Parent teacher conference

[katiekat]

More of the same over there. And this teacher is definitely not like last years. She has the same "give it time" mentality as the kindergarten teacher. To top it off that counselor that I can't stand sat in on the conference. The teacher went over the paper I filled out with my concerns on it and poo poo'ed everything I mentioned. Letter reversal? Oh that is still normal for 2nd graders. I told her that last year they said if he's still doing it this year THEN we should be concerned. But no. Can't read pre-school level books? She said we DO NOT have pre-school level books in here. I said you most certainly do they are "Little Critter" books and right on the back they say PRE SCHOOL. Well, he is on grade level with everything. Then she starts telling me about all these things *I* should be doing because he needs lots of extra help. Well I thought he was doing great why does he need extra help? She was totally flip flopping. I asked if he still was reversing letters and unable to read in 4th grade would that still be acceptable? Then the counselor says "we would never let him slip through the cracks" HAH! I thinks he's already slipping. I had nothing else to say...why bother...I now have the evaluation to (hopefully) back me up.
8-)On a good note. His behavior has improved!!! No hitting, he is following directions, staying in his seat, not interrupting. She said she is have no problems at all with these things.

[anon4now]

Take the good where you can get it.



Keep advocating and doing what you're doing. How was his report card, did you get that yet?

Anon

[katiekat]

No report card yet...they do it very stangely in this town. Joe did not go to school here until 4th grade so I have never seen such a strange report card. They do not get a regular report card until 3rd or 4th grade here. Basically it is a piece of paper that comes out twice a year and says "Meeting 2nd Grade Benchmarks" and then the teacher checks yes or no.

[anon4now]

Ok, that's just weird. Do you have state testing at all? My son did state testing last spring and we got the results back from the state this fall. It was good to see an actual test with grade, rather than going off what the teacher thinks. Our report cards are weird here too. I wish they would just go back to A,B,C,D,F. I think there's something to say about an F staring you in the face versus Unsatisfactory. I mean, tell it how it is.



Anon

[katiekat]

Oh I totally agree. I know when Joe was in 4th grade here they DID get A B C etc.
I have said all along that when they start state testing is when they will finally come to address Sean's problems. They used to take one in 2nd grade but they eliminated that and now they don't do any until 3rd grade.

[lisacap]

I find it so weird that in a public school they are saying letter reversal and not being able to read preschool books is ok in 2nd grade. I ended up keeping Justin back in first grade because they already cored him and evaluated him last year. The first clue they had with his disibilities was that he could not read the preschool books, and didn't know the letters of the alphabet and if he did, they were backwards. Alot like Sean, one day he knew them, the next day they were a blank. He doesn't have any of the behavior issues but has the CP. Have you had him evaluated through the speech and language program at your hospital. The public schools did evalute him, and I had him re done at the Mass General in Boston and they found more disabilities than the school did. The public school also has to go by and accept the hospitals evaluations. At this point, I know how much you have already done for him, but I would insist they core him now, before another year goes by.
As for the grading, in my older 2 kids schools they do A,B, C but in Justin's public School, they go by numbers, 5 being the highest. At the parent conference I had with them 2 weeks ago all of Justin's things said "not making adequate progress" which has no led me to beleive he needs to be in a substantially smaller classroom where he can get more 1 on 1. I hate the public school system. I got more out of the small catholic school I had him in. They found it all.

[katiekat]

The school has completely refused to evaluate so we had it done privately. The testing is complete and we have a meeting coming up Saturday to find out the results and get their recommendations.

[jj]

KK, I think you need to borrow Lisacaps siggie and give it to those people that attended the conference.!

Boy they were flip-flopping. I just don't know what to say.

[charliegirl]

Oh, KK, I hope that evaluation spells out so clearly everything that is wrong that you can just toss it in the teacher's face and ask her if she still thinks he doesn't need extra help in school.

Maybe you should get Lisacap's siggy made into a t-shirt and wear it to school the day you take it in and demand an IEP.

[lillian]

I'm really anxious to hear what they have to say on Saturday. Great news on his behavior improving. That's a huge step!