Hi,
I’m writing to gather some feedback on what seems to be a well entrenched spelling curriculum in my son’s elementary school. He is a 4th grader and the school has just this year adopted a rule-based spelling curriculum based on Wilson/Orton-Gillingham. While this is a positive move, they have devised extension activities that are completely unrelated to these program. For instance, each week, my son is asked to produce a paragraph on an assigned topic using 6 of his spelling words.
This is how it plays out in our house: My son is an excellent speller who is assigned the bonus words each week. This means that the week they learned the soft and hard sounds for ‘c’ and ‘g’ his list included the words ‘impinge’, ‘expunge’, ‘drudge’, ‘dredge’ and so on. Despite his excellent vocabulary (19 on the WISC-III), these words are not in his vocabulary. That week, he was asked to use 6 words of his choosing to write a paragraph thanking a friend for a birthday invitation. My son struggles with writing because he has weak executive functioning, i.e. organization, prioritization, planning, cognitive flexibility, self-monitoring. Because of his difficulties he is also vulnerable and anxious when confronted with these open-ended tasks. His teachers are adamant that they will not modify the assignment, that this is good practice, and that he should do the best he can.
Here is my argument: if the spelling words were drawn from content/literature, it makes sense to ask students to use them in independent writing. On the other hand, Wilson/OG train kids to spell patterns and a measure of their success is how well they spell nonsense words. In effect, because my son is such a good speller, he is being asked to write using what are essentially nonsense words to him.
How common is this type of extension for spelling homework? Have any of you seen it used with Wilson/OG based regular ed. spelling curriculae? Any suggestions on convincing these obstinate teachers? They have an excellent evaluation on file that explains my son’s profile in simple and unambiguous terms but seem compleltely unaware of how to manage his needs.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks ,
Kalyani
The first question is: have they read the evaluation? It is surprising how many kids with 504s or IEPs have hours and hours spend on evaluations and on developing a plan, only to have the teacher ignore it entirely. I would ask them if they have read it recently, and perhaps highlight a few areas that are relevant to refresh their memories. If he is on a 504 or and IEP, I would ask them exactly what accommodations they have made based on the plan. If not, I’d ask what modifications they have made based on the evaluations. Once I had established that they actually know what the evals said and understand their obligations, I might ask them what the purpose of this particular exercise is, without criticizing the exercise itself in any way. I would then have an alternative plan for accomplishing the objective. I would take notes on this entire conversation, and if they balk at any of it, I would speak to their principal or whomever their superior is. I would do the whole thing in a very matter-of-fact way, removing any kind of emotion and refusing to argue any point. You are there to understand their position. If they refuse to make accomodations, you simply acknowledge their refusal and note it down for use with their supervisor. You may have to get the special ed director involved or even get an attorney to write a letter, but if you are clear what you want and why, and that you are not willing to stop until you get it, sooner or later they will back down.
Just because a teacher thinks an exercise is a “good thing for them to learn” doesn’t mean the child is learning the “good thing” or benefitting in any way from the exercise. It is their job to communicate the necessary instruction to your child. If they can’t do it by their “usual methods”, the problem lies with the teacher, not your son. Stick to your guns!