I want to say that I'm looking forward to attending the Special Ed Town Hall Meeting tonight, but looking forward is too optimistic a phrase to describe how I feel. It seemed that we were at a pretty stable place with Little Dude's services and accommodations - until yesterday! Unfortunately his case manager/resource teacher took one day off, and the sub didn't take the time to find out what our plan is and what interventions were appropriate.
Yesterday the class spent time practicing for today's Reading SOL; his testing accommodations for reading are pretty much limited to being able to write in the test booklet instead of filling in the "bubbles" on the answer sheet. Reading is certainly one of his strengths. But the sub helped him prepare by reading him the story selections and the answer options. Not really helpful as when he got home, he thought he had completed the test after this exercise, and he didn't get the benefit of realistic practice.
I spoke with his resource teacher today around lunch time. Besides being very professional and more than well qualified, she is also a kind person and easy to work with as our team leader. She felt bad for taking a day off (which she has every right to do), but even worse for Little Dude's experience. I just asked for him to stay with his classroom teacher (who is awesome in her right) if there are personnel who don't want to use the plan that we have so carefully prepared. And therein lies the rub. We currently have a conscientious, informed, caring professional team that communicates well and generally agrees by consensus on the needs that we are trying to address. It's the lack of implementation by the weakest link of various teams we have had over the years that has caused me to have doubts about what the future holds. I've nearly given up wondering if we would be at a better place now if previous team members had performed adequately. And I credit the gains he has made with the current group for allowing me to more clearly see the bright future ahead.
So, I'm going to the town hall meeting knowing that many parents and students are struggling with surviving while I am pleased for the most part to be participating in thriving.
Meanwhile, we have added place value and fractions to our list of math concepts that we have reviewed. Need to check the list and make up some practice problems for our last night before the Math SOL.
Yesterday the class spent time practicing for today's Reading SOL; his testing accommodations for reading are pretty much limited to being able to write in the test booklet instead of filling in the "bubbles" on the answer sheet. Reading is certainly one of his strengths. But the sub helped him prepare by reading him the story selections and the answer options. Not really helpful as when he got home, he thought he had completed the test after this exercise, and he didn't get the benefit of realistic practice.
I spoke with his resource teacher today around lunch time. Besides being very professional and more than well qualified, she is also a kind person and easy to work with as our team leader. She felt bad for taking a day off (which she has every right to do), but even worse for Little Dude's experience. I just asked for him to stay with his classroom teacher (who is awesome in her right) if there are personnel who don't want to use the plan that we have so carefully prepared. And therein lies the rub. We currently have a conscientious, informed, caring professional team that communicates well and generally agrees by consensus on the needs that we are trying to address. It's the lack of implementation by the weakest link of various teams we have had over the years that has caused me to have doubts about what the future holds. I've nearly given up wondering if we would be at a better place now if previous team members had performed adequately. And I credit the gains he has made with the current group for allowing me to more clearly see the bright future ahead.
So, I'm going to the town hall meeting knowing that many parents and students are struggling with surviving while I am pleased for the most part to be participating in thriving.
Meanwhile, we have added place value and fractions to our list of math concepts that we have reviewed. Need to check the list and make up some practice problems for our last night before the Math SOL.
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