Imagine your a parent. Your kid HATES school he can't seem to get through it. It is TORTURE for him, you, the teacher. The teacher AND others suggest he be tested for a learning disabilty. GREAT! He'll be tested get an IEP which will enable him to get the HELP he needs to get through school, to LIKE school. The school will provide EVERYTHING he needs.
So what's the problem? The problem unfortunately is two-fold. Parents don't, for whatever reason, want to test there kids. THEN even if they are tested they don't want to there kids to be "labeled".
The first story is heart breaking but horribly true AND frequent. A child can barely write, has trouble in class, and is below level and still falling behind. His parents won't let him get tested and the school can do nothing about it. He can not get ANY help, until he has an IEP, and he can not have an IEP until he gets tested. And in the end who will get blamed for the child falling behind?
The second story is, professionally worse. A young student had been havng trouble in school for awhile. The teachers feel he should be tested. His family allows him to be tested, but when their son is "labeled" all hell breaks loose! Its the teachers fault the kid has a problem. The reason the child did poorly on the tests was because he hadn't learned that stuff. The tests are designed for what the child should know at this point. His phsycological age is taken into account. Why are you trying to blame the teachers? They want to help your child not hinder them... and if this "label" will help him. So be it.
Our society only knows how to do one thing. To point fingers. Teachers, among other professions, tend to be at the recieving end of this. One thing EVERYONE could learn. We got into this profession because we wanted to help your kid learn. So let us help him or her LEARN!
~Miss Murphy
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That is incredibly frustrating. Do you ever tell these parents of the success students have once their are diagnosed with a learning disability?
For example, my younger sister's best friend is SEVERLY dislexic. As a child she thought she was stupid and for a while gave up on school. Soon, they tested her and found out what was holding her back. With the added attention and different approach to learning she quickly excelled! She learned to love the fact that it takes her longer to read a book than normal. And today she is one of the MOST well-read people I know. She just didn't have the right tools originally. Now she has no doubt that she is highly intellegent and is in her third year of college majoring in art (she's a fantastic artists as well -- I am jealous of her vision!).
If the parents could understand that most of these disorders are brain mishaps (like with dislexia -- dislexics generally have to memorize full words because their brain cannot comprehend the individual letters when strung together) that cannot be predicted or "cured." You just have to approach the learning process differently and allot these children the extra time it takes to read or test. Without a different approach many of these children will continue through life thinking they are stupid and often give up because they are so frustrated.
Yes, but some parents, however sad it is, never see the help only ever see the problem.
~Miss. Murphy
Can't they realize that a learning disability is no different from any disability! If their child had problems walking they would do everything possible to allow their child the ability to run, jump, and interact with other children -- what makes a learning disability so different?
Learning disablility does NOT mean stupid!
i believe that parents shouldn't always have the power to control their child's education and thier kid/s should be tested IEP because it is for their own good. as a high school student, at times i feel as if teachers do fail us students because they get discouraged after years and years of trying to teach kids who don't want to learn, but that's because they don't have the motivation. if parents don't give motivation, then teachers should, one way is to help by teaching them in special classes so that they can get help on the subjects their weak in.
Your post was really insightful, I always thought that if a student was falling behind and obviously needed special help, the teacher or principal would have the authority to take action and ensure the student got what they needed. I'm a literature major and I'm sure that one day I'll end up teacher, but there are many stories like this one that really turn me off to the profession. It makes me angry that a parent who has such social biases and narrow-mindedness can ruin their child's future just for the sake of looking "normal". Teachers are a 50/50 chance, sometimes they're wonderful and sometimes they're completely terrible at what they do. That's why I wish teachers received more praise, higher salaries, and more respect from parents. If these teachers could do their jobs (which includes helping these kids learn as best they can) I think our education system would be a lot better.
-JP