IEP’s, School, Education
I had a nice meeting with Devon’s team. I really enjoy the teachers I am dealing with for Dev’s 9th grade… I guess that is the way of public school, each year is so dependent on the teachers. Dev has done really well transitioning to high school. She has friends, she loves her classes, joined clubs, even tried out for Cheer and made the team (next post).
My only question is how much has she learned and is a “real” diploma in reach, if so what is her best chance of reaching it…
Dev has been in the 9th grade Academy–gen ed curriculum–with a “Focus” study skills class to help with homework and understanding. Dev has LOVED this…. She has had great success with Science–great teacher– no book… lots of labs… lots of student group work… first semester was a lot of work on matter and energy, second semester lots of robots, space and wave forms… She has loved this. Health has also been a great class. Person health, fitness, diet, anatomy… all that stuff. Wonderful. English and History have been hard. A lot of WWII books as the classes are linked. Wow. We read most of the books together—I read and edited out loud the main books- “NIGHT” and “When Elephants Dance” Both amazing books, but both have lots of imagery I do not want in my head dealing with war, violence, torture, inhuman atrocities of our true past… Really intense stuff. I’m glad we read them together. I do think she got something out of the stories, wars are terrible, humans can be inhumane, hope that we can learn from the past… Then she has had Math, Mentorship and computer science in the Special Ed contained class at school. Math was a little too easy, she needs functional math, but she also can do simple algebra… Mentorship she has made some friends and had fun. Computer science was fun and her use of the computer has improved. All good stuff right…
It is all great exposure… to a curriculum that really challenges her. The only problem is the grading of some her assignments… In Science we have not had a problem. She is expected to understand a step above her ability–great! In Health it is similar, she does projects mainly computer generated–great. The trouble is when she gets full credit for “Devon’s Level” work… What is “Devon’s Level” and why is it some non-changing level… Why can she turn in a page of work–tiny print not double spaced– with out a single period or capital letter… And this is after “Focus”… And this is the end of the year…
So we are willing to work with the system. So she can be included in the gen ed classes, exposed to the curriculum but not held to elementary standards, have social opportunities for success and failure… Or in special ed and work at her ability and hopefully improve that ability, but miss some of the cool academic stuff and some social opportunities…
What do we do? What is RIGHT? The implications seem so daunting. So…
We asked Dev what she wanted… There is a concept… She wanted Science in gen ed, a little more work in Math, Language arts and History in Special Ed, and some fun electives (drama). So the plan is: Read 180 and History in Special Ed, Personal health/home ec. in gen ed, Science in gen ed, and math where it fits in either “remedial gen ed math” or math in the special ed room. We will see how it goes.
I’m glad we are working with people that seem to be working with us rather than against us. We will let you know how it goes
6:51 pm
I came across your blog while I was researching for my daughter’s school, and I have one question. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can convince my daughter’s special education team to be more educational and less vocational? Yes, I want her to be productive, but why does needing to learn to ride a bus mean she can’t participate in science? And how is microwave cooking considered an education? I’m so frustrated today. But it gave me hope that at least someone, somewhere, recognizes that our kids can do more than bag groceries!!!!
11:32 am
I totally understand. We have been in a lot of school districts. Dev went to preschool in Florida. She would have been bussed to the “special ed” school rather than the neighborhood school (with out even evaluating her, but by her DX) if we had stayed. We moved to Indiana with the promise of “We will find the program that fits as we go” which sounded good but that was about it. The expectations was for her to work in a sheltered work shop… In Michigan we actually had a great experience through middle school. It actually did not take much work on our end, it was the way the program was set up. Here in Seattle it has taken a little more work, but the individuals working with us have been great, even if the greater system is in the dark ages.
My best advise would be to work one on one with the teachers she is working with.
The NDSC also just posted this on phrasing which has some good ways of discussing things: http://ndsccenter.org/resources/general-information/ds-news-articles/when-they-say/
Where are you guys? How old is your daughter?
10:40 pm
Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is excellent,
let alone the content!