Cassie started Grade 4 at Fessenden Public school and we quickly noticed the work for grade 4 is very hard and even the first homework packages sent home I realized Cassie could not do these pages. Over the last few years Cassie has worked with a modified program and an IEP. The primary grade teachers could take the classroom homework and slash of some of it off the page and Cassie could work some of the same homework but with less questions. If the children had ten spelling words Cassie would be given 5. If the children had a page of Math Cassie could work on some of the math but with a few less questions. I have always been the parent who spends the time with the girls on their homework. Chris, if asked will spend some time and this year I have asked him frequently to step in. Julia's grade seven homework is getting pretty hard. Chris just graduated college and is great for helping out particularily with Math work. This year it was apparent to me that grade 4 work was way too difficult for Cassie. As well I noticed less and less time is given to Cassie to work on her literacy. She had been given alot of time in the last few years working on letters, phonics and words. In primary grades all children are working on literacy and alot of time is spent focusing on it in school. Cassie is still working at learning sight words and increasing the amount of words she knows.
Chris and I had an idea to post a sign at our church looking for a tutor. I was having difficulty figuring out how to assist Cassie with reading. Cassie did not seem to enjoy reading as much with me and was having attitude with her mom. Luckily for us a very very experienced teacher named Janet Weingartner offered to tutor Cassie. Cassie has now spent many weeks working with Janet. Cassie has already improved her reading and recognizes 100 or more site words. Cassie has improved in the speed of reading words she recognizes and her confidence in tackling new words seems to be growing. Cassie puts forth a great effort each week. Janet makes learning words fun and uses a program called pci education. The website for this program is http://www.pcieducation.com/ . Cassie has always worked hard in her rehabillitation, and she is putting forth the same great effort with reading. I enjoy hearing her reading! It warms my heart because I know what a struggle it has been for her. Despite the other children in Cassie's class moving ahead of her, she maintains a positive attitude and trys hard with work in school. The gap has grown fairly large unfortunatley, Chris and I had to spend a few nights greiving again after the talk with the learning resource teacher. I wondered how after all these years raising a special needs girl I could again be greiving. I guess I was exhausted thinking of the difficult journey with literacy and the problems associated with learning difficulties was overwhelming me. I approached the learning resource teacher , classroom teacher and principle. Everyone was quickly trying to get up to speed and provide me with ideas on how Cassies grade four year could be modified and stay productive for our girl. Cassie needs to work on school work that is geared to her level of learning. Sadly the school has cut down substantially her EA time despite Cassie needing it greatly for her learning disability Cassie has done so well physically and emotionally she requires much less assistance by the EA in other areas. Cassie herself is very proud that she does not have an EA in the afternoon. Despite grade 4 being a hard year, I am still excited to get the first report card. It gives us another chance to meet the teacher again to hear where Cassie is at and see what strengths the teacher has found and isolate again areas of weakness. Janet, Cassies tutor tells me I need to tell the school that Cassie needs time on her PCI program and I will do this ASAP. I rely heavily on the teachers and Cassie's new tutor telling me where Cassie is at. I am super busy and need to focus my time and energy on areas that are productive and make good use of our time. Right now I feel the biggest area to keep focusing on is literacy. If Cassie can read she can function so much better in the world. It will help her every day life and allow her to get a better job.
December 2 is a system meeting at the school to discuss Cassies progress and the next steps for her education. The meeting will include the classroom teacher, learning resource teacher, principal, special education consultant and psycho-educational consultant. I will eagerly attend and hope that again we can all get back on the same page regarding Cassie's education. The question of a different placement into a comprehensive class has been raised this year. It appears the school board advocates for integration and their is a total transparency associated with the comprehensive classes. They cant tell me where Cassie would go to school, what type of classes are offered. How these classes would benefit Cassie as opposed to integration.? What the teacher to class ratio is? Would Cassie get a better education geared towards her level of learning? Modifing Cassie's school program and working at her level at her present school is alot of work but appears to be the best option for Cassie right now. Chris very quickly shot the idea down that Cassie would go to a Comprehensive class that would not allow her to work for a high school diploma. He refuses to bus our daughter out of our town to go to school unless it was for a school that was exceptional and could provide Cassie with a better education geared towards her learning disability. The warm friendly small school of Fessenden is a school that Cassie loves. She is accepted, has many friends and understands how things work at Fessenden. She loves attending school and goes off each day with a positive attitude and is thrilled to go to school. What more can any parent ask for. Our daughter with alot of concentrated effort continues to thrive even with a significant learning disability. Thank you God for sending Janet our way. I have already learned some easy ways to help Cassie and the results gained are enourmous. We contine to aim high with our expectations regarding Cassie's education. Chris and I are moving towards acceptance, the challenges will continue each year in public school as she is exceptional and a great deal of work is needed to keep her on track. The difficulties with her learning will plague her for the rest of her academic years but children with learning difficulties can thrive and learn and Cassie surprises us and we love hearing her read!!
