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I need some help on what to do and where to go. so I thought I could ask the group here.
I have a 6 yr old daughter that is in kindergarten this year and is struggling with school. Learning her letters, sight words, etc.
So let me backup into her history. She has always been in a daycare (learning center). We started at a Goddard school in infancy, then when she turned 3 we moved and she was in a primrose school till about 4 1/2. We moved again and then she was in a church Pre school in there Pre-k program. FYI - she has a june 1st B-day. When she was 4 we noticed that she was very sensitive and would get very upset if she could not do something - this continues to that day. From 4 years old on - each teacher would tell us that she was lagging behind the other children in regards to the curriculum. Before each school year we would tell the upcoming teacher and she would get extra help. This continued through her Pre-K year. At the end of the Pre-K we asked the Pre-K teacher if she should take an extra year of Pre-K to see if another year of maturity would help and everyone decided that it would be best to go to kindgarten in part because of all her friends that were in Pre-K were going to kindergarten and to the same class. So we did and almost immediately in the 1st month the teachers and the administration told us she was not recognizing as the other kids were and so she was enrolled in the IEP program. At that same moment - our Work/personal lives changed and we moved from Atlanta to Cleveland, OH. Because of that move we decided it would be best to put her into Pre-K for another year in Cleveland. This past year she had been into Pre-K and the teachers there saw the same things again and worked with her more but she was still struggling. So come august she went to kindergarten. This past 6 months she has done ok but the teachers saw something/lagging behind and our daughter was enrolled in the Title 1 program which basicially is having another teacher work with her one on one. Well, that has not helped and she is still lagging behind. And these past 4 months we have gotten her a tutor that comes to work with her after school. That brings us up to this point.
We have always thought she might have a learning disability and even got her tested last summer and we were told she was OK. This coming week we will be meeting with the school and they are going to dicuss with us next steps. However, I am not even sure what questions I need to be asking or where to go next. What are my rights for my child? Do I tell them to do testing? Do I tell them they need to put my child into the IEP program? Where do I go to learn about what questions to ask?
Sorry for the long post but wanted to give as much info as possible. thx in advance for any suggestions!
While your post is lengthy there is much missing. What kind of testing did she have? Who did the tests?
Exactly how is she lagging behind? That should be your first question. You indicate it seems to be reading related-letters and words. When trying to figure out why a child is having difficulty start with the simple. Has she had her vision checked? Can she write the letters?
Although the laws for children with disabilities are federal, the way those laws are carried out vary a bit from state to state. Do a google search for the practices in your state. Search for any kind of disability resources in your state. Parents' groups can be very helpful in directing you.
As for the questions, start with the basics: What is the problem? How do you know it's a problem? What is your plan to help her? Etc.
Yes, sorry. I am sure I am leaving a lot out. Other than these issues we are having with learning she is a very normal little girl.
She has no problems writing letters and her vision has been checked multiple times. She has problems writing the letters someone tells her to write. Like C-A-T. We would tell her to write CAT and she writes something completely different or says she forgets. But when she sees CAT on a page she can point out the C and the A and the T.
We go her tested by the special education group of the school system she is in now. We brought her to their place, they came by and monitored her at her preschool and then did an in home visit. I am having a hard time remembering how they tested but I think they would hold up words and they would ask her name the letters.
She is also very sensitive and it also seems like she has confidence issues.
When I say lagging behind - at both PreK's at the start of the school year they would test her and ask which letters she knew. Well she only knew 6 at the 1st one and only 20 by the end of the year. This 2nd pre-K she regressed and could only remember 8 and only new 22 by the end of the year (June of 2013).
Contact the Parent Training and Information Center for your state. Every state has one, it is mandated under federal law. As rrah pointed out above, while there are federal laws regarding education for children with disabilities, each state is different in how they interpret and implement these. In Ohio, the contact is The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities, and their website is The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities
If you want your daughter to have an IEP again, you need to request that the new school evaluate her for eligibility for special education. This request has to be made in writing, and the people at the agency above should be able to help you draft that letter request.
Every child can learn, it is just the rate of learning that is different. She will probably need repeated exposures to learn something that will take another child less time to learn. That's okay, but it will take work.
It's great that she is in the title one program. I am sure she is in the Reading recovery program with 1-1 tutoring. Ask at the school if someone is interested in tutoring her. If you can't afford their rates, ask if anyone is tutoring for free. ( I tutor students for free if they can not pay at my own child's school, so it is possible.)
