classroom accomodations?

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Registered: 01-29-2004
classroom accomodations?
11
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 12:47pm

Recently while waiting for our kids at therapy, a bunch of us moms were talking about varying accomodations at school. The kids are a mix bunch of adhd and spectrum but all in the age range of 5-8. I shared a couple of things I do to accomodate (we homeschool) and the one mom was very against what I did. She kept insisting it was crossing the line ebetween helping and doing it for him. She kept insisting that he just needed less difficult work. Another mom commented that her son's aid would NEVER do such a thing.
I don't see the problem so I wanted some other opinions. If it amtters DS is 7 and was in 1st grade this year.

One of the things I do is to grid his math worksheets. If there are 4 rows of 6 problems each I draw lines between them to give him a visual of where each problem is. With that many on one workbook page, his writing gets big and then he thinks he answered problem #9 but really it is the problem's answer above just written big. With my grid in orange marker (always orange marker), he can easily see where each problem ends and it helps keep his writing in the pace. If I don't do this he is missing prolems and getting a lower grade becasue problems are missed not becasue things are wrong. When I do this he gets almost 100% each time.

Sometimes I let him take math test orally especially if he has had a lot of phsycial writing in other subjects. (This the mom had a horrid time with).

The biggest issue they had is that I underline the directions. One color is for a one step direction. I use 2 colors if there are 2 steps and so on. He is perfectly capable of reading the directions and understanding them but if it a multistep thing he misses again not becasue he can't do it, but beacuse halfway through steps get forgotten. I have found that by underlining he remembers better to complete each step. Thsi pops up a lot in grammar. Read the paragraph, cross out the misspelled words, underline any capitalization mistakes and add punctation where needed. My hope is that next year I will work with him on underlining in different colors the different steps himself to foster that independence.

Am I overstepping? Thoughts welcome. Heather

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Registered: 01-25-2007
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 4:07pm
I don't see anything wrong with your accomodations, in fact I think they are great. I really like the one about gridding off the math worksheet. My AS son sometimes takes one look at a math sheet loaded with problems and just falls apart. He has no problems doing the work, but the initial sense of being overwhelmed takes over. He also has difficulty keeping things small so the grid will help him organize his work better. He is all done with math worksheets for this year but I'm definately going to use that next year. Your other accomodations sound really helpful too. My son can't take lots of handwriting either so verbal tests were something I was going to suggest at his next PPT. Nothing you have mentioned sounds like "doing it for him." I think you are on the right track.
Avatar for toryanna
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 6:17pm

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you're doing. As a matter of fact, I was going to work with Vic over the summer to help ease his transition to middle school and think the idea of teaching him to first underline directions in different colors is wonderful. Like you said, if you take the time to get him to do it by himself next year, it will foster more independence, which is our big thing right now. At almost 11, Vic has a very hard time completing assignments unless someone is standing right on top of him.

Maybe what those parents are doing works for their kids, but only you know your child the best. Both my kids math books this past year has their math problems gridded, so I know that is nothing out of the ordinary that you're doing there.

I say more power to you and keep up the awesome job.

Alexis

Avatar for nutmegspice
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 8:29pm

I'm curious what kind of therapy appt this was?

Your accomodations sound great to me. And you are *far* from doing his work for him. What you're doing is pretty standard for kids with visual processing issues, sensory overload, and executive functioning/organization difficulties. Oral testing is very common as is having a scribe in public schools. Even our lazy school in a poor district is happy to have someone scribe for DS in class and for kids during testing. It was one of the easiest accomodations to get.

I've also found using a piece of paper to cover up sections of DS's math work to help reduce visual clutter. He gets overwhelmed less and is able to concentrate on the line that's visible. You're teaching him things that he will be able to easily do himself one day. A sheet of easier math problems isn't going to help with the visual processing thing, but a grid will. Geeze a kid with a very high IQ that can do upper level math might not be able to do a sheet of 1+1 if he had trouble with the visual clutter.

I think the next step is teaching him to implement the organizational strategies himself before he starts an assignment. I'm a little taken aback by the other mom's difficulty with what you are doing as these strategies have been in several different books I've read about teaching kids with executive functioning deficits, ADHD....etc. I don't think forcing my DS to learn like everyone else does will help him learn any faster or better. It's like throwing someone who doesn't know how to swim in the water and telling them to try harder as they drown.

I wonder what they consider an accomodation to be? And what does the aide do then?

Keep up the good work!

Chrystee

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Registered: 01-29-2004
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 8:41pm
Thanks for the input. The math gridding has helped so much. He can write well but needs some defined space to do it in. I'm glad it may help your son also. Heather
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Registered: 01-29-2004
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 8:45pm
Since we are in a home environment it so easy for me to just have everything ready to go and all he has to do it sit and do it. It is a fine line between helping him organize and doing it for him. I am woring on him take more responsibility for getting ready and such. I thought the work accomodations were good but those ladies threw me. Thanks for the support. Heather
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Registered: 03-20-2003
Mon, 05-28-2007 - 11:07pm

I think those accomodations are FABULOUS!

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Registered: 01-29-2004
Tue, 05-29-2007 - 3:29pm

Heather,
Lots of Spec. Ed classes here do math worksheets on paper with grids for this reason. I don't see you doing anything harming to your child.

take care,
Anandhi

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Registered: 03-03-2006
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 9:35am
I have a 8 yr old daughter in 2nd grade. She is in public schools and has Aspergers and dyslexia. Funny you mention these particular accomidations as they are very similar to what is being done for her at school. Our integration consultant (she runs my daughters program and oversees all of the accomidations) teaches at the #1 university in MI for ASD teachers. She is truely a specialist in this field and if she says it's ok, it is. Not all schools or teachers will make these types of accomidations. Not because they aren't helpful or even essential to the child but because they are too time consuming. This may make other parents believe that they are inappropriate accomidations. That is NOT true. If your son can do the work and feel successful and gain confidence due to these accomidations isn't that valuable and important. It is good for him to be challenged. He may not see the work the same way others do or be able to write the same way but that doesn't mean that he should be held back from doing what he is obviously capable of. You have obviously thought this through and have great transition plans to make him more independent with his work in the future. Good for you!! You're doing a great job, you should give yourself a pat on the back!
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Registered: 03-03-2006
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 9:48am

By the way...I also meant to mention that all of the elementary school kids in our district (including gen ed) are taught to highlight the instructions they way you are in 2nd and 3rd grade and are expected to do it all of the way through school. This technique has proved vital to improving the districts test scores. It helps the teachers to know whether the student misread the directions or is truely struggling in that area so they get the instruction they need. All of the schools in our district are state and nationally accredited (with 8 elementary, 4 middle and 2 high schools) that is saying a lot and this was one of the changes made to increase our scores and aquire that ranking.

Seriously...keep up the good work!
Cassie

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Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 2:43pm

I don't have any idea why the other moms had such a problem with it. I think what you are doing is fantastic. In fact, I need to remember that about making a grid on the math sheets. Haley has had problems with that too. We have always underlined the directions too because Haley frequently needs to go back and read them. Her teacher does the same thing for her.

Jill



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