Glad for the 4th Grade to End

May 2017

4th grade was a frustrating, unpleasant experience for Bridget. Her bad experience filtered into our house on a regular basis. The first few weeks had started off well, but the behavior of the class quickly deteriorated. The rest of the school year became a struggle.

Bridget had already been behind in reading and was being pulled out regularly for additional assistance since 2nd grade. She was making progress but she was still below grade level, despite having really good comprehension skills. In fourth grade they had mixed ability groups and she was put in small group with other kids below grade level. Sadly this group is also one that has a lot of behavior problems and her teacher struggled to maintain control.

On a regular basis, Bridget got off the school bus and closing the door behind her, she would lean against it and cry. Bridget was putting in so much effort and she was getting few results. It upset her that so many of her classmates were distracting and weren't following directions, or were just plain rude. She came home exhausted each day. Her biggest complaint was that it always took her too long to get her work done and that she frequently didn't have enough time. Jim and I had been meeting with Bridget's teachers over the years and had previously requested that she be tested for learning disabilities. We had a lot of meetings during 4th grade. The county policy is for them to try interventions first and see if there was any improvement before approving testing.

After almost 2 years of interventions, Bridget was more that a grade level behind and the school finally got on board with doing testing and possibly further interventions. Bridget was glad that something new was being done. We were not surprised when her results came back showing a high IQ and a learning disability. I think Bridget felt vindicated, like she knew she should be with the smart kids. Since she also has older sisters who have learning disabilities, who she knows are smart and successful at school, she didn't see this as a bad thing.

The diagnosis means for school that Bridget qualified for an IEP, Individualized Education Plan. The county doesn't have 2E, Twice Exceptional, programs but we were glad to find out that the Special Educator who we really liked and had been working well with Bridget all year, was taking a course over the summer to learn the Orton-Gillingham method, which is ideal for kids with dyslexia. It all feels like help is late in coming but we are all hopeful that Bridget will finally get the tools she needs to succeed at reading.

The IEP also outlines a whole lot of accommodations that Bridget should have access too. She gets a personal device in 5th grade and we are hoping that most of her non-reading instruction texts will be available for her on audio. She shouldn't be held back from learning math, science or social studies because she reads slowly. We are hopeful she'll be able to function at a better pace and finally not find school so distressing. The IEP also recommends that Bridget be placed in advanced classes.