Master of none, I am beginning to feel irritable and offended when I hear words from teachers like "just needs to try harder."

I read a book this spring called "The myth of underachievement" which was very interesting, though like so much didn't tell me what to do smile The author made the point that no child "chooses" to fail. I know my son often chooses not to do his work but I am convinced it is because the other "choice," doing it, is more painful on some level. (and this is not done at a conscious level, if it were it would be much easier to get around.) Anxiety? overwhelmed? control? He's not just flipping off the teacher when he doesn't do well. Understanding this doesn't seem like that much of a stretch to me, but a lot of teachers continue to think that he's just not paying attention, or is just stubborn.

BTW, what does a 504 for dysgraphia and anxiety look like for your son? And is the anxiety piece a part of it? We had a 504 for one year for dysgraphia and he was given some tests orally. We let it drop when he had a great teacher who accommodated naturally, painlessly, oh to go back to her! We may need to implement this again. Decisions.

Benny