Chris and I had an idea to post a sign at our church looking for a tutor. I was having difficulty figuring out how to assist Cassie with reading. Cassie did not seem to enjoy reading as much with me and was having attitude with her mom. Luckily for us a very very experienced teacher named Janet Weingartner offered to tutor Cassie. Cassie has now spent many weeks working with Janet. Cassie has already improved her reading and recognizes 100 or more site words. Cassie has improved in the speed of reading words she recognizes and her confidence in tackling new words seems to be growing. Cassie puts forth a great effort each week. Janet makes learning words fun and uses a program called pci education. The website for this program is http://www.pcieducation.com/ . Cassie has always worked hard in her rehabillitation, and she is putting forth the same great effort with reading. I enjoy hearing her reading! It warms my heart because I know what a struggle it has been for her. Despite the other children in Cassie's class moving ahead of her, she maintains a positive attitude and trys hard with work in school. The gap has grown fairly large unfortunatley, Chris and I had to spend a few nights greiving again after the talk with the learning resource teacher. I wondered how after all these years raising a special needs girl I could again be greiving. I guess I was exhausted thinking of the difficult journey with literacy and the problems associated with learning difficulties was overwhelming me. I approached the learning resource teacher , classroom teacher and principle. Everyone was quickly trying to get up to speed and provide me with ideas on how Cassies grade four year could be modified and stay productive for our girl. Cassie needs to work on school work that is geared to her level of learning. Sadly the school has cut down substantially her EA time despite Cassie needing it greatly for her learning disability Cassie has done so well physically and emotionally she requires much less assistance by the EA in other areas. Cassie herself is very proud that she does not have an EA in the afternoon. Despite grade 4 being a hard year, I am still excited to get the first report card. It gives us another chance to meet the teacher again to hear where Cassie is at and see what strengths the teacher has found and isolate again areas of weakness. Janet, Cassies tutor tells me I need to tell the school that Cassie needs time on her PCI program and I will do this ASAP. I rely heavily on the teachers and Cassie's new tutor telling me where Cassie is at. I am super busy and need to focus my time and energy on areas that are productive and make good use of our time. Right now I feel the biggest area to keep focusing on is literacy. If Cassie can read she can function so much better in the world. It will help her every day life and allow her to get a better job.
December 2 is a system meeting at the school to discuss Cassies progress and the next steps for her education. The meeting will include the classroom teacher, learning resource teacher, principal, special education consultant and psycho-educational consultant. I will eagerly attend and hope that again we can all get back on the same page regarding Cassie's education. The question of a different placement into a comprehensive class has been raised this year. It appears the school board advocates for integration and their is a total transparency associated with the comprehensive classes. They cant tell me where Cassie would go to school, what type of classes are offered. How these classes would benefit Cassie as opposed to integration.? What the teacher to class ratio is? Would Cassie get a better education geared towards her level of learning? Modifing Cassie's school program and working at her level at her present school is alot of work but appears to be the best option for Cassie right now. Chris very quickly shot the idea down that Cassie would go to a Comprehensive class that would not allow her to work for a high school diploma. He refuses to bus our daughter out of our town to go to school unless it was for a school that was exceptional and could provide Cassie with a better education geared towards her learning disability. The warm friendly small school of Fessenden is a school that Cassie loves. She is accepted, has many friends and understands how things work at Fessenden. She loves attending school and goes off each day with a positive attitude and is thrilled to go to school. What more can any parent ask for. Our daughter with alot of concentrated effort continues to thrive even with a significant learning disability. Thank you God for sending Janet our way. I have already learned some easy ways to help Cassie and the results gained are enourmous. We contine to aim high with our expectations regarding Cassie's education. Chris and I are moving towards acceptance, the challenges will continue each year in public school as she is exceptional and a great deal of work is needed to keep her on track. The difficulties with her learning will plague her for the rest of her academic years but children with learning difficulties can thrive and learn and Cassie surprises us and we love hearing her read!!
Cassie with her tutor Janet W.
