I hope the regulars remember me - I am back - therose

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I stopped participating in the forum, due to the sudden death of my husband on January 2, 2009. Russell died of a massive heart attack.

Since than, I have been picking up the pieces of my life. Many parts that have been important to me, were put on the back burner. One of those parts where the Great School forum, that has help me navigate through the joys and the bumps of having a child with a learning disability.

Since school has ended for the year, I can no longer put off the problems that have cropped up in the last six months, regarding services and the proper help for my child, who will be in grade 9 in the new school year. She still is no better off in terms of the mechanics of writing, grammar structure , effective strategies in word decoding and deriving meaning from surrounding text. Her problems can be fix, but it is not an easy task living in rural Canada, where the only access to education is the public education system.

Besides looking for advice on novel methods of seducing the school to do the right thing for my child. There has been other problems that has or certainly will impact my child at the present time and in the future.

The first thing, is the school board along with the education ministry decided to replace grade 9 final exams of math, language arts and science, and its replacement is the CRTs (standard testing) that are given in grades 3, 6, and 9. My LD child as with many, has never passed the CRTs. At best she will receive a 2 in some sub-set groupings and in most categories she will receive a 1. The scores range between 1 to 5, with 5 being the best and 1 is having little knowledge of the material. The CRTs in my little part of the world, are suppose to measure knowledge, but what is actual measured is the reading and writing skills. The very things that my child is weak in and has never had proper instruction by the school to build up the skills. What has been given, are things that work around her weaknesses. These things, including accommodations are taken away from her at the time of the CRTs. Now tell me how any child can pass standard testing, without having the require skills needed in order to pass the testing, being graded by an outside panel that is grading her without the knowledge that she has LD, and the test questions are gear where there is only one correct method to answer it. Plus, in many of the responses, it must be done in words, pictures and numbers. To further rub salt in my wounds, I have been denied access to hard copies of the CRT work done by my child in previous years. The CRTs would show perfectly the problems that my child is having in areas of language and that she is in need of help. There response in the past, as it has been in the last school year, that she is a honour student and should be quite capable if she try harder on the CRTs. It is pretty hard to make a pass, when every single accommodation is taken away from her, including extra time. It is stacking the deck, and outright discrimination.

I have done research, on high stakes testing and what the experts are saying. It is in the last few years, there is a growing call to stop high stake testing, because the testing is flaw including the processes. Come September, it will be a new battle to take on. I would like to have all the advice, knowledge on what you think of high stake testing in relationship to learning disabilities? That is just one of the many questions I have, but it is a beginning - so I can prepare and formulate a strategy.

2. The second problem is the use of high tech devices in school. In many cases, LD students who will benefit, are being denied use of them during school hours. Benefits such as recording the verbal musings of teachers, and being able to write notes on the white board, and having both audio and writing being translated into text, and than storage is using PDF files. At least, my child's notes would be all in one place. I bumped into this today, while surfing the Sears site. The touch screen laptop is build for the student, and I want to know what you think of it. I have not found any negatives on the tech forums, but tomorrow I will be making telephone calls to the company asking some technical questions. I am kinda anxious in getting feedback ASAP, because the price is right, and from what I have review is perfect for my child's needs. The only thing that is missing, is a audio dictionary, but that can be added on after the purchase. It also has video and camcorder capabilities. Link is below.

mdg.ca/flip/default.asp

I hope you do understand why I took a disappearing act for the last 6 months. My life has been a series of taking one day at a time, where every minor and major decisions have become life and death formats. At the same time, talking even on a forum would take up a lot of energy, that I do not have a lot to spare. Just getting through the day, was enough.

