Wyatts IEP's started in kindergarten with speech therapy, something we knew he would need and we were more than good with that. Wyatt graduated from speech the middle of this year *way to go my man!!*
he is now in second grade and everyone noticed from kindergarten that he was having trouble in reading and writing, something i suspect was in direct connection with his not being able to pronounce a LOT of letter sounds .. i mean if you can not pronounce the sounds a D makes correctly how can you correctly sound out a word right? i mean seems simple enough for me how about you?
in first grade we started with additional reading help both in the classroom and out, his teacher (or teachers aid) would dedicate so much time per day to him in the classroom itself to help him one on one .. i want to say it was something around 30 minutes a day and at least 3 days a week (with a full classroom they did their best). he also saw a reading teacher for additional help (i want to say an hour a day) 5 days a week.. that reading teacher was awesome, always sending things home for us to work on as *homework* and most of the time it was reading books to help him out at a level he could read.
at the end of last year we started looking into getting him set up for more help in the form of having him tested for special education. so we went through their hoops (tiers) and got him all set up, by the end of 1st grade we added special education classes in the forms of reading and writing .. we had his IEP at the end of last year and i was told he would *receive* the world in help in these areas and with the special education and his progress abilities (from what he had already shown) no one expected him to have an issue,
i was told that he would receive help in reading, writing and fine motor skills.
all year long i have not heard much of anything about his progress, just a few things from his classroom teacher who during our parent teacher meetings said what a great job he was doing and how at the times of our meetings he was doing wonderful in the classroom with math etc, just the normal *reading and writing* issues (which i expect because this is why he is in special education)
even at our parent teacher conference not but 2 weeks ago (maybe 3) she informed both my husband and i how great wyatt was doing and how he would be moving on to the 3rd grade.. my husband did inquire about summer school if it would help him and she said that due to budget cuts they were not offering summer school however suggested that we work with wyatt over the summer with books at his reading grade level and what not which we thought would be a great idea. but everything math wise was great!
today was our iep meeting and my hubba stayed home to catch the bus (wyatt didnt want to stay and thats a good thing) and so i went to the meeting to talk with the *group* of teachers .. in attendance was wyatts speech teacher with a huge smile on her face as always, proud oh so proud of wyatts great accomplishment of no longer requiring speech and the leaps of improvement he has made..
his reading special education teacher .. his classroom teacher, the school principle (who probably thinks im a HUGE bitch) and missing was the special education teacher who deals with writing (maybe she forgot about the IEP?)..
they kicked the meeting off telling me that wyatt was not at grade level in anything, not reading, not writing, not math (wait.. didnt his teacher just tell me how wonderful he was doing and how he was where he should be for this time of year?) but apparently now her story changes because as she said it *he cant do flash cards like this* and she proceeded to snap her fingers.. well you know toss some flash cards in front of me and im not going to be able to do them that fast.. the last asshole who thought i should be able to do anything math wise in the snap of the finger (multiplication) was my mothers ex-husband who was an abusive alcoholic asshole!
than they proceeded to talk about his reading level.. somewhere in there the principle chim'd up and discussed *holding wyatt back* and i promptly said *no you wont be* and she said *well i have the ultimate say* and i said *well im telling you that you are NOT holding my child back* and she informed me that it was up to her and only her.. excuse me?
so i said *what are you saying that i have NO say in MY childs education?* ha wrong answer lady..
so than she proceeded to tell me that she wasnt saying that but that she has the *final* say in what happens with him..
which is when i informed her once and for all that she is NOT holding him back and that i would pull him out of public school and start home schooling before she held him back.
she than proceeded to tell me that she wanted more for my child to graduate high school with the reading level of a 3rd grader .. excuse me? my child is in 2nd grade and reading on the 1st grade level (where he would be at the beginning of 2nd grade actually) and would continue to grow not loose what he learns and would not be a 12th grader graduating reading at the 3rd grade level. she than went on to say that they would not offer him summer school because he wasnt *bad enough off* for summer school.. so you would rather hold back a child that needs a bit of help and push the ones through that need a ton of help vs spending some of my tax dollars to give my child help over the summer if he needs it? now i admit it i was against summer school in the beginning but i understand if it would give him a boost to help him along than its needed.. but to tell me that he isnt behind enough for it but hey lets just hold him back a few years until were ready to push him forward..
