Sophomore Year - Another Year, Another Meeting 7 of 9 part series

 Groundhog Day! Another start of a new school year. Another round of uncertainty and anxiety. Another year of false hope….. Why is this so hard to figure out? We have a great understanding of your learning profile. And you are such a likeable kid. So, what exactly was happening throughout your day that was making you so unhappy?

Here we were again with our billionth+ IEP meeting. This time though, I was smarter. I had spent the last two years taking every single webinar or zoom presentation I could find that related to advocacy and dyslexia. I read books; I reached out to friends that had been down the same road. I read and reread your evaluations. I was so empowered and determined to find the answer I had been searching for.

I proposed that the district send you for an Independent Educational Evaluation. Specifically, I wanted a comprehensive speech and language evaluation. Was there a barrier with your language that perhaps was making it difficult for you to fit in? Naturally, the district said no. Alright… I was used to the word NO at this point. What was offered instead was a 15-minute monthly appointment with the new school counselor. Wait, what? You think anyone can unpack years’ worth of school trauma in 15 minutes once a month? Most likely not, but let’s see if these 15 minutes change your world….

Fast forward about 6 weeks. Your world didn’t change. Not even a little. In fact, we were back to school refusal. Lots of headaches and stomach aches. All back with a vengeance. Great. Now what? I can say with absolute certainty that this private school thing was not the answer we had been looking for. But what is the answer? We MUST find it.

I’ll never forget this day. I received a phone call from the school’s special education coordinator, who I was still very unsure of. She said, “Just hear me out because I know this is going to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. What if we move him back in district with a 1:1 OG tutor?” OG stands for “Orton Gillingham” and is an approach to reading for a dyslexic learner. Little did she know I had already thought about moving him back, but I didn’t let her know that. Instead, I told her I’d think it over. We scheduled a meeting to talk about it. My mind was so conflicted.

During our meeting she explained that he would be put in as many academic special education classes as he thought he needed. We agreed upon Social Studies, Science and English. His math class would be co-taught (special education and regular education teacher) and most importantly – a certified OG 1:1 tutor. Honestly, this was better than he was getting from the private school. Plus, he’d have access to shop class. His hobby had become woodworking, and he was quite good at it. Welp, we took another leap of faith. PLEASE let this be it.

My son jumped at the opportunity and started back in the district, at the very large high school in January of his 10th grade year. This meant he got to be with his younger brother. He got to be a normal kid by taking the bus, having a normal school schedule and having many more opportunities that the private school just didn’t offer.

He immediately bonded with the shop teacher, math teacher and OG tutor. He started strong, but then the social problems surfaced. Here we were again. Scrambling because this wasn’t the answer, either. He managed to make it to the end of the school year but had many absences that year. I was ready to wake up from this nightmare any time now. Can this still be happening?!

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