Is this even reasonable?

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I am having a heck of a time organizing my thoughts into anything anyone will be able to follow. So here's an outline to help you keep track. First I am going to ask if a certain accommodation is reasonable. Then I am going to explain my rationale behind why I think it is reasonable, and last I will talk about what is happening in order for me to be thinking about this anyway. I don't know which of these pieces should go first. They all seem like a lead argument to me.

Is it reasonable to ask for an accommodation that a kid's quarter and final grade be dropped no more than half a letter grade for missing/late/incomplete homework?

Here is my thinking: the purpose of school is learning. Of course part of that learning is content and part is non-content (things like organization, etc). But when a kid has a documented disability that affects the "non-content" part, isn't it only fair to accommodate? Shouldn't their grades reflect primarily their knowledge of content, and less the "rest"? Otherwise I feel like the grade is reflecting the disability and not the mastery of grade-appropriate content. Or am I not reasoning this correctly?

What is happening is this: in more than one class, my son has lost more than a letter grade due to incomplete/missing/late homework. I am aware that part of the solution is to deal with why it is missing/late/incomplete, so that's not what I am asking here. But if his tests give him an A, should he really be getting a B- or C in the class because of the homework issue? Plus, if he can get an A on the tests without doing the homework, isn't that demonstrating that he is somehow learning the material, even if it isn't through "practice and repetition" which is often what homework is? Here is a very specific example. In his school, they do a pretest at the beginning of the year against standards, one in mid year, and one at the end of the year. In the pre-assessment for 6th grade math, he scored as a 5th grader, which would make sense since he hasn't had 6th grade math yet. In his last assessment, he scored at an emerging 8th grade level (so similar to end of 7th grade). Yet he is getting C's in math. It makes no sense to me. He has learned more than is required of his grade. So why should his grade drop so much because of homework? I mean, if his average on tests is an A, couldn't he just be given a B+ to reflect his homework? Or if he is getting a B, couldn't he just be given a B-?

I'm feeling a little ranty about this, so if I am completely off-base, just tell me so. I just want his grades to reflect his knowledge, not his disability. Right now I feel like they reflect a combination of his disability and mine and it....well...it just doesn't seem fair. If my executive functioning skills were better, I could be on top of this better. But desperately wanting and needing to have better executive functioning skills does not lead to better executive functioning skills. I feel so frustrated.

the teacher has to grade all students by the same criteria to be fair.

As someone who recently graduated from high school with honors, I cannot say that I entirely understand the point of assigning grades to classes at all; statewide and nationwide testing ensures that the pupils are "on track" and learning what they "need" to learn, and the grading system has far too many kinks in it to be accurate (final exams, for example, count for 20% or 30% of the final grade; many students in some classes wind up with much lower grades due to being nervous or tired on the exams, and many students in other classes wind up with much higher grades due to the final exams being curved so that nearly every student gets an "A").

Nevertheless, educational systems will not abolish the grading system anytime soon (though I have read that some districts simply use a pass/fail model).

From a rational standpoint, what you are requesting makes perfect sense; grades are supposed to reflect the effort that one puts into a class, and your son's effort is not entirely respective of his ability to manage homework on time.

From a systematic standpoint, however, it may be very tricky as to what constitutes a "reasonable accommodation." In my school district, the accommodation must be necessary for a child to be able to learn the material and meet "learning targets"; it must also not put the student at an "unreasonable advantage." It may be that your son will not receive any further accommodations if he is not failing the courses, as many school systems are very strict and stingy with their accommodations. Your case is certainly worth pleading, though.

Since your son performs so well, would it be possible for the teacher to allow your son time to do his homework in class if he already understands the instruction? Similar accommodations have been granted to my Gifted and Talented friends at various points in their elementary school career. Would it also be possible for your son to do the homework in the teacher's classroom before or after school?

In any instance, best of luck and success to both you and your son!

But how is that fair? They--his peers-- are not dealing with a neurological issue that impairs their ability to follow the rules in a typical school setting. If he were lazy and just not trying, than I would agree with your statement. But your statement, to me, is the equivalent of saying that all kids in wheelchairs should fail PE because they can't do sports. It's not their fault.

