I'm trying so hard not to be "that" parent. Frustrated.

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Right-handed people just don't understand the pain of the spiral part of the notebook

I dealt with 'normal' notebooks but had to place my notebook in an odd angle to be able to write in a comfortable way.

Yes they do. That device of torture isn't a bug. It's a feature. Those right handed spiral notebook makers are all righties jealous of the natural superiority of the left hander.

 

[cabanafrau]

Those that say it is faster haven't thought it all the way through. Lifting the pen off the paper to move to the next letter doesn't take any more time than leaving the pen down. Your hand has to move anyway whether that transition is pen down or pen up. Further, the resistance of air to your movement is less than the resistance of paper to your pen. So it saves at best virtually nothing and at worst costs you. And for saving virtually nothing, the trade off is all those extra fancy loops cost a lot more time. It isn't faster at all That is a myth.

I hear what you're saying, it sounds mildly convincing, but frankly all it seems you're basing it on is a claim that you've thought it all through while others who feel differently have not. When I think it through I recognize that it's dependent upon the individual writing style of each person. One may be more proficient when using a printing style, while the next is able to perform print lettering much quicker.

 

[DLgal]

I haven't written in cursive at any time since leaving elementary school. I use a hybrid of print/cursive, as do most people. I'm 40 now.

My father, who is 71, writes in the neatest print I've ever seen, and he is FAST. He never needed to use cursive either. I get why it is taught, but it is definitely NOT a faster way for most people to write, and should never be insisted upon, especially in 2nd grade. Kids those ages are sometimes not yet proficient at letter formation in print!

This "requirement" alone would make me pull my kid from that school, not to mention the ban on technology. That does a huge disservice to those children when almost every other public school district is moving more and more towards using technology in the classroom, cloud based teaching & homework, giving kids 1:1 computers to use, etc. Kids NEED to have access to this stuff as early as possible, to prepare them and keep them up to speed for our digital world. There will come a time soon when everything will be done on computers and tablets and people won't have to write to fill out forms. We are mostly there already. I have filled out numerous "forms" using tablets recently.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I hear what you're saying, it sounds mildly convincing, but frankly all it seems you're basing it on is a claim that you've thought it all through while others who feel differently have not. When I think it through I recognize that it's dependent upon the individual writing style of each person. One may be more proficient when using a printing style, while the next is able to perform print lettering much quicker.

There was much more than that in my post. You may have "heard" it. But you then completely disregarded it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

This all reminded me that I thought we'd had "a" thread on cursive before...apparently I didn't realize it was such a hot topic on the DIS:

https://www.disboards.com/search/149726401/?q=cursive&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=33

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Hey, let's agree to disagree on the cursive thing. Some like it better, some prefer to print. Everybody has their own preferences.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I haven't written in cursive at any time since leaving elementary school. I use a hybrid of print/cursive, as do most people. I'm 40 now.

You never wrote any checks?

Aside from my signature that's really the only other place I consistently used cursive.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

OP-

No advice but your son is lucky that you are watching over him so well. Honestly when I first read your initial post I thought you were one of those parents. I’m wrong! It sounds like you are very proactive about helping your son wnd take advice seriously.

Good luck to you both

 

[cabanafrau]

There was much more than that in my post. You may have "heard" it. But you then completely disregarded it.

No. I neither mischaracterized(as your original comment stated) nor disregarded what you said(as your edited comment states). I merely considered the entirety or what you proposed and concluded that the speed of one versus the other is dependent upon the individual proficiency of the different hands doing the writing, as some may be more proficient at one, others another. I get that you feel that anyone coming up with a different conclusion hasn't thought it through, I simply disagree with your conclusion.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

just want to say that my son was in the identical situation. we chose to use the laws on special ed evaluations to our advantage by calling the local public school just about this time in the school year many years ago. we indicated we were going to enroll our son for the following fall and were making a formal request for evaluation under 504/iep. at the same time we scheduled our own private assessments and evaluations. we had'nt decided if ds was going to stay in the private or go to public at that point-we just wanted to see what someone outside the private school evaluated ds as (vs. 'bright but unmotivated, completely capable but lazy/defiant'-these were all in the same areas the op's son struggles with, and in particular w/handwriting and reading).

