Hi everyone--

This is in follow-up to the discussion with Brant, Barbara and Andrea on
which tests students with learning disabilities should have and what their
special education instruction might look like.  I have been writing about my
daughter as kind of a case study.

Much appreciation to all who have contributed thus far!

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My daughter receives 300 minutes per week of pull-out language arts
instruction.  She also receives two sessions of speech (I have to re-visit
the minutes on those sessions).  Her regular ed teacher recently put my
daughter and one other girl into their own reading group (two students, one
teacher ratio) and is implementing additioanl word studies (which include
spelling and writing definitions).

My daughter gets extended time for tests and she gets her tests read aloud.
She takes her tests in a separate room.

Over the summer, my daughter attended summer school *and* received
additional instructional hours when summer school ended.  Yet, she is still
scoring 2nd grade in fluency, 3rd in comprehension.

Some other tidbits:  on her last IQ assessment, when she was six, my
daughter scored below average.  I have to re-visit her other test scores (as
well as the names of those tests).  I know she has some form of dyslexia,
but VA school systems don't separate that out.

Both the LD and regular ed teachers work with her on breaking words apart to
increase fluency, but she just doesn't seem to get it.  For example, last
night, when she was working on her word study, she was trying to sound out
the word "gaze."  She kept putting an "l" in the word. I tried covering the
first part of the word, having her just say "aze", having her spell the word
for me...she just kept saying "glaze."  This is just one example, of
course.  She just can't seem to decode.

It may be she needs more pull-out time, or it may be she needs something
else, but it worries me that she seems to fall further and further behind.
-- 
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
Community Writer for NEWS AND MESSENGER
www.insidenova.com
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