Do You Think My Story is a Function of The No Child Left Behind Act

pgab,

I write this as a former special education teacher, who still works in the educational field, and as a parent.

You (and your son) would be best served if you just focus on his education. I seriously doubt the school system is trying to funnel kids into special education for the additional funding. In my experience, the vast majority of school staff/administrators are making their best effort to place kids in the appropriate setting. And the small minority that aren't making their best effort are motivated by laziness, not funding.

And it seems from what you've written, that though their was some suspicion that your son's poor academic performance might have been due to a learning disability, testing in two consectutive years did not find this to be the case. That is the system working.

If you already think you need to do more to motivate him, that is probably correct, and would be the best way to move forward.

 

Yes, you and your son are victims to the system. Bring it up in the meeting so that you can immediately be labeled as "that guy."

 

I will defer to gifford, who certainly knows more than me on the subject.

But, it doesn't matter anyway. Your child was struggling in school and they're trying to figure out why. Nothing wrong with that. Testing him a second time isn't pointless -- the first test might have missed something. So, they barked up the wrong tree. Now they've eliminated that possibility (again) and can look at other avenues to help his performance.

 

I do not see anything strange about the process. I have 2 children attending private school, but we are zoned to HISD. My daughter has had issues with math and we used HISD for testing. We then had a very good meeting with the person who did the testing, some of the teachers (including a special education teacher), and the principal at the local elementary school regarding the test results and the kind of assistance my daughter should receive. Those people also volunteered to meet with the teachers at the school my daughter attends.

I think they just care about helping children.

 

I don't know about Spring Branch. My wife is the special ed coordinator at her HISD school. It is actually the opposite. She has to struggle to get kids tested as the district tries to avoid spending the money.

Schools in Texas are very motivated toward testing. The school, and individual teachers receive bonuses based on the percentage of kids failing the TAKS test. This number is really where the action is. This could explain the testing your kid is getting. However, in recent years there is only a certain percentage that can be in special ed and exempted from the sacred tests. A buddy of mine taught ESL in high school and had to sit through the farce of having kids who were recent immigrants with no English take the TAKS test as they were no longer exempt. After a couple of hours they could turn in their test with nothing answered.

BTW, Gifford, it is interesting to see someone else who has been involved with helping folks in the sort of people's law, education or social work arena.
I often think that the shortage of such people on this forum (these types tend not to be too interested in sports) is why we have the sort of abstract/apparently selfish types of conservatives or even contented moderates we see so much on this site.

 

Conservatives give more to charity than liberals, that's a fact. Nice stereotyping though, quite impressive.

 

Under the same condition, my opinion would be to see if I had more time available to teach him and place him in a regular class setting. I don't think it's the perfect solution, but I'd rather him struggle in a standard setting while knowing firsthand what his limitations are.

Then again, I'm not a teacher nor a parent, so take this with a grain of salt. I just don't want his opportunities to be cut short by a rubric imposed by someone else while having no direct knowledge in how it works.

 

The story actually sounds familiar. I vaguely remember somebody telling me something similar.

 

Link on the giving?

Compare government spending on social programs with charitable contributions.

The voting patterns of conservatives defund many times more money from the poor and lower middle class than all the charity and church balls put together. When it comes to helping money counts not warm fuzzies for donors and perhaps good intentions.

Poverty and human suffering goes up greatly when conservatives win despite some praise for private charity.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

PGab,

Just stay involved, do the homework with him, make him do it before anything else when he gets home from school.

Reward him for doing well and participating.

I read somewhere that as parents we should strive for a 3 to 1 positive comments ratio, as kids respond much more to those.

God, I hope my kid never sees me typing about Ariza.



DD

 

This is wise.

 

Why blame the school, teachers, etc
when
you can simply blame the kid?

Sorry about your situation . . . it sucks. I think schools seem to worry about covering the school than teaching the kids.

Rocket River

 

Pabriel, hang in there with the kid. Sounds like he will turn out fine. Follow the good advice above.

Get the kid reading. Evertything else will follow academically. Maybe buy him a prescription to a magazine for computer game cheat tips if that turns him on. Whatever he REALLY is interested in. Sports? (note I am pre computer game generation so I only vaguely know the details.)

Our son had no interest in reading until his mother wisely bought him a subscription to Pokeman or Nintendo cheat books.

However, do keep him from becoming a computer game addict by carefully limiting time online as this can stunt social development and possibly increase ADD and other similar symptoms.

 

As a game maker, I agree with limiting their time as well.....they need balance.....

Games are not the problem, they are a symptom of bad parenting......just like watching too much TV was for my generation...before the games on the Atari 2600...



DD

 

PG- I can't speak for Houston, but we've spent a great deal of time navigating the SE system in New York, and i can tell you that putting a kid in a public Special Needs program is very expensive for the district, in fact, as much as private therapy can cost (we just won a 6 figure settlement w/ BOE).

I may be projecting here, so forgive me if i'm off base: you mention your son is very shy, by which i infer you to mean he's somewhat quiet and withdrawn in class. depending on how "extreme" those behaviors are, he may present to his teachers as a kid on the spectrum, and the testing in that case is entirely appropriate (we should have done it sooner). however, if the tests come back w/in the normal range, it's pretty clear this is not the case.

could he have hearing or vision issues that could contribute to his shyness? ADHD? my nephew, now 18, is brilliant, but could not function at all w/o the fairly radical ADHD cocktail he's on. just a thought.

lastly, you might consider a private tutor, depending on which subjects he needs the most help with (or all). They can be expensive, but there are low cost options, and your school district may be able to help you find someone appropriate.

mostly, hang in there, you doing the right things for your kid.

 

Dyslexia is something to test for as well

My Girlfriend in college struggled with it her whole life
before being diagnosed with it in college

Rocket River

 

Pgab,

Have you ever considered that he might be bored? He might be too smart for what they are teaching and is not challenged.

DD