okay by now im PISSED and im sure everyone in the room knew it.. i think my poor mother wanted to crawl under the table..
about that time the principle decided to excuse herself (maybe because she knew we weren't getting anywhere) .. this is when things get really interesting ~
the special education teacher told me how much he was improving and it was shown on the paper from his last report card, go figure, my youngin has moved up 4 levels in reading the same 4 levels that any child his age is expected to move up.. and is now reading much higher than he was which proves that he is learning what they are teaching him and doing good..
than they went on to tell me that he doesnt pay attention in class unless your on top of him.. well you know this is weird, he dont pay attention now, this is a first. hes been in this school since kindergarten and all the sudden the child who tries his absolute hardest isnt paying attention but yet this has NEVER been brought up? weve been doing IEPs since kindergarten.. not to mention numerous parent teacher conferences since kindergarten and ive always been told what a great student he is and how great he is in class.
further more i was told that he would have to take the 3rd grade EOG's (end of grade testing) in 3rd grade.. now they offer 3 different ones, the regular 3rd grade EOG, the below grade level EOG's and the 3rd grade *reduced* EOG (which has a few added things like someone to help read the questions out loud to him and the same reading section just a bit smaller than the regular one) which the reduced EOG is what they will have him take..
so your setting him up to fail? your taking a child you KNOW doesnt read at the 3rd grade level as of yet and your going to give him a 3rd grade reading EOG?
am i the only one who dont think this makes a bit of sense?
ooh but they wont give him the lower EOG because he is to smart for it, but yet not smart enough to move on to 3rd grade.. your confusing me people!
than i had the pleasantness of being told by the special education teacher that i was to dumb to teach my child? not in so few words but still it was the same.. her wording was more along the lines of *you cant get special education help in reading and writing when your home schooling your child* and i cant teach him how to read and write because?
when i informed her i was not a stupid person she told me she wasnt calling me dumb i just wouldnt be able to get the help.. isnt that the same thing? assuming i would need her to teach my child because i couldnt do it? and further more i could easily go out and get him extra help.
i than brought up the help that a friend of mine does for a living in the neighboring county (shes a special education teacher that works with one student all year round, in all of his classes etc) and i am informed *that doesnt exist* um hello.. i know this woman personally.. and i know what she does for a living.. of course they didnt appreciate when i asked if the other county was just a better school system than our own..
i was than handed the tier paper by his classroom teacher for math.. so now they want him pushed into special education for math too?
i know what it all boils down to.. like most other schools and i never thought i would say this about WOES, its all the test scores.. they dont want him taking the tests (EOGs) until he can do it the way they want him to because if he dont their school wont look as pretty as they think it should and that pisses me off!
the saddest thing of all is my wyatt LOVES school.. he likes all of his friends and his teachers and just every part of school.. and yet they want to do this to him and i am now going to start having to decide whats best for him education wise.. keep him in a school that isnt working for him but against him.. or homeschooling him, i never thought i would be at this place in a zillion years.. ron and i have a lot of talking to do... a different school or two to look into and well just a huge decision to make. but i can tell you one thing.. they are not holding my baby back..
he is at grade level in everything except reading and his writing isnt perfect (he can be a sloppy writer) but they can offer him summer school or maybe suggest how to work with me to get him moved along easier vs holding him back.
the worst thing is, he is already almost twice the size of the kids in his class because of how tall he is.. hes just a bigger boy
and i think its bull when they say that *being held back doesnt affect them* explain that to the folks i know who have been held back and are still bothered by it.. wont affect him? oh yeah in there eyes hes just stupid, how would he know?
oh and the kicker, this is the help that wyatt is actually receiving.. not the *grand* help i was described before but instead..
1 hour per day in reading help (5 days a week) in a classroom with 3 other children...
for writing/fine motor skills .. he is given 30 minutes per day ... 7 days in a 9 week grading period.. yes just 7 days every 9 weeks.. less than one day a week for 30 minutes, i can see where his hand writing should be so greatly improved after all he is getting a total of 3 1/2 hours every 9 weeks.. are you serious?
deff a pissed off mama tonight!
