Somehow 8th grade teachers as a whole have difficulty separating out accommodating for learning disabilities and toughening up kids for high school.
We have seen this too. When the expectations rise, they rise for everyone-- which is only a good thing if coupled with continuing support for those who are not acquiring all the skills on the standard schedule. I would like to believe most kids can get the skills, or accommodate around what's not going to click into place-- but there is no point in believing in magic here, or in telling the disabled kids to "suck it up."
We do a lot of conversation like "because he has autism, you will see that he struggles with ..." and keeping them aware of his current organizational skill levels, so that they can't say they never heard about it. We also have special ed run interference for us on this with subject area teachers, so they hear it two ways.
the teachers have been quite uncooperative this year about fitting into "our" system and, instead, demanding that my son figure out how to deal with their myriad systems of organization.
I would raise this with Guidance department as well. Our DS has NINE passwords for various computer accounts/subscriptions/online textbooks, plus homework both on and offline. This is a mess for all kids, not just him. (It is just an extra special mess for him.) The school administration needs to know when this stuff is badly out of joint, whether for one or for all.
My son's gifted teacher who has been the worst to deal with by far told him last week that he really needed to work on this memory thing and "get over it, because it's going to be a disadvantage when you're an adult."
I would go to the district's special ed director and ask them to do some professional development for this teacher.
My son, without missing a beat, asked him if he gave the same advice to kids in a wheelchair about not being able to walk as adult so they should start working on it now.
LOVE HIM. I hope my DS is that composed by 8th grade.
But, oh, am I dreading next year.
Next year=move to high school?
I would start the conversation with the new school VERY early. They can and should place your DS with teachers more likely to foster success; they can do professional development with those teachers to foster understanding of the disabilities; they can even give your DS extra support at the start of the year if that's what he will need. All that stuff takes time. My aim would be to have a plan in place by the end of January-- even if schedules are not set, etc., having everyone up to speed and aware will help a lot.
DeeDee