public schools are on a time clock from the moment a formal request is made. sometimes asking for something around this time of year works to your advantage b/c they don't want to risk delaying and pushing into summer break. public school's got done in record time, and when we got theirs and it didn't agree w/ours (autism/small motor issues/processing issues...) it set the stage to be able to bring in OUR testing results and set up a program that made all the difference in the world for our son. with the right minor accommodations in place my son excelled. he caught up YEARS of reading deficits within the first semester (and it became easier so he was more willing and it no longer was a battle), his stress level greatly decreased so while he never became a huge fan of school it was no longer something he dreaded and demoralized him. he's in a college program right now for adults on the spectrum-the college recognizes these folks learn differently and minor tweaks to traditional methods make all the difference.

i taught private school, my kids went to private school. there are good and bad-some will work w/kids that have special needs, others just want to make it difficult on the kid/parent so that they dis enroll and the school keeps their publicized 'us vs. the public schools' test results higher. when i taught i was one of the few in that system that actually held a teaching degree and credential so for some teachers it wasn't unwillingness to help/change-they honestly had no clue, had never taken a college teaching course in their life (were promoted up for years of service to daycare/church that ran schools, or worked in private schools that only cared about being able to say all their teachers 'hold degrees'-yeah, high school science teacher holds a degree in cosmotology, a/p math teacher holds a degree in phys ed, i/t teacher holds a religious studies degree...).


do what's best for your ds-the right instruction methods can make a world of difference for him (and you). best of luck.

I learned something new today.

In addition to calling the psychologist, after I saw your post I thought maybe it wouldn't hurt to check with the city schools and see if they could evaluate him also. Figured it couldn't hurt to have 2 opinions. According to the head of special education, our local school district won't evaluate him, since the private school is physically located in a different district. We would have to go to the neighboring school district to have it done. She also confirmed without me asking and without directly saying it, what I already knew, that even if he tests as learning disabled, they would take grades and performance into account as to what services he would receive - in other words, if he isn't failing there isn't a lot of support they can give him. Especially if we are relying on the neighboring school district for support, which we would be unless we re-enrolled him in our district.

Guess we'll stick with the private evaluation for now.

 

[DLgal]

You never wrote any checks?

Aside from my signature that's really the only other place I consistently used cursive.

I have written plenty of checks. Checks are not required to be written in cursive. I write all of mine in print.

 

[HillPete]

I learned something new today.

In addition to calling the psychologist, after I saw your post I thought maybe it wouldn't hurt to check with the city schools and see if they could evaluate him also. Figured it couldn't hurt to have 2 opinions. According to the head of special education, our local school district won't evaluate him, since the private school is physically located in a different district. We would have to go to the neighboring school district to have it done. She also confirmed without me asking and without directly saying it, what I already knew, that even if he tests as learning disabled, they would take grades and performance into account as to what services he would receive - in other words, if he isn't failing there isn't a lot of support they can give him. Especially if we are relying on the neighboring school district for support, which we would be unless we re-enrolled him in our district.

Guess we'll stick with the private evaluation for now.

Check with the other district!! The person you speak with there may have a very different outlook on how to handle his needs. My kids went to a private elementary school that is in a different district from the one where we live. When our friend's daughter needed an eval, the folks in our district and the folks in the district where the private school is, had VERY different interpretations of the test results. It's worth a phone call even if you decide not to pursue an eval.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I have written plenty of checks. Checks are not required to be written in cursive. I write all of mine in print.

A lot of places you don't even have to print the check yourself any more. They insert it, everything except the signature is printed, and all you have to do is sign it. It sure helps move those that forget to fill out most of their check before hand through faster.

 

[LSUmiss]

We have checked, unfortunately the only option for him is back to public. The other private schools in town (only 3) are either too expensive for us or have the same size classes as the public schools. The benefit of private for him is the small class size. This school currently has 10 kids in second grade, 4 kids in 4th, 6 in 5th, 2 in 6th,2 in 7th and none in 8th (they lose the middle school kids due to lack of sports teams, not quality). Put him in a room with too many other kids and he becomes a behavior problem.

I don't know what to do. I wish kids came with an instruction manual. My gut tells me to keep him there for now, unless they refuse to let him go to third. Then we will have to re-evaluate.

He can qualify for smaller class sizes in public school if he’s evaluated & qualifies for that under special education. It sounds like he might with that history of behavior issues. If he has a diagnosis of ADHD, he should definitely be able to qualify.

 

[GreatLakes]

OP, I find the lack of technology troubling. Being able to use technology to perform tasks is an important part of being prepared for the world. I could see not using it for everything or even as the primary tool but I think any good curriculum includes age appropriate technology being used in the classroom. YMMV.

