School help - ASD

[irish dancer]

My DS8 has a PDD-NOS, ASD diagnosis. He is in a self-contained classroom with some classes mainstreamed. He is working at or above grade level. He started 3rd grade last Wednesday.

This evening I received an email from his teacher (same teacher as last year) telling me that DS was given a math assessment test today that all the "regular" 3rd graders were given. He only scored a 51% because "he refused to re-group and he didn't want to do any of the geometry problems". I've sent a reply looking for more information. Did he not answer the problems at all? Did he not show his work? How did he "refuse" to finish the test? Lots of questions......

Re-grouping was an issue for him last year too. When I would sit with him while he did math problems he would would appear to work it out in his head in a two step process. He'd add or subtract out the tens and then the ones. He always got the "right" answer but he wasn't "showing his work". If I "made" him follow all of the steps he'd do the re-grouping and show all the work.

Has anyone else had this or a similar issue?

His teacher wants to know if we have any ideas . This teacher has asked us for input/ideas frequently in the past. I'm at a loss as to why a special ed teacher with two masters degrees is asking us what will work and/or how to address issues. I find this very frustrating. Am I wrong to expect the "experts" to guide us and tell us what they are going to do and we'd then follow-up with reinforcements at home?

Ugh, only the 4th day of school and I'm already shaking my head wondering how the rest of the year is going to go.

 

[Schmeck]

Well, when it comes to your child, you are the expert - you know him better than anyone else does, right? I think it's great that the school 'experts' are asking you for suggestions. It's really a partnership, isn't it?

Tell them what you just told us, that he does a lot of it in his head, and ask them if it is more important to show the work or get the right answer? Have a discussion with the teacher about what her goal is for this particular issue, and ask for some work to be sent home so you can see your son in action and maybe find out why he didn't want to do geometry?

 

[bookwormde]

If you have someone in the school who “gets” the spectrum mind, especially someone who is a mathematician, I would use that resource.

You always need to keep in your mind that your child preferred method of processing in non linear. Grouping is essentially a linear process (many times with an underlying social basis) needed by NTs to be able to do math or other analysis. So if it is not needed then why do it. As to the geometry I would say that if he is not “doing” it is because he has not been properly instructed in a style, which matches his needs. Geometry is a pre-wired ability for most spectrum individuals and when visually/non linearly presented is usually one of the easiest thing for our children to learn.

Showing work is completely a “social requirement” and is only technically needed if the answer is in error and a process evaluation is needed. I have tried to show teachers to the best of my ability how we do math, but for the most part since I have to use linear equivalencies to do this it totally baffles them. I do a lot of tutoring of children (and some adults) in math so I have become more adapt a the linear process but it is so cumbersome that without a reason it is frustrating.

I assume you have a set of accommodations, which are specified in his IEP when he is taking tests and I would make sure that they were followed.

Remember most special ED teacher (unless they were educated in the last few years or do a lot of continuing ED in spectrum areas) received almost no formal training on ASD and it’s associated teaching techniques.

The new national “social math curriculums" are also not well suited for our children.

Hope this helps a little

Not to be a little cynical but the initial (MAP testing is what they call it in my state) is a baseline for progress during the year so in some unfortunate cases it is to the schools/teachers advantage to “let the child flounder a little” so it make it look like there is more improvement during the year. Teachers feel free to flame me for this but several “past” teachers have told me that sometimes it is a reality. This is also why they are given before any significant academic review is done (exclusive of teaching new materials), which would also raise the scores.

bookwormde

 

[1stluvispooh]

Asking for your input is as Schmeck pointed out who knows your child better than you. Well yes I've kinda had this problem with my DD 8 with ASD. With her it's she just doesn't want to do her work. We had this problem yesterday at school and she had to stay in from a recess. She wasn't happy about that but her teacher told her if she wanted to go outside that she just had to finish her math. Well she sat down and finished it in a flash and yes it was all correct. I talked to the teacher last night only because she came home saying she "got yelled at at school for looking at someone's paper but I was just making sure I was right" ( was proud of her for actually telling me this, a big step up from last year!) As her teacher said. It's typical behavior for the first couple weeks of school. They try and see how much they can get away with.

 

[irish dancer]

Thank you guys!

Yes, I do know my son best however it is more in the sense of what works at home and the school environment is not the same and I am not educated in any way on teaching.

DS is definitely the kind of kid that would try to get away with doing the least amount of work, especially if it envolves writing . At home he is not allowed to get away with refusing, especially with regard to required schoolwork. His initial knee jerk response is always "NO" but when pressed or if reading/computer time is witheld miraculously the work is completed immediately.

