Monday, February 22, 2021

 Monday, February 22, 2021

 

            At 7:15, I participated in the school conference with the special services team to determine if D qualified for an evaluation for classification as a special ed. student. 

I told them my concern about his memory problems. I was asked if I worked on alternative methods of solving problems. That's still somewhat of a leap for me. I have to say I only really got it recently when I participated in a video workshop run by the Step-Up Tutors' LA school district. I got it: memorizing the times table is not as important as solving a math problem in life. I told them D couldn't draw multiplication problems, and when I drew it, it wasn't obvious to him to add up all the numbers. One of the team asked me if I was using evidence-based methods. I responded I was using phonics. She said, but you're just adjusting it to him. I made no comment. I know when it is futile to discuss this topic with people. The principal knows the success I've had; this other woman doesn't know me from Adam.

            They didn't have any statistics from this year, but they did from last year. D had in the 12% in math and the 9th in reading. They decided he didn't require evaluation because the referral came from the home instead of the school. Huh? Did anyone notice his percentages? Doesn't that suggest that there was a failure on the part of the teachers? I suspect Daniel is not being referred for various reasons: he's a nice kid and doesn't make any trouble is one. While no one considers him to be 'intellectually disabled." He's not the sharpest knife in the draw. My guess is he has an IQ  between 80 and 90. His mom says he was slower in understanding everything than his three older sisters were. However, there are ways in which he demonstrates intelligence. It's confusing.

            The school decision was that he was to get extra in-person help. He will be coming into school to work with a teacher. At one level, I hoped his mom would decide, from what she heard me say in the meeting, that I could not help him and suggest that I drop out. Ah! That would be good. On the other hand, I'm looking at different ways to help him. I'm wondering if I have really done a good job or gotten stuck on helping him with his memory, which has gone nowhere. 

            I did some work on the PowerPoint for my Phonics Discovery video, making changes Damon and Cylin's responses suggested. Then I went to save them. Oh, boy. The files I saved were corrupted. The changes I had made were saved, but all the graphics were a mess. I did find one uncorrupted file and resolved to work with that one, but not that day.

            I had H. at 2:15. He was reading to me from Dog Man again. Since I don't have a copy of the book, he has to repeat what he says to me when I don't understand or explain things made clear by the illustrations instead of the words. The exercise serves the purpose of teaching him the rules of conversation. 

            After him, I had J. I asked him about his grades. He got good grades in math, reading, and art but was low in language arts, writing. I asked him if he had any writing assignments. He did. Why didn't he ask me for help right away? When was it due? Thursday. When did he get the assignment? Last Thursday.  

            He had to write or create a multi-media presentation on a Black Scientist and explain how he inspired people. He remembered Kizzmekia Corbett. He was able to bring up an article on her from some British publication. I knew it was British because they spelled color as colour.- a telltale sign.  

            The vocabulary was way over his head, although I could get him to correctly infer the meaning when using the word in contexts that were familiar to him. He brought the online instructions. Yikes! It looked hard, - and then I saw it was an assignment for grades 6th through 12th. Well, he obviously didn't have to fulfill the highest standards. I will have to think about this and do some research on my own.

            I thought I would have to cut the session short because of my next client when I got a text notice saying they had to cancel because mom was suddenly called into work. She's a pediatric nurse. I think everyone in the medical profession is on-overload now. 

            I checked out a video series on Netflix called The Sinner. Too much drama. I want MidSommer Murders, Endeavor, etc. Everything is designed to be edgy these days. We are living on the edge. I need relief from that.