Thank you for bringing this up. I keep wondering the same questions. I guess every child is different. I also keep hearing that being a year behind in reading is not that uncommon at all. And that's not just for kids with learning disabilities. I would venture to guess that kids who are not ld and are 3 years behind is not that uncommon either. And those kids don't get special ed services like our kids with lds.
I also heard from a retired high school teacher friend of mine that kids who initially don't pass the high school exit exam have to take a class to help them prepare to take it again. Most of the time kids with LDs go into that class along with others without LDs and the ones with LDs are usually the ones who do well and end up passing the test because they have been working so hard their whole life that they are used to it.
So, I'm not sure what to recommend, but is the bipolar and other issues being treated? Is she on an IEP? Again, not sure what to recommend except that what I have been doing is keeping an eye on what is standard for grade level and I keep going down the list checking things off as my dd masters them. Our district has their standards for each grade level on their website, so I can start with kindergarten standards and check those off and then 1st grade, check off the ones she knows and 2nd grade and check off what she knows from there. She just finished 2nd so I'm sure that's it for us right now, but the math standards are in sections, so she might be at grade level for something like numeration, but maybe not for geometry or algebra. Reading and writing have a list of standards for each as well. That's all we're focusing on. Science, social studies, etc.... will have to be done at school.
Also, if your daughter has an IEP I would ask if it's possible to set goals that are a little tighter to get her caught up some each year.
Good luck. I'll keep watching this post because I am wondering the same thing. I keep hearing from teachers that it's not uncommon to be behind, but the question I keep asking is "how far behind is BAD?" Unfortunately they're not going to tell me that we're in a BAD position because they want to stay focused on what she can do and on improving, which is probably good.
Kathryn
