Pick Your Battles: Everyday Math

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I have been fighting an ongoing battle with the school district over their insistence that Random Guy be taught Everyday Math at school. We have tried tutoring him at home with Singapore Math and Core Curriculum Math. He does better for a while and then starts falling behind as the exposure to Everyday Math increases. His confidence in his abilities plummets when it comes time to divide the class into different groups to teach math each year. He may not be as social adept as some kids but he know what the "s/low" group is and knows what it means.

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I had a meeting with his teacher, the school social worker and the learning specialist at his school today to come to an agreement about how to teach Random Guy math this year. I went with his most recent IEPs and his previous report cards in my green expanding folder.
I went in asking for him to be pulled out during math and a separate math curriculum. I explained that I had to reteach everything taught in class these past few years and that with two children having homework and therapies to go to I just don't have the time or ability to teach my son Everyday Math, every day, without any training. I explained that he is cognitively different than most of the other children and being so, needed mastery of a concept before being asked to move on to another one.

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I left with a modification for less homework, an agreement that Random Guy would not be shuffled among the teachers and put into a "low" group and that the algorithms taught would be the standard ones not the loopy multiple ways Everyday Math has to solve the same problem. I was told the homework emphasis will be on the traditional algorithms and that the problems to be worked will be marked discretely on his worksheet or booklet, so there is no misunderstanding what work needs to be completed. I was assured that this was going to be the last grade that they will be using Everyday Math. Next year, for middle school there will be a traditional math curriculum.

Wait, what was your strategy?
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Some would say that I didn't get what I was asking for, but really I think I got quite a bit. I got the modification spelled out by the learning specialist to the teacher. I got an agreement not to move my child from teacher to teacher to learn math, but rather stick with one teacher who now knows the modifications. There are 12 units this school year, so I kept Random Guy from having to move between three different teachers, two of which were not there for the meeting, and haven't got a clue about Random Guy.  I also got a chance to see what the reworked test format will be and what the standards are for the grade.
I got a meeting of the minds that Random Guy's teacher was going to follow the program. She also showed me how she is going to track his progress and increase the difficulty level of his work as he improves his performance.

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I sent a email (with a copy going to my husband,) thanking them for the meeting and outlining the agreed modifications and requested that the modifications be listed in his IEP.
It is best when faced with difficulties like this to find a way to solve the problem so your child gets the benefit of a modification rather than fight and fight and no movement occurs on their part for an adaptation or accommodation. It is a fine line to walk when advocating  for your child. You risk being viewed as helicopter parent, when really, experience has taught you to be proactive rather than reactive to save yourself and your child a lot of wasted time and energy.  Part of being a special ed. parent is having to teach the teachers every year. Part of being a special ed. parent is also learning from having to teach the teachers every year.

Back to School: Getting to Know You Letters

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I have a letter that I edit and adapt for each of my children for their new teachers when they start a new grade. I have talked about it here: that's-what-happens
This year, SensiGirl has the same teacher as last year. WunderTeacher gets it. She is very intrigued by Sensi's various skills and is a pro at handling difficult behaviors. She plans and thinks ahead, so luckily our collaboration on SensiGirl's Getting to Know You letter for ESY makes writing a new one unnecessary. I do need to update her IEP since she participated in AIT therapy this summer and she will need her hearing protected during fire drills and keep listening headphones off for at least 6 months.
We have to make sure to attend the Open House for Random Guy. I send his father, the Atomic Punk, along since I don't do crowds very well and he doesn't seem to mind too much. That way he and the teacher get to meet, since they usually won't see each other again during the school year due to Atomic Punk's work schedule. It's helpful that they meet him so that when I refer to similarities between Random Guy and his father that they have seen the grown up version and can make connections about where things are going in Random's development.

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Random Guy is going to be getting a full update for his letter as there have been quite a few changes for him this last year. He is still having trouble socially and will need some help with navigating the 5th grade social scene. We have cemented most of his basic math facts this summer, but he still has trouble with the spiraling and looping that is Everyday Math. I have more work to do to change his math curriculum in his IEP. Luckily at his school I have allies in both the school social worker and the principal.

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The letter goes something like this:

                        Getting to Know Random Guy

I just wanted to share some information about Random Guy with you. He started wearing glasses for nearsightedness this summer. He prefers to be called Randy now rather than Random. R. is a great builder and has a wonderful visual memory.  He is interested in American History, Geography and Social Studies, (he’s really good with dates.) R. does well with spelling and is very proud of learning to cursive write. He loves all kinds of Legos themes, Pokemon and Dr. Who. He is a fan of the Wimpy Kid Books and of the Avengers.

He may not look at you or make eye contact while you are talking, but he is usually listening.  It sometimes is easier for him to concentrate when he isn’t looking directly at the speaker. He doesn’t like those unfamiliar to him to touch him or get in his space. We have found that he does better with getting to class on time if he has a locker or coat hook at the end of the row, otherwise he stands back and waits and waits for the others to finish up.

He has an IEP with the disability label of autism, please read it if you can.  In it there is a testing adaptation, R. is supposed to sit apart from the other children when he takes tests. R. likes to know the daily routine and will most likely memorize it. It helps if it is written somewhere he can refer to at first.  R. doesn’t like to be singled out for discipline in front of the class, he would prefer that you take him aside and talk to him privately or at least quietly.  He also has some trouble with reading facial expressions or understanding when someone is being mean to him right away, and sometimes has trouble with bullies because of that.

He will not report a bullying incident immediately, but will tell me or his father later that day, or the next day. If you see Random upset, this may be the reason.

 Please contact me if you need any other insights or information about Random.

Savvy Advocate Mom

h. 523-0966

c. 432-8605

So that is the gist of it. Let them know the good things, warn them about the things that might be issues in school and make sure they know that you are aware of them needing to read the IEP. I also usually call a meeting in October to make sure that any problems are ironed out early.  Good luck with your own "Getting to Know" letter. They are a tremendous help.