504 suggestions for 7th grande (so many photocopies, help!)

[echoesofspring]

Mostly advice (with a dose of rant as I'm just very ranty atm about DS's MS, I'm trying to take a breath and reign it in). We're really struggling with 7th grade. Like right now out of 4 academic subjects he's got 2 Ds, and I kind of fear that the higher grades in other 2 classes are just because there's work that hasn't been graded or something and they are going to slip as well. The grades change weekly but we're always in the basement on math and english. Part of it is DS's attitude and we're trying to work on that at home, but part is also stricter rules about homework and a lack of written communication that's getting in the way of us helping him at home. And then all the photocopies, omg it's like all the online resources/workflows that were used during pandemic have been thrown away. I'm really missing them because they helped me keep DS on track, left to his own devices he'll just say he doesn't have any homework. He can't deal with papers, we've tried a 3 ring binder, an accordion folder and a regular old folder and everything comes home just stuffed in his backpack, often 1/2 finished, and then there's nothing anywhere that tells me this is a homework assignment that needs to be finished or this was just something from class and doesn't matter anymore. It's beyond frustrating and making me consider whether an online school would be better even though it was a battle with him during the pandemic. (Sidebar: We're about 3 weeks in to meds and have upped the dose once and I'm not seeing any difference.)

The school sent everyone home with a planner they are supposed to be writing in everyday, but DS hasn't used his since the first day and continues to not use it. We got 6 min with each class for back to school night so there really wasn't any time to ask about it. There is supposedly a weekly 'academic advisory' period where they are supposed to be getting help staying organized etc. I haven't seen anything about it except that it's on his schedule, he says it's a joke and the teacher doesn't want to be doing it, and lets them just be on their computers, I don't know if that's true or not (it's his band teacher).

I suspect that the lack of written communication is some attempt at making the kids learn responsibility but he's just not there whether it's his executive functioning or slow processing speed. He remembers bits and pieces so we either miss assignments or he stresses he has to do a week of work in one night. So for the 504 mtg I want to really lean into written communication in google classroom. Can you tell me if you think these are reasonable asks and what else you might add? I hate to ask anything that's creating work for the teachers but I also feel like if we had these things I could reach out a lot less for individual assignments which is what I'm doing now.

- clear daily or weekly agenda posted in google classroom. If there is classwork that is going to be graded/is expected to be finished at home that's included in the agenda. Links to online resources for that work if needed (ex. I pulled 6 history fill in the blank papers from his backpack, I have no idea what to do with them or how he might complete them at home). Anything that's a week long assignment should have some explanation of what's happening in class and what's happening at home. DS's 6th English teacher did this and it was so helpful for really pinpointing what we needed to do. I've asked one teacher for this so far and she's provided it, it's def helpful but I'd like to have it for all his classes and have more detail.

- rules for submitting late homework/test corrections etc. posted in google classroom. Due date for corrections/make up work included in the agenda. This has been vague and we might have been told during back to school but I sure can't remembers and it prevents me from pushing him to complete/redo stuff if there's no point.

- anything that requires a significant amount of writing has an option to be typed and submitted electronically. It's such a battle to get him to write anything, let alone more than a sentence fragment when he writes by hand, and I'd like to really be working on getting him to write more esp in English. (to say nothing of the fact that he rightfully loses points b/c he isn't writing full sentences with correction punctuation, etc.)

- Ideally photocopies are handed out in packets rather than individually. This would help us so much with organizing but maybe it too much to ask.

- Math test corrections. So he got a 22/46 on his last math test which was such a bummer b/c we really worked on his math but it was negative numbers and when he works too fast he messes up a lot of things. But he spent time with me working through his test corrections and knew how to solve the problems when I slowed him down. But then he got 0 credit for the corrections b/c a) he didn't use the official test correction paper and b) he didn't write out a sentence for each problem about what he did wrong. He was so upset and embarassed, he said the teacher chewed him out in front of the class. I think these requirements are both ridiculous and frankly a bit punitive and I want to ask that he be exempt from them for his corrections. It's the first time I've asked for an exemption from work. I understand the theory behind b), we had to do it in 5th grade but I don't really see the benefit and it feels to me like something someone came up with that sounded like a good idea in theory but falls apart in practice, esp if you have to correct 1/2 the test.

- DH wants to ask to change math teachers as we've had issues all year, idk what's going on there. I keep thinking he's doing ok on his homework (I review it with him) but then he's getting 2/3 on them and it's all adding up to a big old D. I think the test correction policy is district wide so switching teachers won't help. DH thinks the teacher is too rigid and is going to turn DS off of math, we've had strict teachers he's warmed to by the end of the school year before, and again, idk isn't dealing with a strict teacher/personality conflict of a mgr something you have to learn in life?

Thoughts about these? Anything else you'd suggest we add? Last years 504 had no meat to speak of and was really just the typical 'extra time, quiet room for tests', things that never seemed to happen and was hard for us to follow up on since we'd learn about it after the fact. And DS doesn't want to be singled out like that. TIA!

[hillview]

sorry maybe I missed it but what is the diagnosis for your DS. FWIW my son (has a 504) has many of these same challenges. It is hard.

[echoesofspring]

sorry maybe I missed it but what is the diagnosis for your DS. FWIW my son (has a 504) has many of these same challenges. It is hard.

ADHD, ASD, significantly low processing speed, struggles with executive function. He was 'at grade level' on academic subjects when he was (privately not through the district) tested a year ago. I can pull out more details/clarifications from that assessment if it's helpful.

It is so hard, I realized I'm all fired up in part b/c I'm just.so.tired of things not really changing for him. These struggles aren't new.

I thought about 2 more things to ask for just now:
- sits in front in all classes
- parental outreach if he's misbehaving/not paying attention. Is this too much to ask for in middle school? We've been pulling out hand drawn comics from his backpack, they don't make any sense to me, but he immediately yanks them away so maybe they are a bit raunchy so to speak. It occurred to me this morning that I don't know when these are being drawn, I assumed it was at lunch...sigh

[sariana]

Is he not eligible for an IEP?

I’m a former classroom teacher, and all of your requests are reasonable. In fact, most of them should be standard for everyone. Seventh grade is too young to expect full independence, and if the district is using Google Classroom, it is entirely reasonable to expect information to be posted there even if it’s not being used to submit work.

ETA: Also ask about letting him do oral corrections for the math. Some students need to talk it through to “show what they know” and requiring a written correction may be impractical or even impossible for him.

[echoesofspring]

Is he not eligible for an IEP?

I went back through our annual meetings, and he's only ever had a 504 (starting in '20). My understanding is that if he had an IEP he'd be pulled out of class, we've tried to avoid that and I think he (and the school?) would really resist it now, but do you think we should be pushing for this? Is there anything you'd suggest we ask for?

I’m a former classroom teacher, and all of your requests are reasonable. In fact, most of them should be standard for everyone. Seventh grade is too young to expect full independence, and if the district is using Google Classroom, it is entirely reasonable to expect information to be posted there even if it’s not being used to submit work.

Thank you! There's a little bit right now in Google classroom, but it's just not always enough to be able to run through things with DS and make sure he's up to date.

ETA: Also ask about letting him do oral corrections for the math. Some students need to talk it through to “show what they know” and requiring a written correction may be impractical or even impossible for him.

I love this idea!