what & how could IEP help with reading, writing and math?

[Anonymous]

For early elementary school kids, what & how could IEP to help a kid with reading, writing and math if there are learning disabilities? How do I find out if a public school has anyone specialized in dyslexia or OG? I am curious what kind of helpful services at school do kids get with similar profile?

[Anonymous]

As the parent of a HS student- I have not found any of the public school offerings for dyslexia helpful. Lack of training, lack of knowledge, lack of desire to learn from staff has been my experience.

you can check with the dyslexia office to see if anyone in your school is trained in OG but most teachers only got a 5 day training so they are not experts.

the most helpful thing has been accommodations but those are applied haphazardly and seem to be at the will of the classroom teacher. Some are good about it and others pretend they don't have to follow them

Hire a private tutor.

[Anonymous]

Our experience was the same as 15:20.

[Anonymous]

I could tell you a lot more if I knew which district you are in. In D.C., because so many children struggle with reading, an IEP could get you pull-out hours where your child would work with a special ed teacher in Wilson, an OG-like curriculum (though it doesn't do multisensory so much). I think few teachers know how to deal properly with LDs in math...but you could get pull-out or push-in hours then, too.
The main thing to avoid is a school that uses Writer's Workshop/Lucy Culkins.

[Anonymous]

I could tell you a lot more if I knew which district you are in. In D.C., because so many children struggle with reading, an IEP could get you pull-out hours where your child would work with a special ed teacher in Wilson, an OG-like curriculum (though it doesn't do multisensory so much). I think few teachers know how to deal properly with LDs in math...but you could get pull-out or push-in hours then, too.
For an IEP, you will get more than accomodations. You will get small group special instruction. 504 is when you just get accomodations.
The main thing to avoid is a school that uses Writer's Workshop/Lucy Culkins.

[Anonymous]

Do schools even use Lucy Calkins anymore??

[Anonymous]

I think Arlington still uses Lucy Calkins,

Even though Fairfax supposedly changed their reading curriculum away from it- some teachers are still using the guessing method

[Anonymous]

APS finally moved away from Lucy Calkins and is now using CKLA, thanks too a tireless group of parents. The middle school reading strategies classes are being revamped as well. My kids are older now, so I don’t know how it’s actually being implemented.

Like the PP, we definitely made the most progress with private tutoring. If you can afford it, I would get a private assessment instead of relying on the school assessment.

My kid is complicated with multiple diagnoses including learning disabilities. Of all of them, I think the school has been least helpful on the LDs. That really surprised me- I had naively thought that addressing them would be the area the school was strongest in because teaching is the whole point of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Arlington still uses Lucy Calkins,

Even though Fairfax supposedly changed their reading curriculum away from it- some teachers are still using the guessing method

Arlington is the same, although they use Lucy Calkins' writing program (I hate that they do but it's not nearly as bad as balanced literacy).

I know that some teachers here have been trained in OG, but I don't think it's common. They do give reading supports for students who need them and I think that an IEP would give that student priority. The effectiveness of the supports varies by school, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For early elementary school kids, what & how could IEP to help a kid with reading, writing and math if there are learning disabilities? How do I find out if a public school has anyone specialized in dyslexia or OG? I am curious what kind of helpful services at school do kids get with similar profile?

You can email the schools and ask. I just saw that my district specifically states that OG intervention is offered at all schools. I think that things are better now that everybody hates balanced literacy, although public schools are often overburdened and you're going to get much better results if you get a private tutor.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We are in MCPS. Where do you find private tutor? I assume that insurance won't cover it, may I ask what is the normal rate these days for tutoring? I don't know if we can afford it, so that's why I want to ask about resources and rates. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

OG tutoring is not cheap. Our tutor was $125 per hour and we did it twice a week for almost two years. This was after two years of failed supports at FCPS. It really sucks to have to pay someone to teach your kid to read because the schools completely failed them but it was worth it to have our kid be successful and feel like someone was invested in their ability

[Anonymous]

We just started using a tutor with Capital Learners at $130/hr. We were matched with a teacher in our district who teaches OG. Right now we only use the tutor every other week for an hour. Will increase that if we’re not improving, but what has been invaluable so far (aside from the tutoring) has been the tutors direct, honest feedback. We are embarking on IEP evaluations and getting an outside professional perspective has been so helpful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a HS student- I have not found any of the public school offerings for dyslexia helpful. Lack of training, lack of knowledge, lack of desire to learn from staff has been my experience.

you can check with the dyslexia office to see if anyone in your school is trained in OG but most teachers only got a 5 day training so they are not experts.

the most helpful thing has been accommodations but those are applied haphazardly and seem to be at the will of the classroom teacher. Some are good about it and others pretend they don't have to follow them

Hire a private tutor.

+2 This about sums it up from our experience, too. Don’t expect much from an IEP. Maybe you can get your kid pulled out to take a test in a ‘quiet’ room, but then later you learn that 16 others joined that so-called quiet room, too. That seems distracting to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OG tutoring is not cheap. Our tutor was $125 per hour and we did it twice a week for almost two years. This was after two years of failed supports at FCPS. It really sucks to have to pay someone to teach your kid to read because the schools completely failed them but it was worth it to have our kid be successful and feel like someone was invested in their ability

So, you paid $1,000 a month!!! Geez!!!