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Parent Replies to "I hope the regulars remember me - I am back - therose"

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In Canada, for kids who have any type of special needs are very dependent on local help, the teachers expertise and the the flexibility to change current resources to the changing needs of the individual and as well as the population. If one has the money, and nearby private resources, the problem is solved rather quickly. But lets the school off the hook for not providing the needs and correct help for those special needs children that happens to have parents with money. For those who cannot leave the public education system for various reason, there remains two set of parents. Ones like me, who have the skills and ability to do many things at home, that normally a skilled teacher should be doing and the other group of parents who do not have the proper skills and abilities to advocate for their children effectively at the school level and the complexity of the system is overwhelming for any parent to undertake. In both cases, it is the students that are left and are subjected to a system that makes the student, and parents to bear the full weight of responsibility and accountability. From what I have experience, the education system feels justify to make parents carry the responsibility of teaching little Suzie the basic foundation skills, and leaving the school to provide the icing, such as text books and other resources that will enrich education, but does nothing for core foundation skills in primary and elementary schooling. In high school, it is relatively easy to separate the outstanding, the average and the not-so-outstanding into various streams and prepare them to enter post-secondary education or the work force. High schools have resources to look after students the academically inclined, the vocational inclined but no resources or skilled staff, when it comes to cored foundation skills that are lacking in all of the student population. The LD grouping and other students who lack certain foundation skills (this group is called in the science research as acquired-learning disabilities), are left with limited resources inside and outside of the classroom.
The problems that are found in the American and Canadian public school system, can be traced back to the systematic operations of schools, boards and how they governed and move students through the system. It promotes concentration of power and influence at the education level, leaving the child to adapt, rather than the school adapting to the child's needs. It does not encourage parent's participation on any level especially in areas where parents are advocating for their children in education needs. It promotes programs, curriculum and teaching methodology that teaches to the smaller percentage of children in any classroom, who will grasp the material easily or with little struggle compare to the percentage that is the larger of the two, who will struggle for various reasons from having nothing to eat at breakfast to learning problems or simply missing a core element in two grades before, that will impact the new learning material. The costs to education are controlled on the backs of children and their learning needs and it allows the costs of buildings, staff salaries to rise under measured and controlled budgeting.
However, it is when the higher levels of government enact new laws to address issues concerning children's learning that will always throw a wrench into the system. The IDEA laws is the wrench, that has thrown the public education systems into a spin. With the current ruling by the Supreme Court, of school districts must pay the costs of private tuition for students learning needs are no longer met. Further more it states, a parent can choose the private route, without ever stepping into the public system. From a quick read today, the state of Texas is busy with their calculators trying to detail the costs that are related to this new ruling. In the end, to prevent the flow and cash payments to private schools from getting out of hand, the only choice is to improve school services especially those of special education. This is the but, since the largest segment of the special education group is found in learning disabilities, and within this group the largest sub-group is the mild to moderate learning problems. It is highly doubtful that services will improve, since the costs (all of them higher than normal costs) are highly dependent on the individual's needs and unique problems. The fix for my NN is will be different from another child, who has the same weaknesses, but are different in intelligence, family background, culture, values and income levels that all factored in to influence outcomes.
Since Canada's public education system is so far behind when it comes to the laws, respecting the right of a child to have a full education. As for law suits, the major ones have rulings against the parents regarding special education services. As parents to filed a civil suit against a school who did not teach little Suzie her ABCs, because she did not receive the proper and correct help in correcting her learning problems, the courts have ruled in favour for the school. As long as the school is providing help, it does not have to be specific help that is directly targeting the problems. There is a class-action suit stemming from Quebec, that is winding through the court at a snail's pace, coming at a different angle. Time will tell, if this one is successful to bring change to special education. Nor does Canada have researchers who are activists and advocating for change at the highest levels. The few that do, are dismissed as quack-pots, and can be found selling their idea, product at your local store or on-line store. The trouble in Canada, there is no political will to change the system and there is enough science to know that about 20 % of the population will not have their needs met by the education system. About 50 % will have some but not all of their education needs met. About 30 % of the population will have all of their education needs meet and sometimes exceed standards. The graduation stats, will have the same numbers, where 30 % are graduating with advance diplomas, 50 % with general academic diplomas and the remaining 20 % are graduating with basic diplomas. The main bulk of the LD population can be found within the 20%. The lucky minority that is graduating above a basic, it is thanks to the parents and their resources/abilities to help their child to succeed and overcome their learning problems.
I leave off with a description of an ad that is currently being run across all newspapers in Canada. I can only describe it, since it is an actual newspaper.
The picture is a three-ringed lined page, with a series of lined bricks, much like the design of brick work found on any home. So think, brick wall.
At the bottom it has 3 sentences.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WHEN YOU STRUGGLE TO READ AND WRITE, WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE IT.