Here is something a dear friend of mine shared that makes sense. At the beginning of the year, she asks each of her students to imagine they have a boo boo somewhere (they are early elementary) and once they have decided where it is, to come to the front of the room and tell her where it is and she will give them a bandaid. But no matter where they say, she puts a bandaid on everyone's upper arm. When kids start to protest, she explains that in order to be fair, she is going to treat everyone exactly the same. Eventually someone says "but I don't need a bandaid on my arm" to which she says "Oh...you mean I should put the bandaid where YOU need it, and not where someone else needs it?" The kids all unanimously agree. So she says "So, we all agree that each kid in this class should get what THEY need and not what other kids need?" Answered with a resounding YES! She refers to this exercise all year, especially if someone complains that individualized treatment is "unfair."

Unfortunately, this is true and we live in a school district that is extremely lenient with supports and accommodations early on. They give my daughter services without ever having seen a piece of paper from a doctor verifying she has autism. All it took was for me to tell them that she had it and needs help with social skills and she has gotten it ever since.

They (his middle school team) have already told me, though, that things are a lot stricter as you get into middle school and even more so in high school. He can "access the curriculum" without accommodations. But he truly is an example of a smart kid who is not getting good grades, not because he is brilliant but bored and not because he is not trying. But simply because his neurology is in conflict with the way the school system is set up.

I do have a friend who is a high school teacher in another district and he has said that I would be shocked by the number of parents to shop doctors to get their kids diagnoses of ADHD so that they can get testing accommodations. He has ADHD himself and he said there is no. way. some of these kids have it. They just have parents with money who are trying to give them a leg up on getting the grades necessary to get into top tier schools. I can understand school districts not wanting to give anyone an unfair advantage. I just think that making his grades less about the organizational aspects of homework and more about content evens the playing field. He is starting as a disadvantage and a pretty large one at that, ykwim?

BTW, I think high schools would be more willing to do away with grades than colleges ever will be. But it's not a bad idea. I didn't even graduate with honors from high school, but graduated from both my undergraduate and graduate programs with honors and distinction. But the truth is, not a single person has ever asked what my GPA was since I graduated from grad school. In the real world, no one cares about grades. They care about what you can do.

No, a teacher does not HAVE to grade every body the same to be fair. In fact, it is illegal to do so if the student has been given an accommodation on an IEP or 504. That's like saying "I'm going to give everyone in the class a new pair of shoes, but they all have to be size nine or it isn't fair." Fairness does not equal always treating everybody the same. As a teacher, if I have a student with a disability that affects executive function, I generally don't deduct too much for late work (it's usually 50 percent), and will notify parents of missing assignments, and come up with a plan with them to decrease the late work rather than deducting points. I think that is a reasonable accommodation to limit the amount of points that can be lost.

"Special education," and all things associated with it, is largely about prevention at the elementary school level; it appears that accommodations are given to prevent students from falling terribly behind their peers, both academically and socially, during some sort of "critical period." At the later stages, accommodations appear to be given on the basis that it will lower drop-out rates and raise graduation rates.

Schooling is all a game of politics, unfortunately.



I understand perfectly what you are saying and hope for your son's sake that his teachers will as well.

As he does not appear to need the "extra practice" in the first place, would it perhaps be fairer to simply request that he be given less homework? This is an accommodation that I have read being given to students with learning disabilities and intellectual giftedness alike. A possible rationale is that he needs time at home to "defragment" from the stress of the school day, his stress being extra due to his condition, that this extra free time will better his performance and his behaviour at school, and that more time could be dedicated to focusing on the very executive functioning issues that is causing him problems in the first place.

If it is any consolation, many top-tier colleges are more impressed by one's outside accomplishments and SAT/ACT scores than one's G.P.A, especially if high AP/IB scores counter the grades; a well-written essay could turn average grades into the inspirational story of the year, and even Yale supposedly reserves a spot or two for "C" students.

In the school district I went to usually the solution was a lenient time extension.An assignment could be sometimes be turned in a week late with no loss of credit depending on the assignment.I've also heard of "reduced workload" where instead of having to do 20 questions you do 10.The catch is that the work must eventually be done and is graded in the same way everyone else's homework is.I don't any school system will just give you points.
Even with severe disfunction problems even a special education teacher in an autism program will not give free points although I have seen them give ridiculous time extensions.

