Would you refer Jo for special education consideration?

Question

Jo is ten-year-old fourth grade student who is completing the fifth year of school, including kindergarten. In many ways Jo is a delightful student: bright, keenly perceptive of others adn their feelings, and has a very good speaking vocabulary. According to the fourth grade teacher, Jo is capable of performing above grade level. Social studies and science are special interests. Jo is currently reading at the end of the third grade. Jo has difficulty completing independently; much of the "seat work" is incomplete. Penmanship is nearly indecipherable. Spelling has improved dramatically this year with much work on Jo's part. The teacher is concerned that as the requirements for completing work independently increase, the amont of work Jo completes will decrease. Close monitoring and supervision are required to combat Jo's distractibility, daydreaming and failure to complete work. A review of Jo's cumulative file supports the accuracy of the teacher's perceptions regarding

potential and achievement. Anecdotal comments on past report cards indicate that successful completion of independent work is a problem with an intermittent history. Sometimes work is completed; sometimes it isn't. In addition to the information in this note, what else would you want to know before making your decision?

Answer 1

You just described my 7 year old. He is very intelligent, has an A+ in spelling and loves science. His handwriting is awful and every day his seatwork gets sent home because none of it gets finished in class during independent work time. My son has ADD. We had a 504 meeting and the decision was made that he did not need to be in special education courses, but that he did need modifications to his educational environment to help him learn. The teacher sends home a list of the whole day's work for me to review and to help him finish his classwork. He has special pencil grips to help him improve his handwriting and he is given extra breaks during longer tests so that he can relax for a moment and get his focus back for the test. Even if Jo does not have ADD, maybe some of the modifications could be helpful to her. You can look up different ADD and special education websites and see what modifications they suggest.

Some additional modifications:
-divide assignments into shorter segments.
-allow student to utilize special equipment (computer, tape recorder, calculator)
-reduce amount of copying from board
-give written directions to supplement verbal directions
-individualize alloted time to complete work
-provide note taking assistance
-spelling and letter reversals should be pointed out for correctional purposes only
-reduce/minimize distractions
-preferential seating arrangement that matches student needs

This information came from Appendix R of my town's Section 504 Checklist for Modifications sheet

Answer 2

I would be most concerned with the penmanship being "indecipherable." If I were Jo's teacher, I would give her a couple of penmanship worksheets to assess the problem. It could be any number of thing - laziness/sloppiness, problem with fine motor control, or a learning disability. There is a disability called dysgraphia, which results in the child being unable to express ideas in writing clearly. I would need to know if this is also a problem in math. Can the child write numbers legibly? If not, there could be a cognitive problem.

Distractibility can also be caused by a number of factors. Emotional or social problem can preoccupy a child. Sometimes it's something as simple as skipping breakfast and therefore not being able to concentrate on school work. On the other hand, it could be a disorder such as ADD, or it could just be lack of motivation. If the child does have dysgraphia or a similar disorder, it could be the cause of her avoiding work.

Often times, children won't do work without close supervision because they enjoy the attention from adults. It's a kind of learned helplessness. Before referring the child for evaluation based on these symptoms, I would talk to the parent. I would need to find out if the parent has had the child tested for ADD in the past, and whether the child is receiving any type of counseling or therapy. I would also implement an individualized reward system, to encourage independent completion of tasks. For example, I might give the child an incentive chart and give her a check or star for every task completed without direct supervision. The checks can be attached to external rewards at your and the parents' discretion. That would encourage the child to monitor her own progress and hopefully take responibility for task completion. The important thing is to remove the one-on-one attention, which may be functioning as an incentive to NOT complete her assignments independently.

If these measures are not effective, I would then seriously consider referring the child for special services.

Answer 3

He sounds pretty normal to me. He doesn't want to sit still for long and he has really sloppy handwriting. (So does my doctor.) He doesn't do all the work. I can't finish any mundane tasks either. He's probably bored, especially if he's as bright as you say he is. I'd steer clear of giving a kid a label just because he acts like a kid. Part of learning is being alert to one's surroundings. Too many kids are on so much medication to 'help' their 'condition' they can't focus on anything much. They get sleepy at the wrong times of day/ can't sleep at night/ get gripy/ lose their personality. Parents see this on the weekends, and try to let the kids 'rest' from their medications. Then the first part of the week the whole cycle starts over again. I've seen it again and again over the years in my classroom. How can that be better than just going over and redirecting him when he is off task. No, I certainly would not refer him for any such thing. I quarantee if you refer him and he goes on meds this 'bright, delightful' kid will change and it will not be for the better. There's nothing wrong with him. It's the system that is broken. Let's have a program that lets kids move around, for pete's sake. We are forgetting they are children. Just children. Not perfect, not all the same, not pharmaceutical containers. Stop and look at what you are doing from a logical point of view. He's not throwing anything or being out of line with the teacher. Even then, I'd refer him to counseling, not special ed.