Incredibly, 5 million Canadians have serious problems with reading, writing and math.
You can help.*
To learn more, visit www.abc-canada.org or call 1-800-303-1004
ABC Canada
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the link to ABC and you can judge for yourself, where the organizations such as this one, are in bed with. It is in their own self-interest to keep the public education system as is, since changing it - there will be little need of organizations like that in 20 years from now.
tinyurl.com/nubnb4

So one of every 7 Canadians, aged 16 to 35 have serious problems. In percent it is 15 % of the adult population. I look up the current stats where 58 % of Canadians have acceptable literacy and writing skills, in math, 50 % have acceptable skills in numeracy. So where does this leave 40 % of the Canadian adult population? The stats have not change much since the early 1990s, and in the latest update is expecting an increase in the population having weak literacy, writing and numeracy skills. Although in the newspaper articles that I have read, not one mention the poor job of addressing the learning needs by the public education system, which is touted as the best in the world, by our very own politicians.
This is why, I am determined to stand firm, because the school will never anticipate the actions of myself, by opening flaunting and breaking of rules when it comes to a high-tech devices. I have never gone out of my way to do so, but conditions are right where the consequences may paved the way for allowing high tech devices inside the classroom. And once again, it is the Americans, their education system with all its flaws and good points that can help me to determine the various routes ahead of time, and to anticipate all moves and actions made by the school and board.

Almost makes you wonder if a news program like W5 needs to get involved. For petes sake, why they wouldn't want your daughter to use assisstive technology is so bizarre and outdated ideology. Its really disgusting the run around we're getting. For example in BC there is a law? rule? in the charter that states a class can have no more than 3 with an IEP. How many kids are looked over on this rule. Its kids like the highly intelligent but learning disabled that are forgot about the most.

Wow. Things seem to be very difficult in Canada. I know how hard it is here, in the states - even with very clear laws and timelines. I can only imagine the run around you must be getting.

That said, I'm not sure how to help. You are not asking for anything out of the ordinary - but it seems that the school board has the ultimate power and for some reason (I can't fathom what it is), they choose not to give the accommodations. Extra time, a quiet place to take tests don't even take money!

Keep fighting - any progress you make will help not only your daughter but others with LD.

