I am sick to my stomach. please,please help

Okay, first take a deep breath and calm down.

If your son is developmentally delayed, that means that he will not learn at the same pace as his peers. It will take him longer to learn things, he may need more repitition and he may need specialized services. You should find out what services are available for him within the school but also contact your Department of Developmental Disabilities to see if there are services he will qualify for.

((Hugs))

Hi, I’m a mom of three. My middle child entered Kindergarten only knowing 2 letters…way behind! You have a right as a parent to ask for a PsychoEducational Evaluation. Submit your requst in writing to the school…sign and date it. By law, the school has to give you the results of this testing within a certain number of days. I’m not sure if it varies per state, but my state is 90 days. The testing will evaluate and try to pinpoint the learning issues. Also, talk to your pediatrician, you may want a consultation with a Pediatric Neurologist. My Neurologist has been a tremendous help in guiding us through our educational journey. Take a deep breath, and try to calm down. You will get a lot more help from the school if you are rational…freaking out only causes a lot of eye rolling. Ask the school for help, are there special education teachers on staff? Can your child be moved to that classroom? Help for your child can start NOW. Testing will take time, but that doesn’t mean, help for your child needs to wait.

[quote=Darlene]I have a 5 year old in K class. He is not recalling anything he is learning. They have been working on the letter Aa for 6 weeks. I’m frustated and sick over this and am about to pull him out of school. What can I do? I don’t know what is wrong with him. They are not telling me. I know that there is something wrong. He just isn’t learning. It took two years to get him to learn his name. I was going to put name tags on him towards the end but he finally knows his name now. If he is mentally retarded I want to know but no body is telling me except he is developemently delayed. What’s that suppose to mean????????? That could mean anything! I don’t want him in a head banging class and he is not learning in his regular class. He is so far behind its not funny. His class has learned 9 letters to his 1 letter( A ) His class is already reading simple sight words. Like: the, my, a , big , in……….. I can’t even get him to remember his colors…… Helppppppppppppppppppp! Please![/quote]
FIrst off, don’t calm down. You may or may not be overreacting that is something we cannot judge. Off hand I would say that your concern is warranted.

There is a cahnce that your sone is develpomentally delayed and that he will catch up but I would not count on that.

He needs to be evaluated privately.

Maybe just holding him back one year will do the trick.

Kindergarten should by playing with blocks, painting and story telling. You need to remember that educators are doing a terrible job. They will not admit that there are developmental milestones that need to be met before a child is ready for attepmting certain tasks. Your child may not be the only one struggling.

I agree with the calming down - just enough to write the letter. You know your child better than anyone. Always remember that. You are the #1 person and advocate for your child. You would not be here if you were not a good parent. I have worked with developmentally disabled persons for 26+ years, but have to tell you that it is a whole different ball game sitting on the other side of the table. It is a humbling experience to have 10 people sit around a table at an IEP/CSE meeting and tell me about MY child. Like hell! You have to be tough for your child. Cry when you get home, or in the car (like I have). Have him/her evaluated by everyone you hear about until you are satisfied (which, in my case, hasn’t happpended yet). Get your hands on the regulation books, and even if you don’t know the law, carry the book into the meeting. If they say they can’t, throw the book on the table and tell them it is their job to show you were in the regulations it says they can’t. Remember that Special Education is a service, NOT a place, and that until your child is 21 they are required and he/she is ENTITLED to these services.
[Modified by: maryellen on November 25, 2006 07:28 AM]

I’m checking in rather late to this post. Sorry for the delay.
I’m a total neurodevelopmental approach freak. That is how I’m healing my “developmentally delayed”, “autistic”, “PDD/NOS”, etc son. He went from severaly brain injured to high functioning and he is still improving.
Can you check out
www.fernridgepress.com and contact Svea Gold - she’s for free so don’t worry about fees.
A friend of mine had a smart daughter who couldn’t sing past the first three words of a song because she couldn’t remember them (never-the-less memorize the alphabet). She’s helped her daughter with memory issues TERMENDOUSLY through Handle.org.
The brain is plastic and I prove this everyday with my son.
Joan

I agree witht the plasticity of the brain.

You have to be an advocate for your child. I am realizing as time goes on that the school district has their “responsibility” to each child and has to offer them the most that they can offer them. My school would love nothing more than to put my daughter in the self contained classroom. They have not tried to do it yet, but I can tell they are leaning that way by the implications at our last meeting. They tried to bump up her level of service, but that is just a matter of pulling her out of the classroom more than what she is already pulled out. She already feels different than the other kids, so why would I do that to her. To me it seems like they are just doing whatever is easier for the teacher. The teacher has to teach to each child, not try to fit a round peg into a square hole.

Anyway, I am now of the opinion that our school district is only capable (of course that means $$) of treating the symptoms, not the actual problems. They pull kids out of class for tutoring and then if the problem is bad they stick them in the self contained classroom. When I asked about testing my dd for APD the school psychologist simply said “Michelle would not do well on a test like that.” I think her opinion is that she already knows about the APD, so don’t bother testing her for it. I’m going through my pediatricians office for the testing with an audiologist privately. The school wouldn’t test her for it because they wouldn’t treat her, so why bother. The problem is that they don’t understand that we are willing to take the responsibility for any kind of treatment that might help her. All they have to go on is what is typical at our school and since we are a poor school they figure that they are the child’s best hope, but they are only a small fraction of my daughter’s best hope.

Good luck. Demand the testing, but remember that you attract more bees with honey than you do with vinegar. Start with the honey and then use vinegar if the honey does not work! Also, don’t give them any information other than what they ask for. Information on an as needed basis only.

Kathryn

Your son sounds so much like mine was last year in kindergarten. I had to battle the school to even convince them that he did NOT know his alphabet, but once I did, the teacher really went to bat for us.

He’ll be 7 in a few months and we just received a diagnosis on Friday of APD. At least I have something to work with now.

One thing that really helped him conquer the alphabet last year was a Leapster with the Letter Factory cartridge. We also purchased the Letter Factory DVD for him, which helped him with the phonics.

Between the teacher and I, we worked with him a great deal, but I can honestly say that the Leapster really helped him get a handle on his alphabet.

Hope this helps!