Math questions

littlelizard · **Math questions**

I would like some thoughts on this. My ds has cerebral palsy and in his IEP his eligibility is under orthopedically impaired. He has academic goals, but it is obvious to me that they see him as the kid who can't walk good, and that's about it. I highly doubt that the ESE specialist understands his condition (I know her well so I feel qualified to say this). Cerebral palsy is brain damage and although the motor functioning is more apparent than the other stuff, he has learning difficulties/differences.

He struggles in all academics but in math he is abysmal/no progress. I am concerned because the way we teach math is to teach a new chapter every week or two and move on. So for 2 weeks he does fractions, then 2 weeks of time, 2 weeks of money, and so on. He is 9 and is JUST starting to add and subtract with greater ease (still counting on fingers though). I feel that this approach (even though it is the norm for our district) is really a detriment to him ( and other kids too) because he isn't mastering anything. He's wasting time on stuff he doesn't actually understand at all instead of working on adding and subtracting better, learning times tables, or learning fractions/time/whatever else to mastery.

I know he will need to learn all of this but I feel like he should be working on one thing at a time until he masters it. He's not able to jump from one topic to another and learn or retain anything.

Do you guys think it is bizarre if I bring this up for an IEP issue? I know he is in the general ed room, but honestly he is learning nothing in math. Do you think they can accommodate for this, like give him some different instruction from his peers?

desertmom · 02-16-2008, 08:28 PM

I think it the IEP meeting (which you can call at any time) is the perfect place to bring this up. My personal suggestion is that during math time, he goes to the Resource Room and works with the teacher there on his math at his current level.

DS was going to a reading group. However, the reading group was about teaching phonics, which ds is way past. His issue is that he understands phonics too well. He sounds out words he should know by sight (he has a working memory problem, too). Therefore, we took him out of the group, but he still needed reading help. He was at 11 wpm on reading. He has been working one-on-one with the Resource Teacher, plus practicing with me at home. He is now up to 56 wpm and improving.

The teacher is very concerned about him missing out on so much class time due to his therapies and other things, but it was determined that if he doesn't get the reading down pat, he risks being left way behind the others, and will never catch up. He is highly intelligent, but the reading just wasn't clicking. Now we are working hard on the comprehension.

So yes, he needs to work at his level. Otherwise, he will be confused, dread math and just never catch up.

hawkshoe · 02-17-2008, 07:45 AM

Absolutely bring it up and the sooner the better. You are your sons best advocate. If you see something that is troubling you, you need to speak up on his behalf.

Azaleia's Mom · 02-19-2008, 11:16 PM

If you have a psychological evaluation that certifies that he has a learning disability by law they have to make special accomodations. However, if you don't have tangible evidence they might not do it. I know this because I have a learning disability and to get any accomodations I have to give a copy of my psychological evaluation. I'm in college and to this day I still have trouble with math, and yes, I still add, substract, divide and multiply with my fingers. None the less I'm finishing a BA in pycology and I'm an honor student. What I want to say is that you should bring it up because with the right accomodations he'll be able to do a lot in life.