You need to work for 30 minutes everyday with your child on letter identification, sight words, simple books, and writing words.Everyday!
Letter identification- use flash cards, find letters in the world around you like signs and food packages, tracing letters in the air and in sand, sorting magnetic letters, tracing letters on paper
Word identification- she can probably read a few words already like her name and the word mom, find words that are important to her and practice those.
(Name, mom, dad, sibling names, love, I,)
Write a simple book and glue in photographs. Each page has a family member on it, with the words..."I love my mom." "I love my dad." Etc...
Then make another book with her favorite toys. The words may say..."I like my doll."
She should point at each word as she is reading, and say the word as she is pointing.
I'm still a bit confused about who tested her. Did you get a copy of the results on the testing? The credentials of the testers should be on there. Second, when you say her vision has been checked multiple times, what exactly do you mean? At the Ped or at a pediatric ophthalmologist? If not the latter, then do that ASAP and be sure to explain her issues to them.
I would take her to a psychologist that specializes in learning disabilities and have her tested. It sounds like something is going on there with your description of what she is doing and that multiple educational professionals have told you she is behind. At that age it can be harder to diagnose but if they only observed her and didn't test for actual disabilities, that doesn't help her. Your health insurance should pay for the testing. Check the website for your plan and find someone in your area to test her and get an appointment. The sooner the better so she can start getting help this year before she starts 1st grade.
I would also have hear hearing tested by an audiologist and get her in for a physical with your pediatrician.
Although I am not familiar with the school districts the OP is in, it looks to me like this post has some misunderstandings.
First, the "IEP program." In my district, and I think in most, this means that the student was diagnosed with a learning disability and an IEP was created for her. That IEP should have gone with her to the new school - OP, did you let the old school know where you were going, and did you tell the new school that she had an IEP at her old school? It is very important to provide all the information about your child to a new school, especially anything related to an IEP.
Second, I've never heard of a Title 1 program you can enroll in. Someone said that's reading recovery. Where I am, Title 1 is a type of school - a low-income school. If the OP meant Reading Recovery, then that's a helpful reading program, but really is designed more for children who don't have disabilities. It might help, but won't solve her problems. She needs an IEP. The school should already be moving in that direction - testing for learning disabilities - but the OP needs to make sure that the old school sends its records of the old IEP to the new school.
OP, make sure all records have made their way to the new school so that they have as much information as possible. If they want to do more testing, give permission. It sounds like you really need to find out what's going on, and she probably needs an IEP and to be in the special ed program. One thing I would caution you about is retention (repeating K again) - hopefully this will not be their solution, but just in case, you should insist on exploring every alternative before agreeing to that (usually students with IEPs are not retained). Clearly repeating grades isn't helping - she has a learning problem which will continue, regardless of what level she begins the next year at, and needs ongoing support for her learning problems. Also, it will further damage her confidence.
Please repost when you have met with the school and let us know what happened. The school personnel are your best source for information - do not hesitate to ask the teacher, administrator, and special ed department to explain things to you if you don't understand.
I would take her to a psychologist that specializes in learning disabilities and have her tested.
I have a daughter with a language learning disability (dyslexia) and your symptoms sound very similar to those our daughter had. Golfgal was right with the above - take your daughter to a Psychologist outside the school system to have her tested. If she does have a learning disability, many of the "standard" approaches such as reading recovery etc. will not work, and she needs to have a program that is addressed to her specific disability (i.e. Barton).
Our experience has been that the school system does everything it can to delay, not diagnose, and ignore the issue, because if your daughter is diagnosed with a learning disability, now the school system legally must provide accommodations and an AEP/IEP. This is work for the resource people, as well as administration and the teacher.
The school system is not your friend, unfortunately. This is why a diagnosis from a respected clinician outside the school is so important. We made the mistake of listening to the school and the teachers, and only finally decided to do something when she was in junior high. The signs were there, but the school did everything they could to downplay them.
And also unfortunately, your school and division likely only has so much resource to provide services to children with learning disabilities. Priority will always go to those who are most severely affected, and a bright little girl who is scoring "satisfactory" just doesn't get funding and attention. Even if not getting proper attention means that she will not fulfill her potential.
Continue to advocate for your child, and let us know how you make out.
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