it based on what he saw in lifeguard training. The CC is willing to give her a 504 plan, and she can still take advantage of remediation services as well while enrolled.

 

She's so much happier now that she can announce that she's formally graduating and pursuing X program at Y school. Even if she decides, after a year, that she wants to pursue something else, I think this is a much better fit for her for now than trying to fulfill the 4x4 high school diploma.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...