Kaitlyn's Literacy Action Plan

Last week after meeting with the special ed team about Kaitlyn and finding out that she didn't qualify for special ed services I got a note from Kaitlyn's teacher. It said that she was going to be doing the Literacy Action Plan (like they had in March) for her and if I had any questions to call. Well, I said I wanted to be there. So her teacher arranged for us to do it this afternoon.

I have been discussing at length reading and how it's taught now with another teacher. I've been trying to get the school to do more phonics with Kaitlyn because she is not consistent with her letter sounds. So I went in there today armed with all these things I wanted in the action plan. First and foremost I made sure that the things which were discovered from the school psychologist testing were on there. More visual cues for her, allowing her to slow down, and checking in with her to make sure she understands instructions. They were receptive to those things.

I asked them what a typical reading group looks like for Kaitlyn and how much phonics and letter sounds they do with her and making sure they incorporate it into reading. Her special reading teacher was there and told me she comes in and they look at the pictures and discuss the story and then when they start to read if she gets stuck on a word she's encouraged to use her strategies (help from the picture, looking at beginning and ending sounds, and getting her mouth ready). If she still can't get it then her teacher will help her to look for words she knows. For example today she got stuck on the word called. So her teacher reminded her to take off the ed at the end and then try. She still couldn't get it. So her teacher showed her the word ball which she knew she knew and then told her to just change that first letter and then she got it. They are telling me that phonics doesn't make much sense to a child because there are so many rules and so many exceptions to the rules in the English language. But they still need basic phonics. I'm clearly not going to get them to change their teaching method.

I struggle with this during the school year. Obviously I was taught differently. I
was not taught this "whole word" memorization stuff when I learned to read. So my style is very different from how Kaitlyn is being taught. So I'm hopeful that during the summer without the pressure of school I can really focus on phonics with her and help her do better. Hopefully whatever I teach her over the summer doesn't get untaught after she starts 2nd grade.

They still believe there is a disability there. Honestly, I think that was them putting up a defensive because I was suggesting that their teaching style isn't working for her and since the testing has shown no disability they don't want to take the blame for not teaching her. So they are still saying that given her family history and the kind of family she comes from (a very involved family focused on their child's education) they think it was just too early to test. And I'm being told of course that they can't test again. First it was a state law then it was just a special education guideline that they follow. Apparently there is no other testing at this age than what they've already done for her. So they are saying they don't like to use the same test again because kids memorize it and know what to expect so you don't get the right answers to things. So I guess we have to wait until she's in 3rd grade for a different test that she can take. I don't think they can refuse though if I request another test a year from now. Of course the only way I can see myself requesting she be tested is if she falls much much further behind. I have this feeling though that if I work with her this summer on phonics and decoding then she'll improve greatly and could even start the year at grade level if we work really hard.