Teachers Aren't Helping, Despite IEP

When your child's teachers are an obstacle to the IEP, there are steps you can take.
Q
My eight-year-old has ADHD and dyslexia. He wants to learn, but he has such a hard time he doesn't want to go to school. He has an IEP, but he says the teachers don't help him enough. How can the school help him better?
A
I would contact the Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities (www.aboutld.org) at 1-888-GR8-MIND or Schwab Learning (www.schwablearning.org). You can get information from them about local resources in your community that can help you walk through the special education system and get appropriate help for your child.

You need to find out in writing exactly:
What your child can do now academically
What the teachers are planning to teach him and how they're planning to do it
How he is doing on a regular basis

If he is not making adequate progress, you may be able to request funding for a professional tutor or even a private school that can better meet your son's needs.

For more than 20 years, Eileen Marzola has worked with children and adults with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, and with their parents and teachers. She has been a regular education classroom teacher, a consultant teacher/resource teacher, an educational evaluator/diagnostician, and has also taught graduate students at the university level. Marzola is an adjunct assistant professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Hunter College of the City University of New York. She also maintains a private practice in the evaluation and teaching of children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders.

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