Teachers - should I be asking for outside help?

[Anonymous]

You are running out of time to get effective help for your child. The school will slow walk you until he fails. Get a private evaluation for dyslexia. Get him OG tutoring ASAP.

Kids who don’t get help before the 3rd grade have to work so much harder to make up for their reading and subsequent knowledge gaps.

If your teachers are only talking about reading levels using letters, the likely know little about effective reading instruction and are stuck in the Fountas & Pinnel or Lucy Calkins curriculum dumpster fires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you teacher says he is fine, LISTEN. Be patient. Your teacher knows, as they are working with your son. Just ask the teacher what you can do to help and support your child with reading.

Totally disagree. I was dumb enough to think this when my son was in first. Then in second, he didn’t catch up, and he ended up with a long term sub. Then Covid, and here we are in fourth, and he can’t read a lot of the online material.

As a teacher I have to agree. I’m new to teaching but if I express concern over how hard spelling and writing are for most of my kids, the admin and grade level teams are like “they’re only 10!” But I could definitely write over one paragraph in fourth grade and I’ve seen younger kids in non-Lucy schools do it too...

Most admin and teachers mean very well, but have bought into the crap higher ups in education spew. Like whole language being effective.

[Anonymous]

I am a special ed teacher and I would be very concerned. I would send an email to the principal and teacher and say that you want a conference right away, to include the reading specialist, about this. You need to ask for the specialist to assess him. You should ask at the meeting for directions on how to refer him for special ed testing, and then follow up with an email summarizing the meeting. This starts the paper trail. At the same time, get a tutor.

[Anonymous]

I struggle with the decision to answer to this thread because, honestly, to me it is such a no brainer. Of course you ask for extra help/reading specialist time at school and also, you hire a tutor.

People telling you to trust the teacher - trust the teacher my ass! Your child is in 2nd grade reading at beginning 1st grade level... yeah, he MAY catch up and all will be fine and dandy, but WHAT IF HE DOESNT? Then you would have a much bigger problem in your hands - not only to catch up but also his self-esteem and confidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a k teacher, I would be concerned about a student reading at a 6 in 2nd grade. What is the school situation like where your son attends? In person? Hybrid? All virtual? Do you know what the approach to guided reading is?
For what it’s worth, I think the reading specialist should absolutely be working with him regardless of what the format is at this point. Unfortunately, that’s not happening so...
I think if I were in your position I would:
1) get a tutor immediately (ideally a former or current teacher in your district)
2) Reach out the the reading specialist at your son’s school to ask for tips, resources for his tutor to work on. You can ask the teacher too so that you’re not seen as going around her.
3) after a few sessions with the tutor, get their assessment and recommendations moving forward
Finally, I’m sorry OP. This sounds very frustrating; you are doing the right thing by starting with the teacher and assuming positive intent. But now is the time to collect your own information.

Former 1st grade teacher. In FCPS, a DRA 4 was considered beginning of first grade. Kids should be at a DRA 16 by the end of first. You didn’t mention the district, but I wanted to give you a benchmark. I agree with everything said above. Get a great tutor, and best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to a cold urban area. As someone who has a child with dyslexia let me give you my experience. Public schools are on a ‘wait to fail’ model. Their goal is to delay services - and frankly to do their level best to prevent you from receiving services. (Even though your child has a federal right - FAPE). Right now, you will be victim shamed - be pushy! Be assertive! - because it is a deeply corrupt system. And many of these folks are guilty employees of the system - they are actively ignoring your child. Here’s the deal - this is your child. First get him tested - a neuropsychological exam. See what’s going on. Then take steps to correct it. The school will most likely be your adversary. Take it one day at a time. And channel GEN Mattis: be polite, be kind but be prepared to fight. (Paraphrase there). Do not for a moment forget the public schools are your adversary but you first need to figure out what’s going on. Good luck!

You make it sound like we’re all trying to ruin their lives. We are bound by laws, rules, etc. It’s very frustrating from the teacher’s end, I assure you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to a cold urban area. As someone who has a child with dyslexia let me give you my experience. Public schools are on a ‘wait to fail’ model. Their goal is to delay services - and frankly to do their level best to prevent you from receiving services. (Even though your child has a federal right - FAPE). Right now, you will be victim shamed - be pushy! Be assertive! - because it is a deeply corrupt system. And many of these folks are guilty employees of the system - they are actively ignoring your child. Here’s the deal - this is your child. First get him tested - a neuropsychological exam. See what’s going on. Then take steps to correct it. The school will most likely be your adversary. Take it one day at a time. And channel GEN Mattis: be polite, be kind but be prepared to fight. (Paraphrase there). Do not for a moment forget the public schools are your adversary but you first need to figure out what’s going on. Good luck!

You make it sound like we’re all trying to ruin their lives. We are bound by laws, rules, etc. It’s very frustrating from the teacher’s end, I assure you.

