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    #234019 09/28/16 11:08 AM
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    DD14 is HG(+) with dyslexia and dysgraphia. We are having her first high school 504. I asked her if there was anything that she wanted to address. She said that everything is going fine except Spanish. This is DD's first time studying a foreign language and it seems to be highlighting her weaknesses, i.e. lack of automaticity, difficulty distinguishing unfamiliar phonemes and struggles with spelling and conventions. DD said that the teacher made a "snotty comment" (DD's words) to the class that they should be able to figure out how to spell the words in Spanish based solely on hearing the teacher say the word. This statement triggered all kinds of anxiety for DD. Any suggestions re how to bring this up politely in DD's 504 and possible accommodations?

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    Originally Posted by knute974
    DD said that the teacher made a "snotty comment" (DD's words) to the class that they should be able to figure out how to spell the words in Spanish based solely on hearing the teacher say the word. This statement triggered all kinds of anxiety for DD. Any suggestions re how to bring this up politely in DD's 504 and possible accommodations?

    I understand how this comment would cause anxiety for a student with dyslexia, but I suspect it wasn't intended to be a "snotty comment". Spanish is very different from English in that in Spanish you pronounce words based entirely on how they are spelled, there aren't all sorts of odd variations on pronunciation like there are in English. So what the teacher said was true - for students who don't have a language-based disability.

    I wouldn't refer back to the comment at all in the 504 meeting. Instead I'd have your dd list the things that she's found difficult so far in Spanish and think through what might work in terms of accommodations. My ds isn't dyslexic but has dysgraphia - his accommodations are going to be slightly different of course, but fwiw he's found that he uses his extended time accommodation frequently on in-class assignments and on homework. If you haven't tried already, I'd google "typical accommodations for dyslexia in foreign language classes" or something like that smile

    Best wishes,

    polarbear

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    Originally Posted by spaghetti
    Make sure your dd attends the meeting. It is likely that you will have only only two people: the 504 coordinator and guidance counselor. Possibly a classroom teacher, but it is not required.

    I think this might depend on the school district - teachers are required to attend the meetings here.

    polarbear

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    Originally Posted by polarbear
    I think this might depend on the school district - teachers are required to attend the meetings here.


    It probably also depends on the level of the school - at DD12's middle school, only one teacher (the "advisor") attends 504/IEP meetings, probably because it would be very difficult to schedule a meeting for all seven teachers. (The other teachers are invited but do not attend, in my experience.)

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    Just realized that my post didn't show up.

    DD has attended all of her meetings since 6th grade. I've encouraged her to "run the meeting" as much as possible. It's her brain, her accommodations. I've also found that teachers are more likely to listen to her than they are to me.

    We've been told that all eight of her teachers have been invited and that we have a 1/2 hour time slot as they are trying to get through multiple 504s that day. The counselor said that the teachers typically make comments on what they have seen in the first six weeks of school. She said then they will go through the existing 504 and see if anything can be eliminated or needs to be added.

    I mentioned to the counselor that DD seems to struggling in Spanish. I didn't mention the comment. I think that it was a legitimate comment made to the class in general but DD took it as personal criticism. DD came home and mentioned that the Spanish teacher came and talked to her about taking a test again to improve her score. Don't know if it's related. I will look on line to see if anyone has any recommended accommodations for dyslexic kids taking a foreign language. Thanks

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    Originally Posted by ElizabethN
    Originally Posted by polarbear
    I think this might depend on the school district - teachers are required to attend the meetings here.


    It probably also depends on the level of the school - at DD12's middle school, only one teacher (the "advisor") attends 504/IEP meetings, probably because it would be very difficult to schedule a meeting for all seven teachers. (The other teachers are invited but do not attend, in my experience.)

    Most likely - depending upon where you are. Our ds is in high school, and that's what I was referring to re our school district. He has multiple teachers and the teacher for each class is required to attend. 504 planning meetings are held once per school year, immediately after school gets out in the afternoon so teachers don't miss a class. It's inconvenient, but the school does their best to be sure that the meeting is conducted as time-effciently as possible. I've also found that, in high school in particular, it's important to have the teachers at the meeting. Chances are 9 out of 10 teachers aren't going to have an issue or will be understanding, but we've had at least one teacher each year who's been hung up on some very specific detail of a very basically typical 504 accommodation for a very clearly-defined disability. I've also found it's helpful for ds to have the teachers at the meeting because some accommodations such as extended time (as one example) will be handled a bit differently depending on the teacher. This doesn't mean the accommodation is different - it's the nuts and bolts of when does he take the extended time, how does he let the teacher know he needs it for an assignment or test, if it's a test, where/when will he take the extended time, nuts and bolts details like that. With 7+ teachers in a semester, the details of how to make accommodations work in real life get too detailed to include within the body of the 504 - the way it's handled here is by stating in the 504 "a mutual agreement" between student and teacher (not the accommodation, but essentially how to access the accommodation), the 504 meeting gives the teachers a chance to discuss issues with how-tos etc and also serves as a vehicle for the parent to know that those specific details either have been or will be determined for each teacher/class. It also gives the student an opportunity to advocate in a place where, if his/her advocacy falls short with a not-so-cooperative teacher, there is a parent and/or counselor etc to step in.

    Ultimately, I also think it saves the 504 counselor a lot of follow-up work. If the teachers weren't at the meeting, they'd still have to agree to the plan and sign off on it. I'm guessing it might be a bit easier to get teachers to agree in some districts, but ds has had several teachers who would not have agreed to his accommodations had they not been in a room with other teachers who were happy to accommodate. Hope that makes sense!

    polarbear

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    That sounds like a great system, polarbear.


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