Those that say it is faster haven't thought it all the way through. Lifting the pen off the paper to move to the next letter doesn't take any more time than leaving the pen down. Your hand has to move anyway whether that transition is pen down or pen up. Further, the resistance of air to your movement is less than the resistance of paper to your pen. So it saves at best virtually nothing and at worst costs you. And for saving virtually nothing, the trade off is all those extra fancy loops cost a lot more time. It isn't faster at all That is a myth.

I prefer to print but I can write the same paragraph in cursive much faster than I can print it, it isn't even close.

 

[LSUmiss]

No, but I probably do need to do so. We may look into that this summer. We'll have to pay for it out of pocket, I'm not going to let the school system do it, they completely missed my older son, we had to go private to get his issues diagnosed (mildly autistic with processing issues). Plus, while our public schools are great, like most other schools they have limited resources and it's like pulling teeth to get any assistance for a child that isn't failing.

Sometimes kids can have a diagnosis but that doesn’t mean they qualify under the special ed umbrella. In out state, mildly autistic would likely not qualify. So if we did an eval, it would come back that the kid did not meet the criteria for autism in this setting. It doesn’t mean that the child does not have a diagnosis of Autism. Also, in my state, an outside private eval doesn’t automatically qualify you for special ed in the public school system. The school system still needs to conduct their own eval. Just mentioning this in case you’re considering putting him back in public school. You may want to check how it works as far as private evals.

 

[LSUmiss]

It is really SO SO hard....
But, if this teacher and this school do not seem willing to bend on Cursive and some of these other issues, until you have a full and objective eval, that would be the deal breaker.
PS: My son was also ambidextrous.

There are only like, what, 4 months left in the school year...
I would request a meeting with the teacher and with adminstrative staff (Principal?), in writing (important to have this in writing if an IEP becomes involved) and request that any 'undue' pressures and expectations be removed, on any of these issues that might be due to underlying deficits/disability, until this eval can be done.

This is what I did with Math, with my son.
He was diagnosed with significant to severe Mathematical Reasoning deficits. Which are common with his Visual Processing disorder.
I basically told his first grade teacher, at about this time of year... maybe March... that I wanted the pressure of all math taken off his shoulders.
No pressure on performance, grades, passing/failing. And that I was in the process of getting a full eval, and would be awaiting results.
Incredibly, this was agreed to.
But, unfortunately, by the end of the year, I basically stopped sending him to school for a few weeks, as things had gotten so bad.
I then scheduled a full IEP meeting for when I finally received all of his eval results.
He was then scheduled to go back to school, on a full IEP, into second grade.

They might comply, but a private school has no obligation to accept an eval or provide special ed, an Iep, or offer any accommodations. I used to always tell parents be careful b/c if you absolutely want to stay in the current school, you might end up with enough documentation that will allow the school to tell you they can’t meet your child’s needs.

 

[LSUmiss]

That explains it private school. they will not test or give him help if he has a learning problem, all they want is the money.
Maybe public school would be better for him. They would first find out what is going on with him and his learning.

Don’t give public schools too much credit for their motivation on this. It’s about $$$ for them too. I have schools who seemingly want every kid evaluated b/c the school gets more $$.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have written plenty of checks. Checks are not required to be written in cursive. I write all of mine in print.

I didn't say they were required I know they aren't

Everyone around me that's just how we were taught to write checks; I think the part that was usually cursive to us in terms of being taught was the line where you spell out the amount of the check (plus your signature). Being that you were older than me I assumed you were taught the same is all thus my question.

 

[ahutton]

Sometimes kids can have a diagnosis but that doesn’t mean they qualify under the special ed umbrella. In out state, mildly autistic would likely not qualify. So if we did an eval, it would come back that the kid did not meet the criteria for autism in this setting. It doesn’t mean that the child does not have a diagnosis of Autism. Also, in my state, an outside private eval doesn’t automatically qualify you for special ed in the public school system. The school system still needs to conduct their own eval. Just mentioning this in case you’re considering putting him back in public school. You may want to check how it works as far as private evals.

That's what happened with my DS. He was diagnosed as dysgraphic, had visual perception issues (especially looking between the board and his paper) and was easily distracted. His 2nd grade teacher observed his MAP tests (computer administered standard tests) were so bad because he was seeing how fast he could click through answers to be done rather than reading and answering the questions. After much testing, we got these diagnoses. Then we learned the school does NOT help with visual perception except to provide buddy notes (printed copies of what the teacher is putting up) nor do they support dysgraphia except to allow him to type assignments.

The good news was we were able to get insurance to approve some weekly therapy and combined he's successfully stayed on track in school. High School is next up - oh boy!!