Dyslexia - foreign language class exemption

[Anonymous]

Do public schools ever allow kids with dyslexia at the elementary school level opt out of Spanish class ?

[Anonymous]

No experience in ES, but DC did not take any foreign language in MS or HS. I would think that that would be an excellent time or pullout for the student’s reading program.

[Anonymous]

How often is the Spanish class?

And what would you propose the child do during that time instead?

[Anonymous]

Check with your school district. Some schools allow the substitution of tech or sign language for foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Careful with this. College may require 2 years of Foreign Language in HS.
Basically you may put your child out of College that fits his/her needs. Alternatively, you have to explain on application that your child has problems.
School may look positive or negative at this. I would not start school application with emphasis on SN. You can disclose after child is accepted.
Here is reasonable plan for foreign language. I think that kid with dyslexia should be able to handle it.
Wait with language until 7th grade. Take language 1a (whole year) in 7th. If necessary repeat in 8th (Grade goes to HS transcript). If ok with grade take 1B in 8th. If not OK with grade repeat 1A/B in 9th. (I believe you cannot take 1A or 1B for whole year in HS.) Then Take 2B in 9th or 10th. Retake until happy with grade. (Only highest grade goes on transcript. Lower grade is erased. You can repeat Fl class as many times as you wish.)
Higher a tutor from day 1 if you can afford. Use Quizlet non-stop. By Roseta Stone for use during summer.
Take only first two years of language. Surprisingly, you kid will know something and everyone will be happy. It is a lot of work. Most likely your kids will be able not to take FL in college. (Pick the one that allow to replace it with something.)
Mom of 2e kid with ADHD.
Good luck.

[Anonymous]

^^ this is plan for MCPS. Other districts may have different grading policies for retakes.

[Anonymous]

Does your elementary school have mandatory Spanish classes, or was your child diagnosed in elementary and now they are older you wish to waive the Spanish or other foreign language requirement?

My twice exceptional middle schooler with ADHD has no language classes in his MCPS school. Instead he has a resource class (for children with IEPs like him) and one elective: he chose technology instead of a language.

He actually learns his native language on Saturdays and plans to take the AP exam for that language in high school, but this arrangement allows for less stressful days at school (and a better language class - can't say that MCPS foreign language teachers are wonderful across the board!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ this is plan for MCPS. Other districts may have different grading policies for retakes.

OP was asking about elementary school. Middle and high school are definitely a whole different ballgame, and opting out comes with consequences.

[Anonymous]

We are doing this on the recommendation of our neuro-psychologist in MS. They will get a learning center/executive functioning type class instead. We are going to start over in HS. We think this is a better solution for now than a special needs school, which is probably more intensive accommodation than our child needs right now.

[Anonymous]

Re: FCPS (unless something has changed). The HS Standard Diploma (still college prep) requires 2 yrs and foreign language can be taken pass/fail, for the Standard Diploma. Latin might be an idea, or also sign language

[Anonymous]

My DD took three years of ASL (sign language) in her MCPS HS. It worked out fine for her and she got into a lot of very good colleges. There are some colleges that will not accept the sign language and absolutely want to see the foreign language so check before applying or call the admissions office and see if they consider the ASL if your students is an otherwise excellent candidate for the school.

[Anonymous]

Op here - I'm talking about third grade. My dd has mandatory Spanish twice a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD took three years of ASL (sign language) in her MCPS HS. It worked out fine for her and she got into a lot of very good colleges. There are some colleges that will not accept the sign language and absolutely want to see the foreign language so check before applying or call the admissions office and see if they consider the ASL if your students is an otherwise excellent candidate for the school.

Can you expand at all on the experience taking sign language? Did you find that the dyslexia issues disappeared? Or were there different "language" issues? Did your DD have trouble memorizing vocabulary or understanding any grammar structures (if there are in ASL). If your DD has slow processing speed issues, did she have difficulty following rapidly paced sign language?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Careful with this. College may require 2 years of Foreign Language in HS.
Basically you may put your child out of College that fits his/her needs. Alternatively, you have to explain on application that your child has problems.
School may look positive or negative at this. I would not start school application with emphasis on SN. You can disclose after child is accepted.
Here is reasonable plan for foreign language. I think that kid with dyslexia should be able to handle it.
Wait with language until 7th grade. Take language 1a (whole year) in 7th. If necessary repeat in 8th (Grade goes to HS transcript). If ok with grade take 1B in 8th. If not OK with grade repeat 1A/B in 9th. (I believe you cannot take 1A or 1B for whole year in HS.) Then Take 2B in 9th or 10th. Retake until happy with grade. (Only highest grade goes on transcript. Lower grade is erased. You can repeat Fl class as many times as you wish.)
Higher a tutor from day 1 if you can afford. Use Quizlet non-stop. By Roseta Stone for use during summer.
Take only first two years of language. Surprisingly, you kid will know something and everyone will be happy. It is a lot of work. Most likely your kids will be able not to take FL in college. (Pick the one that allow to replace it with something.)
Mom of 2e kid with ADHD.
Good luck.

It depends on each child. My DC is currently a freshman in college and did not take any foreign language inMS or HS. His application explained why and seemed to be enough even schools like UMD-CP accepted him into their Honors college without the foreign language. It does mean disclosing ones disability on the application and we felt that a school that would discriminate based on this information would not be the right school for DC. It also meant that he received the Standard Diploma in his VA FCPS instead of the Advanced Diploma as there is no procedure to be exempted from the foreign lanaguge requirement. It means investigating colleges more closely to see if there is a foreign language waiver for students with language based disabilities. There are plenty of colleges like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I'm talking about third grade. My dd has mandatory Spanish twice a week.

I think it depends on what the curriculum is, and what the expectations for reading or writing are.

At our school, the 2x per week foreign language was mostly teaching some words, songs and as much about cultural awareness as reading and writing. My child with an expressive language disorder still really enjoyed Spanish as his receptive skills were fine. Frankly it was great because no one knew much Spanish, so he was on a level playing field with the other children.