Thanks!  Now the real fun begins, making sure teachers use the 504 program that's been set up and checking our son's homework EVERY night.  Last night he brought home classwork that he was suppose to finish and had no reference material at all on it. How do they expect him to know the definitions if there's no place for him to look back on it?  Sent another "why isn't there" email to the teacher.  Sometimes I really get sick of that, this teacher is usually pretty good about things like this.

I know it's going to be a work in progress.  One of his 4 major teachers was giving me grief before this 504 meeting, and she seems to have come around.  Another teacher (male) has this "kids need to be self-motivated" thing that is really freaking bugging me.  Our son brought home a worksheet the other day, and when I asked him where he's suppose to get the answers from, he said "I don't know".  When I emailed this teacher (a substitute for one on maternity leave) he emailed me back this stupidity...

" I had explained to all of my students early on in the year to use resources such as dictionaries, the internet, and their parents to help with their work if they are unclear on what they are supposed to do.  This is especially true with vocabulary.  He said that he used the internet to find the definitions, which is exactly what he was supposed to do.  He was not supposed to know the definitions of the words; he was supposed to use whatever resources to find them, and he succeded in doing so.  Giving out the definitions to the students would have been counter-productive to the idea of building study skills and independence.  This self-advocacy was also discussed in the meeting, and I am happy to see that he is able to use these strategies at home.  He will forget things from time to time like any other sixth grader, and his ability to solve problems like this on his own, like he did with this assignment by working with his parents and the internet, will assist him greatly in the future."

The attitude of the self reliance and self advocacy is good in theory.  We CAPD parents know that our kids won't always speak up when it comes to things they don't understand or don't know.  This teacher, however, doesn't have enough experience yet to know this.  I asked our son repeatedly if he knew where he was suppose to get the definitions for this worksheet, and he didn't.  Different teachers do different things, and I can't expect him to remember which teachers use notes/worksheets/books for answers to homework.  One teacher gives out definitions in class using notes, another teacher has handouts or uses past worksheets for reference.  This poor kid has to not only remember the work, he has to remember which teacher does what for getting his answers?  Ridiculous!  Now I know this one teacher expects the kids to find the answers on their own, I guess I need to make some kind of freaking reference list of my own just to know what these teachers are doing! 

Now this email came yesterday from his Social Studies teacher, another male teacher, different from the first teacher I discussed. I emailed this teacher and asked about a C he'd gotten in one of his quizzes.  It was a definition for a word he apparently didn't remember. The email before this had me thanking this teacher for his helpful attitude....

"As the vocab quizzes get larger, I will give them a study guide, especially for the words that are not in the current unit.  I think it would turn into a disaster for most students if I did not.  I'm sure it would have been a disaster for me at that age, too. 

The quiz was given by projecting the question on the front board.  I read the question and all possible responses two times.  After I read it, the question stayed on the projection screen until everyone was finished (putting their head down was their signal to let me know they were ready).  Maybe you can talk to Matthew about this too, but, in the future, if I give a quiz on the projection screen again, do you think it would be more beneficial for him to have a hard copy in front of him? 

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email. "


Isn't it refreshing to have a teacher who cares so much that he'd be willing to change how he does things in class to suit one child? When I thanked him and told him I wished all the teachers had his attitude, he said this in response...

"It's no problem.  I want him to be successful and continue to make improvments just as much as you do.  We'll keep working together throughout the year to figure out what works, what doesn't, and what we can do to help him as well as what we can do to help him help himself.  I appreciate the feedback you have been giving.  It's very helpful especially since this is the first I have heard of CAPD."

Sometimes things like this just make me want to cry. 

Now, there's a kid that has been teasing and poking on our son in school.  This has gone on for a week already, and the school's counselor has been told NUMEROUS times about it.  They have a scrict "no bullying" policy, but don't seem to be enforcing it in this case.  Our son has gone to the counselor, like they were taught to do, to have this child dealt with.  Yesterday he called our son's shoes "gay", and that's where the line was crossed in my mind.  I've put a call in this morning to the counselor, I'm waiting on her to call me back.

Thanks Bonnie.  Yes, in fact I did give them that info at the beginning of the school year via emails.  I was even thanked for doing so.  What I think these people need to realize is that the CAPD is not a HEARING issue but an UNDERSTANDING issue.  They think because he seems to be hearing them fine, that everything is kosher.  Well, news flash people, it's NOT!  The book "When The Brain Can't Hear" details why it's harder for CAPD kids to take effective notes...

"Note-taking requires a division of attention between auditory and visual modalities.  When attention is focused on writing down infomration, less is available for listening to and comprehending the information in the first place.  As a result of this division of attention, the child may neither hear the information nor write good legible notes.  In addition, for children with certain types of APD, note-taking relies on those very skills with which the child has great difficulty."

This is our son's problem, he can't take listen, write the notes, and understand at the same time.  It's the auditory memory part of his issue that hinders him.  Heck, he's got all these teachers that do things differently, how can we expect him to remember which teacher wants him to find his own information, and which teacher wants him to use provided notes, or look back on past worksheets? That's the biggest problem I'm having right now.  I watch the homework every day, and I see the tests and quizzes with his progress reports.  Believe me, if I see a C on anything, I question it. 


Diana

Hi Bonnie.  Yeah, we have a 504 already, we had that meeting a little over a week ago.  Part of the 504 is that he gets is that "the teacher should reinforce verbal information with the addition of visual information, verbalization, written instructions and/or modeling the activity and gestures." What this one teacher didn't understand is that our son needed to be told WHERE to get the information, or at least asked if he knew where he should get it.  He didn't do that.  That's why I got angry. 


The "bully" is suppose to be talked to either today or Monday.  The counselor asked him if he wanted to be in on the meeting, and he said "yes, definitely".  GOOD BOY!  He wants to make sure this kid doesn't lie.  I've taught him well :>)



Diana