It doesn’t matter whether a teacher is trying to ruin a kid’s life or not. This poster is not wrong. I have a dyslexic child who they waited to fail before giving services to help. My child read at a 3rd grade level in the 6th grade while the teachers refused to stand up against the admin/IEP team and admit he needed more help.
It’s all a broken system when dealing with language based learning differences.

OP, definitely get a tutor and assessment and possibly an educational advocate.
We chose to pay for our child to go to a private school for learning differences and he’s now on grade level and thriving.

Teachers can have good intentions but no one knows their exact motivations for helping or not helping but them .

[Anonymous]

OP here, thank you all for your honesty. We've recently started looking into tutors, specifically OG trained ones, so this reinforces that we need to get that finalized ASAP. No one has said anything to us about dyslexia being a possibility but an OG trained tutor is going to be good for any child, right?

[Anonymous]

Just look for a good, experienced tutor OP. I have taught for a long time and seen all kinds of trends in teaching. None of them are an end all, be all solution. Including OG. It’s new, it’s different and seems to work for some kids. Before that it was Lucy Caulkins and before that it was Fountas-Pinell, etc, etc. you need an tutor who has experience figuring out your child and has a wealth of strategies, techniques and experience to figure out what best works for him. And knows when/if it’s time to look into assessing more serious needs (like dyslexia).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you all for your honesty. We've recently started looking into tutors, specifically OG trained ones, so this reinforces that we need to get that finalized ASAP. No one has said anything to us about dyslexia being a possibility but an OG trained tutor is going to be good for any child, right?

I'm a teacher but there are many reasons a student can be behind. He doesn't necessarily have dyslexia. What phonemic awareness and phonics program does his school use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just look for a good, experienced tutor OP. I have taught for a long time and seen all kinds of trends in teaching. None of them are an end all, be all solution. Including OG. It’s new, it’s different and seems to work for some kids. Before that it was Lucy Caulkins and before that it was Fountas-Pinell, etc, etc. you need an tutor who has experience figuring out your child and has a wealth of strategies, techniques and experience to figure out what best works for him. And knows when/if it’s time to look into assessing more serious needs (like dyslexia).

OG is not "new or different". It has been around since the 1930s. It's principles are direct instruction in phonics (using a sequential, logical ordering) and using a multisensory approach (eg. student writes out each letter using their finger on their desk as they say the letter and see the letter). Also, it's not like Lucy Caulkins or Fountas-Pinell in that it's not a patented program. You can't buy the OG method anymore than you can buy phonics.

There are lots of programs based on the OG ideas. You don't necessarily need a specific OG tutor, but for tutors find someone who knows how to provide direct, sequential instruction in phonics. By sequential I mean teaches phonemes and graphemes in a way that at least has some thought in it. The exact order varies in different programs, but usually they have students starting with reviewing some short vowel sounds, some consonants and then blending them in CV or CVC words. Students also need to be able to hear phonemes and know the sounds so there should be some component of reading the sounds out loud. Bonus if there is a physical component.

You could also try hooked on phonics. Remember those commercials? If a student is really struggling it's not going to be as effective as a tutor or some of the more intensive programs, but it does provide sequential phonics instruction. Same with Explode the code or phonics pathways. One step up from that (more explicit, slower pace) would probably be "All about Reading" or "Abecedarian"

Your DC might need really serious explicit instruction in which case it would be good to go down the road of a certified tutor and/or a program like Barton or Wilson or Lindamood-Bell. Also, Recipe for Reading explains stuff but doesn't really give you a whole program.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, in addition to getting the tutor, i’d Suggest you ask to have your child screened. You know your child better than anyone else and you know he’s struggling. Get the paperwork moving started before the tutor catches him up. Dyslexia is far more common that most people think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He may not be that behind, now. The academic regression from February has been huge.

True but try to get some Lexia or hooked on phonics going

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you all for your honesty. We've recently started looking into tutors, specifically OG trained ones, so this reinforces that we need to get that finalized ASAP. No one has said anything to us about dyslexia being a possibility but an OG trained tutor is going to be good for any child, right?

I'm a teacher but there are many reasons a student can be behind. He doesn't necessarily have dyslexia. What phonemic awareness and phonics program does his school use?

OP here, I honestly have no idea. I know he's behind because he didn't have any phonics instruction in Kindergarten, we knew he fell behind then because his teacher emphasized guessing based on the first letter and the picture. We are STILL working on undoing all of that. He had a great teacher last year who focused on phonemic awareness, so was finally able to sound out words starting then. I work full-time so I don't listen in on lessons now, but I don't think they work on phonics anymore. We read a LOT at home and he's doing a pretty good job with elephant and biggie type books. I don't think he has dyslexia, but I'm not an expert, so how would I even know?

[Anonymous]

I would write an email to the teacher and CC it to the principal asking for an evaluation. If you know who the IEP chair is, CC them on it too. They have to respond to a parent request. Get the ball rolling. It could be the lack of actual phonics and phonemic awareness instruction or it could be something else. It’s tome to figure this out.