No one truly understands frustration quite like an SEN pupil or parent.
I imagine parents all over must share my frustrations. It's a familiar pattern. One year you and your child will sail through the year, making progress and feeling quite contented. Your class teacher is fab and really 'gets' your child. Meet the teacher arrives and feelings of worry creep in...September arrives, nothing much happens...you resign yourself to the belief that October will be better...when teacher knows class better....November arrives and so does parents evening. You worry that the teacher appears not to be acknowledging the SEN...you agree points to work on together. Including the elusive new IEP that you have asked for three times....December arrives...three months in... no progress...no IEP...where do we go from here... suddenly that long chased iEP appears...you read it and your heart sinks...it doesn't capture your child's difficulties at all.
You agree that spellings need to be practiced at home...you get a book...thinga are looking hopeful....you ask for no more than 5 as your dear child is dyslexic and ten is overwhelming...one week goes well...then you go to help your child learn spelling and there are none..9 weeks with nothing. You have to fight with every breath to explain that your child is not slow...quite the opposite...but they dont respond well to one siZe fits all teaching. Parents evening rolls round...dear child has been talking in class...totally out of character...'I'm not talking for fun mum...I don't understand...my classmate is helping me...' It's March...6 months of battling. 6 months wasted...will she ever get him or should I chalk this up to a bad year again? Given that without intervention dyslexic children progress at the rate of 3 months a year in spellings and 5 months a year in reading...I know I cannot just chalk it up...I must keep advocating for my child. I feel deflated, frustrated and angry...
Dear child is tearful...'mum why does no one help me much any more'..all you can do is try to cuddle and kiss those tears away..whilst silently shedding your own.....
'If they can't learn the way we teach, we must teach the way they learn.'
You agree that spellings need to be practiced at home...you get a book...thinga are looking hopeful....you ask for no more than 5 as your dear child is dyslexic and ten is overwhelming...one week goes well...then you go to help your child learn spelling and there are none..9 weeks with nothing. You have to fight with every breath to explain that your child is not slow...quite the opposite...but they dont respond well to one siZe fits all teaching. Parents evening rolls round...dear child has been talking in class...totally out of character...'I'm not talking for fun mum...I don't understand...my classmate is helping me...' It's March...6 months of battling. 6 months wasted...will she ever get him or should I chalk this up to a bad year again? Given that without intervention dyslexic children progress at the rate of 3 months a year in spellings and 5 months a year in reading...I know I cannot just chalk it up...I must keep advocating for my child. I feel deflated, frustrated and angry...
Dear child is tearful...'mum why does no one help me much any more'..all you can do is try to cuddle and kiss those tears away..whilst silently shedding your own.....
'If they can't learn the way we teach, we must teach the way they learn.'