Well girls, thanks for the condolences.
As I mentioned before, I have started the research. But first lets clear up a few points, that were not made clear in the first place.
1. Hockey Mom, you are sitting at the other end of the country, that is probably the only province where LD issues are taken a little more seriously than other provinces. As for the other provinces, (I became quite knowledgeable on this stuff due to the battles of the schools), the norm and yes it is the norm is that LD children that fall into the mild to moderate grouping are in the regular classroom, under pathway 2 accommodations. The severe LD children, are placed in special education classes for LA, math and all other classes are in the regular classroom. The severe LD children will get more accommodations, but there are on the same footing as the LD children who are mild to moderate, when it comes to high tech devices. In the province that I live in, the odds are pretty high when it comes to the school board to deny devices to the LD group. As for children who have vision and hearing problems, they too have been denied, but not as much as the LD group. Just recently, a mother who has a daughter in grade 11, had to file an appeal and go in front of the board to make her case, for a laptop for her visually-impaired daughter. Yes, you think its a no-brainer, but from combing the literature, newspaper articles - this denial of service is common among the provinces. I too, have been denied but it ended always at the school level, using reasons of her ability to read. For one year in grade 7, my NN was allow to use an electronic dictionary, and than taken away using the excuse she needs to know how to use a dictionary. I than pointed out, a cover-back dictionary will not speak the word correctly. Plus many other good reasons, but the school still said no. Plus in grade 8, accommodations such as a quiet room were taken away when the teacher saw fit to do so. For final exams, I look up the school act and policies of the province, to find out how to ensured the accommodations that are listed under her IEP are followed. It turns out that a parent has to called for a meeting before May 1, to asked for the certain accommodations, even though they are listed on the IEP. Well, I did and the meeting took place after May 1, but I had two staffers at the board level who had placed timely phone calls to inform the school, that all accommodations must be follow, even though she is on pathway 2 accommodations. You see at the board level, they kept telling me that the school and the teachers must follow the IEP, and they cannot pick and choose the accommodations. I kept telling the two staffers, the opposite is happening. At this time, I phoned up the local learning disability association, who knows my case well and told me it is the law. I informed them, not only my NN is affected but also any other LD child who happens to be ONLY on pathway 2 supports. Before, I talk about school acts and provincial policies - going back to high tech devices. This has become a very sore point, especially when the devices are now cheap enough for many parents to take advantage of them. But the boards and the ministry has moved to banned such devices for all students. So as a result, some schools are quite willing to provide and accommodate, while others are quite willing to follow the school act and policies to the letter of the law.
It is why, my NN will walk in with a lap top that suits her needs in the new school year. I am already coaching her how to respond, and anticipating their moves, which one of the many will be a possible suspension. If the school is not willing to provide the corrective help in her writing, nor provide the suitable tools - the school and the board will soon find out that I can be as obstinate as a mule, but they be a sorry lot when I get on the air waves, listing a very long list of the unprofessional treatment towards me and the learning needs of my NN. Once the public learns, that a school suspended a honour student, and that same honour student became a honour student through all the hard work at home, with little effort on the school's part - I be opening up a nice can of worm that has been hidden away from the public's view for a very long time. On top of that, my NN is the only student at the present school, to receive gold, place second in the junior science division, win an agricultural award and is slated to go to the national science fair next year, using the very same experiment as this year, but with a few changes. On top of that, she has LD and her record at that school will stand for a long time, before another will top her. By the way, I talk to the local computer store, on the Flip and he went over the specs, and sees no reason why I should not purchase it. He told me, it is a like an over-grown black berry, using the same technology as the black berry. He expects other computer companies, will come out with models like the Flip, going after the big market of parents and school children.
2. So girls, the provinces public education are governed under legislative called school acts, where the provincial ministry is the top guy, than the school boards, and than the schools. The legal laws that are in the United States are up front and centre for parents and their children. But ours are buried in legal language cloaked in school acts, policies and general administration policy, that would test the skills of a lawyer, let alone any parent trying to wade through all the bits and pieces. British Columbia, have the best system, but it has many problems that is reflective of other provinces when dealing with mild to moderate special needs children. I found this to be true, when I spent some time in Ontario. I made a few inquiries at the school level and board level, only to find out that getting information is like pulling our hens teeth. I than made a phone call to the Ontario Learning Disability Association, asking what problems are showing at their door step. The same problems, schools unwilling to provide the corrective help for students who are in the mild to moderate category. You see, my conclusions is that our public education systems are making it the parent's responsibility to get help, either through private tutoring or through the parents. One thing that I have bump into, and it is happening all over Canada, is how parents are that desperate, they will move to a school that is providing more help than another. I see parents move right out of the province. I see parents moving to a much smaller town, in order to get the right kind of service. I was almost tempted to do so two years ago. Now these are parents who have gained knowledge about their child's problems, but the majority of parents sitting in the LD group, seem to be quite willing to accept the conditions, what the school is stating about little Suzie, and accept their child is a bit slow. I still have not met one educator nor special education teachers that are well--versed on learning disabilities, and for that matter, well-versed on