Okay, I have some questions about LD. My daughter struggled through Kindergarten. She got mostly failing grades but got passed on to 1st grade. We went through a summer program between Kindergarten and 1st which I had hoped would catch her up, but didn’t. Now we are past first conferences and virtually no change in her ability to read and do math. She is in a “succes lab” program which is extra “one on one” help, but is still not doing well and we both cried tonight (my daughter and I) out of frustration. She is very aware that she is one of the few that can’t read well and is really starting to feel it. I feel so bad for her and I am so frutrated and feel like there is little I can do for her. I talked to her teacher (who is compeltely wonderful) about learning disabilities and she expressed a concern that she thinks my daughter has a learning disability, but also said that the school doesn’t usually test 1st graders because to results are usually very inaccurate. She said they usually wait until 2nd grade. So do I just let me daughter suffer through 1st grade. I am so frustrated and just wish there was something I could do. Any help would be great.
1st grade frustrations.
Marnie, Your story sounds very familiar. Our daughter struggled through first grade, went through a summer reading program, and struggled through second grade. The school however, resisted testing her for ld until third grade. Informally, they gave us the same excuse that the testing is not always accurate when the children are younger.
In third grade, we made a request in writing to school, they did the necessary testing and our daughter was provided with special services to help with her ld. However, to the schools credit, the support they gave her in second grade was great and close to the same level she would have received if she was eligible for special services.
If you want to force the schools hand, put a request in writing to the schools special education department. This was our mistake, as we always talked with school officials about our concerns and did not put it in a letter. The way that it was explained to us, once you put that request in writing, the school is legally required to take certain steps within a certain period of time. One note of caution, the school may only be required to test once every three years, so if they test too early and the results are not conclusive, then you may not be able to force another test for several years.
Re: Frustrated with 1st grade
You can work with her at home and I would do so (or find someone else to do it before she gets older and more frustrated). I think that Abeeceedaran (I never get this right but Janis will know). It looks to be a good program for younger kids, esp. Another good program for younger kids would be Jolly Phonics. If these didn’t work, I’d look into someone who could do LiPS— but I start with these. Easy and cheap and don’t really require training.
A program called “Morgan Dynamic Phonics” has hundreds and hundreds of very funny sentences that are very kid- friendly. The books are cheap ($16-20) and provide a lot of practice while not being too predictable. I’m not entirely sold on the whole program but think that the books would be great with something else.
Another great program is Handwriting Without Tears (http://www.hwtears.com). It is developmentally appropriate and easy to do. The kids really like it and it is reasonably priced.
Lots of really appropriate stuff for younger kids.
Takes 15 minutes a day (you don’t really need quite that much).
—des
Re: Frustrated with 1st grade
ABeCeDarian
http://www.abcdrp.com/
And you can get support along the way … just come & ask :-)
Re: Frustrated with 1st grade
Also, run to get the book, Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz from your local library. The importance of early intervention (kindergarten, first grade) can not be emphasized enough. She also has chapters about how to identify struggling readers and what skills should be in place by what grade.
You will find it immensely helpful and you will want to pass it on to your daughter’s school.
Re: Frustrated with 1st grade
I agree with requesting testing in writing. I don’t get it — they know she’s having some struggles, so why not try to address the issues early to set her up for success?
You can also try to have her tested for LD privately, and see if your health insurance will cover the cost. The school will then have documentation that there is a disability, and the school will have to act on that.
Good luck.
Re: Frustrated with 1st grade
Schools rarely ever remediate a reading disorder/dyslexia. Please spend your time working on the skills at home or by seeking a qualified tutor. I usually recommend that parents read the book Reading Reflex but use the ABeCeDarian reading program because it is a better and more user friendly program. I do not work for the company in case you are wondering, but I find that it does an excellent job teaching reading skills!
Janis
Re: Frustrated with 1st grade
Sigh, schools like to put off remediation for the same reason anybody procrastinates… it’s easier.
Unfortunately, in the long run it’s only harder for the *student,* not the school. They don’t remediate, so that reading level stays low. By fourth or fifth grade, it means the student isn’t doing well in anything - so they get into the ‘low track’ in the later grades, with teachers hwo have not seen them back when they were smart, and since the kiddo thinks he’s stupid now anyway, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy… except/including that fomenting frustration because so often he’s thinking so much faster, wider, and deeper than he’s expected to.
Getting good testing, good documentation of **strengths** (tho’ if a student is gifted, it’s just as important to document the valid weaknesses so he’s not labeled lazy), and early intervention can stop the tailspin.
Some schools do have good remediation… but usually not the ones who don’t want to test. You can start a campaign to get good remediation going, but at the same time you should address your kid’s needs first, since by the time you get somebody on the school staff with the right training, and make sure that they’re not given a caseload of 15 kids with all different levels to remediate in the same 30 minute period, your child will be in eighth grade.
Sure there is something you can do. Teach her to read using a research-based methodology. It cannot make things worse and most often, nine times out of ten, makes the situation a whole lot better.
You have to dedicate some time and hard work, but if you can honestly set aside thirty minutes a day and stick faithfully with a program, you can usually see big changes in a couple of months.
A research-based program includes (1) systematic synthetic phonics (2) guided *oral* reading with feedback and immediate rerror correction, and (3) Active teaching of comprehension and vocabulary in many different ways.
Also recommended are teaching handwriting directly with a stress on directionality, tying phonics to spelling (decodiong and encoding both), and teaching the structures of writing.
Many people here have their own favourite programs, Some are modern and full of all sorts of stuff and quite expensive, others are old-fashioned and strictly outlined and vary from inexpensive to very expensive. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Personally I have put together the program I use out of materials that are easily available at low cost, and flexible to use tutoring students at many different ages and levels. If you are interested in my how-to-tutor outlines/book in progress, request a free email copy (no strings attached) at [email protected]