His teacher is going to give him the test again today, it was administered yesterday by the classroom aide so the teacher is not sure how/why he refused. When I asked why it was a problem for him to do the work in his head her response was "it is doing him a disservice to allow him to just do it in his head".

bookwormde - Thank You for your response!! You don't happen to live in the Chicago area do you?! His teacher was definitely NOT educated in the past few years (she is only a couple years from retirement) and I don't think she's done much continuing education. What makes this so frustrating for me is that his 1st grade teacher was amazing. Young and had done a lot of continuing ed on spectrum disorders. She would tell us what problem they were having, how they were addressing it and what we could do at home to reinforce it. She was also very proactive, planning in advance and having strategies in place. She left the district (I think to start a family) and she is a HUGE loss.

Guess I'm off to research non-linear thinking and teaching strategies. Fun, fun!

 

[bookwormde]

The principal at my school makes a special effort to place my child in a class with a teacher who has the right temperament and abilities for spectrum children. I think she would do this anyway, but they also were put on notice at the first IEP meeting that I expected the teachers to be educated in aspergers and if that was not what was happened I would be calling and IEP meeting to formally write it in.

The non-liner/visual processing EF situation has just started being better understood in the last couple of years. Being and aspie it seems obvious to me, but not to NTs I guess.

He is in general ed with a full time para so that helps a lot.

He has also had a student teacher in his class for the last 2 years for 2 months at the beginning of the year to give the student teacher the opportunity to interact with our son and the para (and the rest of the class). This year we have gotten the school comfortable enough that they include the student teacher in the IEP meetings and she has access to the IEP file so if she wants she can get the full picture (she is studying to be a special ed teacher) along with having access to me and my wife if she has any questions.


bookwormde

 

[Hasil72]

Thank you guys!

Yes, I do know my son best however it is more in the sense of what works at home and the school environment is not the same and I am not educated in any way on teaching.

DS is definitely the kind of kid that would try to get away with doing the least amount of work, especially if it envolves writing . At home he is not allowed to get away with refusing, especially with regard to required schoolwork. His initial knee jerk response is always "NO" but when pressed or if reading/computer time is witheld miraculously the work is completed immediately.

His teacher is going to give him the test again today, it was administered yesterday by the classroom aide so the teacher is not sure how/why he refused. When I asked why it was a problem for him to do the work in his head her response was "it is doing him a disservice to allow him to just do it in his head".

bookwormde - Thank You for your response!! You don't happen to live in the Chicago area do you?! His teacher was definitely NOT educated in the past few years (she is only a couple years from retirement) and I don't think she's done much continuing education. What makes this so frustrating for me is that his 1st grade teacher was amazing. Young and had done a lot of continuing ed on spectrum disorders. She would tell us what problem they were having, how they were addressing it and what we could do at home to reinforce it. She was also very proactive, planning in advance and having strategies in place. She left the district (I think to start a family) and she is a HUGE loss.

Guess I'm off to research non-linear thinking and teaching strategies. Fun, fun!

Did you clone my son? Same dx, same issues with school work. Huge issue articulating his great imagination onto paper. I'm very lucky that my principal does the same as bookwormde and hand selects DS's mainstream teacher each year. So far they have all been very young and enthusiastic about helping. He has the same para as last year which is a blessing. I pushed for that one. He started 3rd grade today and I have to admit that I'm a little apprehensive (DS favorite word) about all the changes this year.

Anyway, back to your DS. I think they try to get them in the habit of showing their work for testing purposes. I know with some standardized testing, they will assign partial credit after looking at the work even if the wrong answer was given. Good luck!

Lisa

 

[irish dancer]

Did you clone my son? Same dx, same issues with school work. Huge issue articulating his great imagination onto paper. I'm very lucky that my principal does the same as bookwormde and hand selects DS's mainstream teacher each year. So far they have all been very young and enthusiastic about helping. He has the same para as last year which is a blessing. I pushed for that one. He started 3rd grade today and I have to admit that I'm a little apprehensive (DS favorite word) about all the changes this year.

Anyway, back to your DS. I think they try to get them in the habit of showing their work for testing purposes. I know with some standardized testing, they will assign partial credit after looking at the work even if the wrong answer was given. Good luck!

Lisa

LOL, it's good to know there are others out there experiencing the same issues. Sometimes I feel quite isolated.

Last year was our biggest year of change for Daniel. New school, new teacher, new aides, new support staff, new everything!! He has been at 4 different schools in 5yrs time which has been a struggle but his support staff had remained the same each time up until last year. Boy those first two-three months were a struggle.

Daniel's teacher did readminister the test and he completed the test without issue and got all of the answers right - yeah!

 

[bookwormde]

It is funny my wife just (5 minutes ago) said that we should video tape our "breifings" of the new staff, since it would save a lot of effort each year with the constant turn over and the lack of "hand of coordination"

bookwormde