Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional In trouble for working ahead - how to handle?

Hi all need more advice... This time it's easier

DS (in 1st grade) is very frustrated in math. He likes to work ahead but allegedly "gets in trouble" for doing so. Apparently, the way the teacher disciplines him for this is she makes him "go back and fix his numbers" because he writes all of them backwards. Now, we have an iep for a writing disability/hypotonia. [Between you and me, the neurologists at CHOP and I, think his writing problems are due more to some sort of dyslexia/dysgraphia (and I strongly suspect based on the scores of his recent eval it's dysgraphia).] Anyway, I am trying to get the dysgraphia pinpointed. But, in the meantime, he does have an iep for hypotonia which includes the same accommodations one would have for dysgraphia. He is supposed to be able to give oral answers and have a scribe ect. I have explained to them more than once, that when DS is required to write, he takes so much more time and energy (both physical and mental) than his peers to accomplish just basic writing tasks and that even though he "can" write forcing him to do so is so hard for him it is like saying that a paraplegic IS able to move around the classroom by crawling so why let him use his wheelchair? Never mind the effort expended and the calluses and sores it causes, or his limited vantage point from the floor.


Anyway, this is ticking me off. During his recent eval at the school the OT evals and tests and the Bender Gesalt test show that he has extreme difficulty writing. Years of OT seem to not be changing this. I think it is wrong to make him go back and "fix" his letters. To use the paraplegic analogy again - I think it's like making a paraplegic go back and re-do a route by crawling because he got to his destination too quickly and that annoys us.

I am guilty somewhat of the same thing and have learned my lesson. I was forcing him to write his homework instead of scribing for him which was resulting in homework taking 2 or 3 times as long and him all pissed-off. When I scribe for him - it takes ten minutes and he is happy and doesn't mind doing it. He clearly knows the material really well. Also I have stopped making him correct his letters numbers. It's just not right... no amount of making him do it over changes the fact that he can't remember which way it goes. No amount. It's ridiculous to keep doing this to him - it makes hi self-esteem low, he's frustrated, etc. I figure he has OT twice a week he works on that stuff then - plus at vision therapy they work on the left-right processing. It will come; maybe... until then it's just ridiculous to hurt him like this.

Anyway, I don't want to be too much of a witch about this but I do want it to stop. He is sooo good at math and loves it but HATES math class at this point. What should I say to the teacher to ‘nicely’ stop this?

It depends how the teacher handles writing numbers backwards and has him rewrite them. It is still really developmentally normal in first grade to write things backwards. I saw still quite a few kids do it up through second grade, and not so many by third grade.
Practicing writing the numbers correctly can help. If it's done in a positive way, it doesn't have to be punishment. My son has a documented processing disorder (in addition to being hearing impaired)- he has extra time for tests on his IEP, but we have never used it. Lots and lots of extra time at home on math facts, writing, etc. have gotten him "fast enough" so that he can take tests without the accomodation, which is better in the long run for him.

My DS will write every number backwards ... every one. over and over and over. I volunteer at his class (and volunteered in his kindergarten class last year) and none of the other children do it as much and as extremely as my DS So making him go back a re-write them means he has to re-do the entire sheet (usually 4 sheets for which he was suppose to have help from a scribe in the first place). Which means way more writing, which is physically hard on him. His OT evals and Bender Gesalt put him delayed by 2 years on writing.

This is just wrong.

Your child isn't quite being punished FOR his disability... but this is very closely related-- he's being punished WITH his disability, and that is just as wrong.

Your IEP will need to have specific guidance about this, I'm thinking-- might be time for a meeting. I'd certainly call your special ed contact-- it's entirely possible that the teacher simply doesn't have the experience (or specific guidance) to understand that this practice is punishing your child on the basis of his disability... and is therefore wrong. (Like punishing a child with Tourette's for being unable to control tics or isolating him/her until s/he "can control" him/herself. KWIM? )

His writing issues are not about "sloppy" work habits, and therefore making him "fix" his work is purely punitive, it's not beneficial educationally.