other conditions and their learning needs. If you go higher to the board and at the ministry level, you will find the same thing but you will be dealing with the misconceptions. I know the American girls, will say - why not sue? Our civil court system, is a costly venture for anyone. I sometimes use this saying at the end when the school are hesitating, " You know, you are helping me build up a nice little law suit." The school knows it, the upper levels know it, plus the provincial governments. As Canadians are only hope is to start a massive class-action suit across this country, and to include all LD children who are now adults. Every parent who has a LD child would have a stake in it. I would be wondering how much a court award, would be given to students who learn how to read after they finished high school. Why is it, that schools and the people who work within education are no longer held responsible for the sorry state of our public education system, and are not held accountable for their actions and policies that hinders children from reaching their potential?
3. As you can see, Canadians are a sorry lot when it comes to doing the right thing in education. I do so admire the attempts of the federal American government in enforcing the laws of the land when it comes to leaning needs of special needs children. It is why, I have written to seek advice and ideas - it is only the Americans who are not afraid to start forums, to speak out on issues that smacks of unfairness and inequities. Even now, I am starting to formulate an idea, thanks to the video that Great Schools made on LD and other disorders. In it, there is words that capture my attention. The 'LD Mafia', and somehow I am going to incorporate it in for the future. Meanwhile, I am going to try to find another video that states the opposite, stating the risks if LD children and other disorders are not given the correct help. Such as being a drop-out, life in prison, menial jobs, cannot read and so on. Send both videos to all important people within the education system, stating on one video - This is the life my child would have had, if I left her learning needs to the public education system. On the another video, I would state - this is the life my daughter has and a bright future because I chose not to leave my daughter's education in the hands of the public education system. What do you think?
4. As for resources such as Internet in Canada, Canada is pathetic, It is one of the reasons why I go on the American sites. The learning disability associations including the national one, are afraid of starting a more activism sites, because government levels might pull there funding, Ditto for private resources who are making a profit providing software and other help for special needs children. I found an organization at the federal level, that is in the process of gathering the research conducted throughout the years and is still on-going regarding learning needs, literacy and language of children. It took me months combing through the search engine pages, and than I made a phone call. It was the first time, a parent has ever contacted them. The usual bunch, are the researchers working within the fields. They will quite happy to have me become a member, so I can access their body of research. I might add at this time, the majority of current research in LD being done in Canada, are replicating the same results and come down to the same conclusions regarding the learning needs and how LD kids work. They are also aware, that the education systems, have consistently used the words learning disability, to avoid the costs of providing the correct help for dyslexics. This was a surprising, since little of this information from this organization has filtered down to the school level, much less parents. Apparently all this research is sitting at the ministry level, and national bodies such as teacher and principals. Another problem, that is found throughout where information is guarded and not release to the general public. Apparently one education official, to do so will be a waste of time, since very few have the ability to understand the research. I responded, that may be so, but there is others who are quite capable to reduce the language to laymen's terms. However, he remark that it should be left in the hands of people who have the knowledge and know what is best for the children. You see, I needed the Canadian research, to support the American research that was supported by the research globally, because there was a good chance that my NN's ISSP would be removed altogether, where the school can ignored all her learning needs and help whenever it suits them. I am some glad that I took the time to do it, In her grade 7 class, all children that had ISSPs (IEP) were removed except for 3 children. One is NN who was sitting on pathway 2 supports, and the other two were accessing special education classes in math and LA. There is only 3 children left, out of about 20 children that have some kind of learning disability. It is left entirely to the teacher(s) for their learning needs. My NN is special according to the school, she has a true learning disability, but there is still an expectation that I am responsible for her learning needs. In one way they denied services because of her high grades, and in the other way they denied services because she needs specialized help, that the school cannot provide.
I think, I cover the questions that have cropped up. Thanks for the Miller site, and I will be having a longer look at it, and root out the Canadians. And I do hope, you have a better understanding of what is happening here in Canada, and how Great Schools and sites like yours are very helpful to parents like me.

I'm so sorry for the loss in your family.

I do understand a bit of what your going through being Canadian, but this is definately a provincial way of doing this for the testing. In BC we have standardized testing but not as finals. (my daughter is same age as yours). www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=1186580 This is an article about how the teachers are against the testing. Maybe the ontario teachers union may have more evidence/articles as why these tests should not be used.
As far as I ever knew there doesn't seem to be alot of help legally that I ever found. When I read about the advocacy sites in the US, I feel Canada is really lagging, but maybe I've never just found what site to go to.
As to the technology, I heard wonderful things about the notebooks (tablet pc) that you can write or type on. I have been encouraged to purchase one, but haven't due to the money and fear of it getting stolen. On youtube type in tablet pc and there are some great demos to watch.
To be honest I don't understand why the school is fighting a child who will benefit with technology on this issue. Our school has loner laptops a student can pickup and return at the end of the day. Also do they provide your child with a reader and quiet place to write her finals?

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