I look down at the report card, then at the homework sheet. My brows are knit, so that my eyes are scrunched; it hurts. I stare at it.
"Joey? Simplify five-fifteenths."
"One third." There is not even a moment of hesitation, of processing, nothing- the answer is immediate.
I stare at the paper, marked 40-F. It is dated a week ago.
"Joey, what is 6/24?"
"One fourth." No pause. No blink of the eye. He's not even looking at the numbers, the audial processing isn't even road-bumping him.
"What is 1/8 plus 1/4?"
"3/8."
"What is 1/3 plus 1/6?"
"One half." He is getting slightly annoyed with me asking stupid questions.
"What is 3/15?"
"1/3."
"7/14?"
"1/2."
I keep this up as he puts on his coat, toss in some laughter to fool him into thinking it is a game, one we we have played since he could talk- the math problem game, the sudden barrage of math problems, increasingly complex, which still ornaments long car rides. The air is chilly. I am still clutching the failed papers, the report card that has a C+ in the math column, but the only comment, "Your child is a joy to teach!"
Must not be, since you don't appear to be actually teaching him.
"What is 3/18?"
"1/6."
"4/5 plus 1/5?"
"One."
"What is 4/76?"
He pauses for the first time, scrunches his brow and then grins.
"Mommy! That's silly!" I purposely picked the oddball numbers, but also know the answer is 1/19. The problem is too complex for him without seeing it, but he doesn't freak out, he makes his "I want a kiss" face. I oblige as the bus pulls up.
I have requested a copy of his school records. I'm going to make sure my ducks are in a row, and make some visuals, so that the team understands: we are out of time. If our IEP is failing, we need to fix it, immediately. And there is no excuse for this child to be getting a C in math.
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3 comments:
Ugh. I repeat: ugh.
It is so frustrating to know that he is so very, very smart, but they can't figure out how to work with him. I'm sorry.
When my kids were babies and I still got dibs on the tv I watched an Oprah show where she had a writer talk about his book on child development. I did read the book but it's been 10yrs+ so don't ask me what it was called. Bottom line that I found interesting is that the assumption that you learn everything as a lump and therefore should be able to do everything, is incorrect.
I went through the library quickly but I can't find what I'm looking for and I know the library bought it....
Joey, has no issues doing that orally. But written may be impossible. Getting the information to his fingertips is different than getting it to his mouth. A completely different skill.
We got Greg the computer for school - took us 3 yrs in total before the school bought it - because the testing at Gr 4 showed poor auditory and visual recall. It was easier and faster for him to type his thoughts than write them. Writing them meant he lost them along the way since he had to work so hard to write the letters legibly.
Yesterday, I got the redo of that same S/L testing. Not only has the majority of those issues been corrected (some issues still with auditory processing but minor now) but many of those skills are now above average.
A good speech path will tell you the same thing. That speech processing and speech articulating are not the same function. The hospital offered to run some tests to see how my eldest processes language. Only problem is, that there can no longer be delays. But still, maybe a full S/L test - it takes days to do - should be part of your request.
My IPRC mtg for the youngest is at 1pm today... this could be good or a war... we'll see how it goes.
[I'm sorry I've been kind of AWOL lately. You disappeared from my feed, apparently, and all of these posts suddenly showed up last night!]
My heart aches for Joey, for the frustratio and anxiety he must be feeling at being in such an unsupportive environment. Whomever Katie is that commented a couple of posts ago, I think she is dead right; you need a good lawyer. No amount of solution-bringing on your part or good intentions on school's part will actually result in the implementation of the things he needs to be able to access his education as he is clearly capable of doing.
Sending you much love and many good thoughts. xo
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