mikeys_mom
05-23-2013, 10:12 AM
DS has Aspergers and is in a private school. He has been working with a shadow and things are going really well. Teachers have made appropriate changes and accommodations and he is making better choices. The shadow has pulled back from full-time to only half-days (alternating between am and pm).
The one class that is still a problem is French. There is a provincial requirement for kids to learn French. Our school is a private, religious school and the kids do the regular secular curriculum in addition to a Hebrew immersion religious curriculum. Because of that, French is basically seen as something they need to provide but they do only the bare minimum to meet the provincial standards. French is twice a week for 45 min each time. There is one French teacher for all the classes in grades 2 through 5. I think in middle school (grades 6-8) there is a different teacher but I'm not 100% sure. She is really terrible. She's been around for ages, uses the most outdated materials circa 1980. She's tenured, the union here is strong and the school just doesn't care so I'm not going to change that.
Here is the problem. She is a yeller. She has no control over the class and her only discipline method is yelling, turning the lights on and off and kicking kids out. The shadow has reported to me numerous times that as soon as the regular teacher leaves the class and the French teacher comes in, it turns into a zoo in the class. Loud noises and a chaotic environment are extremely difficult for DS so he will either tune out or start to misbehave along with the rest of the class. However, while the other students can easily get back into a calm mode after French, DS sometimes needs a few hours to recover from it.
I am upset that this one bad teacher will cause problems for the rest of the day. I could get DS excused from French entirely on the basis of his special needs. However, he is very good with languages and has actually been picking up French pretty easily. It is a good skill to have in this country so I'd prefer to not excuse him. Plus, if he ever switches schools or if this teacher retires, then the problem will go away and I don't want him to be behind. I am fluent in French so I am considering proposing to the school that he no longer attend French class but rather go read or do homework in the library during that time. I will have the French teacher give me the materials they are learning in class and we'll review it on our own time and then he will just take the tests with the class. He is tested orally - that was a bit of a struggle to get the teacher on board but I won that battle and she is finally following the IEP. Yay! At our last meeting she actually said that he is one of the strongest students in the class!
He is already excused from written work and spelling in French so it is really just vocabulary they are working on. Every 4-6 weeks she sends home a new list of words/phrases and then they are tested on that. Since the beginning of the year I have been studying his French words with him daily and I really don't foresee having to do much extra at this point.
What do you think? Is this a crazy idea? Is there something I am missing? I don't see any downside but I'd love if anyone could point out any weaknesses in this plan before I email the school requesting this. FWIW, DH thinks it would be fine. He says I'm likely a better French teacher for DS than his actual teacher ;).
Also, there are only 5 weeks of school left at this point. As for next year, I would see how the year starts off and then reassess if this is still a workable solution, assuming they still have this same teacher.
The one class that is still a problem is French. There is a provincial requirement for kids to learn French. Our school is a private, religious school and the kids do the regular secular curriculum in addition to a Hebrew immersion religious curriculum. Because of that, French is basically seen as something they need to provide but they do only the bare minimum to meet the provincial standards. French is twice a week for 45 min each time. There is one French teacher for all the classes in grades 2 through 5. I think in middle school (grades 6-8) there is a different teacher but I'm not 100% sure. She is really terrible. She's been around for ages, uses the most outdated materials circa 1980. She's tenured, the union here is strong and the school just doesn't care so I'm not going to change that.
Here is the problem. She is a yeller. She has no control over the class and her only discipline method is yelling, turning the lights on and off and kicking kids out. The shadow has reported to me numerous times that as soon as the regular teacher leaves the class and the French teacher comes in, it turns into a zoo in the class. Loud noises and a chaotic environment are extremely difficult for DS so he will either tune out or start to misbehave along with the rest of the class. However, while the other students can easily get back into a calm mode after French, DS sometimes needs a few hours to recover from it.
I am upset that this one bad teacher will cause problems for the rest of the day. I could get DS excused from French entirely on the basis of his special needs. However, he is very good with languages and has actually been picking up French pretty easily. It is a good skill to have in this country so I'd prefer to not excuse him. Plus, if he ever switches schools or if this teacher retires, then the problem will go away and I don't want him to be behind. I am fluent in French so I am considering proposing to the school that he no longer attend French class but rather go read or do homework in the library during that time. I will have the French teacher give me the materials they are learning in class and we'll review it on our own time and then he will just take the tests with the class. He is tested orally - that was a bit of a struggle to get the teacher on board but I won that battle and she is finally following the IEP. Yay! At our last meeting she actually said that he is one of the strongest students in the class!
He is already excused from written work and spelling in French so it is really just vocabulary they are working on. Every 4-6 weeks she sends home a new list of words/phrases and then they are tested on that. Since the beginning of the year I have been studying his French words with him daily and I really don't foresee having to do much extra at this point.
What do you think? Is this a crazy idea? Is there something I am missing? I don't see any downside but I'd love if anyone could point out any weaknesses in this plan before I email the school requesting this. FWIW, DH thinks it would be fine. He says I'm likely a better French teacher for DS than his actual teacher ;).
Also, there are only 5 weeks of school left at this point. As for next year, I would see how the year starts off and then reassess if this is still a workable solution, assuming they still have this same teacher.