I know you're probably mad-mad-mad. I would be, too. But I think that you need to take a deep breath and find a way to truly BELIEVE that this is about ignorance on the part of the teacher doing it... and that educating the person will probably rectify the situation.

If not, then the IEP exists and says that the practice MUST stop even if the teacher prefers doing things this way.

Shockingly, the teacher has a background in special ed! She also told me her son also has a writing disability (but when I inquired about which one she changed the subject.) She should know better than this.

It's developmentally normal for neurotypical kids, or kids who don't have either an LD or physical disability that is impacting handwriting skills. Kids who have dysgraphia, for instance, look somewhat developmentally "normal" in K-2nd grade simply because NT kids go through a slow-writing and reversing letters/numbers stage. Practicing writing numbers correctly will help those NT kids, and it can help dysgraphic and physically challenged kids *to a certain limited extent*... but it will not take away the dysgraphia or physical challenge, it will not really help learn to write if it's done in a punitive, exhausting way.

I think jack'smoms comments touch on what is probably happening with the teacher - it's easy for a person who isn't familiar with these types of handwriting challenges to think practice will help in the same way it helps a typically developing child.

I can only give an example with dysgraphia, since that's what is I'm familiar with, but this is the reason that this line of thinking doesn't work for dysgraphic students. Dysgraphic children have a neurological disability that prevents them from developing automaticity of handwriting. Every time they write a letter using handwriting they are having to go through the process of thinking how to form it. This not only leads to incredibly slow handwriting which may be illegible, it also takes up all of the child's working memory, so nothing is left over to use for other aspects of writing such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc - and most importantly, nothing is left over for thinking about the *content* of ideas that the child wants to express. Handwriting also causes physical pain for some dysgraphics. Pain, frustration, and resulting fatigue are all very valid reasons *not* to make a dysgraphic child repeatedly practice handwriting without a very carefully designed and well thought-out plan of how to approach it.

marytheres, this same type of thing happened to my ds in early elementary and I did my best each time to educate by giving brief information sheets about dysgraphia to the teacher, talking about it, giving them examples as you've given an example above. I'll be honest, the last time it happened I blew my stack! Only for a few minutes, but I was very loud and very clear - it was not right and it was a violation of ds' IEP. I think it took me getting upset for his teacher to finally really have everything I'd tried sharing with her in terms of information sink in. Even today, in middle school, with teachers who genuinely care and want to accommodate and understand ds, there have still been three or four times this year when I've had to go back to square one in explaining the impact of dysgraphia.

polarbear

Yup. That is why I love coming to this board for help... most other places/people do not get it at all. They say things like what Jack's mom said (no offense, Jack's mom) and I find it frustrating to have first keep explaining/educating over and over before (if ever) getting support/help. I have a particularly short fuse for it because I have to do the same thing over and over with the school! I had hoped that DS' teacher with a background in special ed would be way more knowedgeable about this stuff but she isn't... And with DS' asynchronous traits it's even harder. It's hard to understand a kid who seems so intelligent (scored so high in werbal and resonng sections of his tessting) and grasps the math more quickly than everyone else in the class, but can't seem to write or tell which way b and d go (no matter howmany times he's told or made to write them over).

Your posts are wonderful, Polarbear and Howler! Thank you so much! I used both to draft an email to the teacher. We will be having another IEP meeting anyway based on DS's most recent evals/testing so I will address it then, too.

I have been looking into the P.A.C.E. Program (processing and cognitive training program ) http://processingskills.com/ps/index.htm I am hoping to get DS to do it this summer and hoping it helps his issues we don't have to do as much 'educating' next year.

HK and polarbear had wise words around 2e issues. From my more limited perspective, I'm also bewildered at the notion of punishing eagerness to learn. I'd want to touch on that in addition to the glaring lack of understanding for 2e needs.

Yeeesh!

So I sent an email to the teacher and DS reports that today when he finished early he was given more advanced work to do He was really happy about that. Yay! Thanks all!