My 3Rd Grader Is Failing

Hi Y., Have you talked to the teacher? if they sit in class together maybe have them moved around. or maybe talk to the school councelor or principal. see what advice they can offer they have alot of great ideas as some of us parents don't always see on a dailey bases and I am sure they see it all day long and know what to do.its worth a try. maybe have him take summer school to bring up his grades.and let him know he gets to spend his summer doing this for acting up in school. that way you show him you as parents will continue doing what ever you have to do to make sure he stays in line.but I would go to the school. good luck. you are doing a great job as parents. sometimes outside help really does help.

How is your relationship with the teacher? Can they get more involved? I ask this because we have learned from experience that a teacher can make or destroy a child's attitude and education!

My oldest son is dyslexic also! Third grade was the hardest for him since he was goofing off in class, acting absent-minded and fiddling a lot. School work is amazingly more difficult from second to third grade and expectations are very high! We didn't actually find out that he was dyslexic until the very last week of school after he had been tested. So basically the entire year was a wash.

Without knowing the relationship you have with the teacher, how she treats him and how involved you are able to be I cannot steer you very far. But getting the teacher to assist in steering him clear of the distractions and toward positive learning is a must.

Also, you will probably want to focus on some great educational materials for the summer. I give my kids a week off and then they do something educational one hour a day during summer break. Thankfully I have acces to wonderful and interesting workbooks for them so they like to do it (usually)! And they start the next year on the right foot.

Feel free to send me a message and I would love to talk to you further about it!

maybe you should explain to him that if he doesn't bring his grades up 1. he will have to go to summer school and miss out on hanging out with his friends in the summer and 2. he may get held back then he will have to make all new friends because his current friends will be in a higher grade then him.
also my younger bro. is dyslexic and there were alot of issues in public school especially if he started acting up at all(even with the tutors) they just have soo many students that they can be quick to write of the problems of one if they are causing problems. I really hope this isn't happening with your son and hopefully you can get through to him so that it doesn't follow him the rest of his life. good luck.

I would definitely talk to the teacher and see about changing seats or even perhaps classes. He would still be able to have his friends and play with them at recess and you could set up playdates with his friends on the weekends and after school, so he could still keep those friendships but would not have the distractions during class time. Good luck to you.

A.

Y.,
I am an ex teacher - I taught All Day K, K,1&2 Special Ed and 2nd & 4th grade, so I have been in a ton of classes - Special Ed has always been my biggest passion - I too was diagnosed dislexic. I would reccomend two things - understand that school is designed for an "average" kid and since I have never met one - who fits perfectly, I truly belive that there are important lessons to learn from school - but EVERY kid needs to understand that school does not decide if they are smart or not. Smarts comes from a variety of traits and not all of them are educational. Just to give you an example - look at who is getting hired for most of the jobs out there - college doesn't even have that much to do with it anymore. The most important skill to master is your ablitly to work with others - to be a team player and to learn how to lead. The jokesters know how to lead - yes they need to learn that there is a time and a place for that to be - and school is neither the time or the place - but that is where most of the interaction comes.
There are worse things than failing 3rd grade- I promise you! But let him know that his job at school is to participate and be respectful and put the joking in its place, that you are not trying to supress his ability to make friends - but allow him the ability to make more, people have to learn that learning is like a friendship - there is a give and take - teachers expect a lot, but they give a lot too.
I would reccomend the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiasoki(sp?). It will open your eyes to the importance of school.
Then I would reccommend a tutuor. I am located in Oak Harbor and here we have a program called Tutor Works that is amazing and much cheeper than Sylvan.
Find a tutor that is willing to help him not just will skils but with focusing in class and finding functioning skills.
Check out TutorWorks on line and see if Lea can help you find a tutor in your area. She is really good at matching tutors to students.
http://www.tutorworks.net/
Good luck and let me know if I can help
____@____.com

Hey Y.,
This is tough for any parent, but I'm sure that having a child with special needs makes it even harder, so here is what I have done when my children started picking up bad behaiviors from other kids.....envite them over! That's right the best way to understand what is going on it to have those children in your home so you can see it first hand. You might want to just start with a play date at first then maybe build to a sleep over. Most of the time these children do not have good role models, they don't get that what they are doing is not good. I think alot of the time these are the children of parents that allow them to run thier household. So if you can get these children into your home and let them see how people should treat each other, be the good role model for them, maybe you could even talk to them about how you treat people and how you exspect them to treat the people in your home. Anyway...that's what I have done and it helps. ...ohh sometimes your child might start being a pain because thier friend is over, but I just took my daughter aside and let her know that I did not like her behaivor and that I would hope that she set a good example, and maybe even tell the friend that we don't treat people like that at our house, and I want you to be able to stay and play so let's try to be nicer to everyone.

Hope that helps...gotta run,....but we can talk more if you need more advice about this!

xoxo