I think asking for less homework might be reasonable for him. I understand making him complete project-based homework, but when it comes to repetitive math assignments and worksheets, I don't see the point, myself. You know what the saddest part is? A large percentage of it is homework that he did complete. He either loses it or simply never turns it in. No matter what kind of organizational system we have tried to work with (and I spent well over $300 last year trying various binders, planners, backpacks, etc) we always end up in the same place. Homework late, undone, or lost. Usually if we do a paper together, I email it to his teacher. Maybe next year they can email me the homework pages and I can scan them back?

LOL! I will not hold my breath waiting for a well-written essay from my son! His issues with disorganization extend well into his writing skills. We had to do a 2-page paper over the weekend and you'd think he was asked to write a dissertation! He actually howled like a cat at one point He sees absolutely no need for introductions, conclusions, and transitions. It's painful, really. I see no Yale in our future, but I will be happy if we are able to find a way to help him further his education to become an animal behaviorist.

IMO, he needs to develop his organizational skills, because future education and working world require those in addition to knowledge and skills specific to chosen field. So I would say that it is not a reasonable accommodation.

I had this same problem when I was in 7th grade, but I developed organizational skills during that year (it took whole school year and bad grades), so I was fine with organization for high school, college, etc.

Some of his teachers do that. It doesn't really help for the homework that gets sucked into the black hole of the forever lost homework, though. Because if he already did it once, there is not a snowflake's chance in he!! that he will do it a second time.

I'm not really suggesting that he be given extra points he did not earn. More like...say for the "typical" student, 60% of the grade is test scores and 30% is homework and 10% is classroom participation. Maybe for my son it should be 70% test scores 20% participation, and 10% homework. Because his tests and classroom participation demonstrate mastery of content. Actually...I think MOST kids would rather have the first split...where roughly a 3rd of the grade is homework because I think for most kids homework is easy, even though it is a PITA. But it's something you can count on doing with a fair degree of accuracy because you can use resources, etc.

I can definitely emphasize with organization efforts being futile; the only way that I "overcame" it was to learn how to flip through the various pages in my booksack more quickly and have such a strong work ethnic in class that the teachers did not mind me taking ten minutes to find a sheet of paper (accommodations? In this state, only [some of the] people with real issues get accommodations). Oh, how many panic attacks I have driven myself into looking for a misplaced paper! It's a bit easier at the high school level, though, where most of the work is typed essays that can be sent to an email and accessed from anywhere.

If you have a smartphone, perhaps you can snap an image of every homework assignment he completes and have it "on file" in case you need to email it to the teacher. The email idea seems like an effective and relatively simple accommodation to request, though be warned that some teachers have an aversion to technology and may not be able to or be willing to upload every assignment into digital form.

I don't take it that your son would be very interested in creative writing? Creative writing classes can teach a student the "form" of writing in a way that is a bit more appealing and stimulating.

What helped?

I, myself, am a certified time management trainer. I can go into anyone's office and devise a fantastic organizational system. I can organize your files, your calendar, your desk, your work...anything. I can prioritize your work day for maximum efficiency. I can break any process or system down into a detailed, organized schematic of nearly whatever kind you'd like. I can find structure in things that appear to have none.

But I cannot reliably keep myself organized. It's not about knowing what to do. It's about doing what I know. Something inside of me simply can't reliably do it. It's like it just doesn't go with the way my brain works. It does not come naturally at all. It is very unnatural and extremely effortful. So I can do it and do it well with a lot of focus and effort. But as soon as I am not exerting so much effort into it, I revert to my normal, disorganized self. My disorganized self feels like my natural self. I imagine it is much like what an autist faces with social skills. Some can learn them quite well. But it is constant work to maintain it and at a certain point, you just can't do it anymore. The effort is too much to sustain indefinitely.

I fear my son has not fallen too far from this tree at all.

I dont see why they wouldn't I was in a similar situation I was given time beyond the end of the quarter to turn in late and missing assignments. use his IEP as leverage thats what my mom did for me

I understand that you want your child's grades to be as high as possible, but in my experience no one else on the planet cares. High schools don't care about middle school grades and most colleges for the most part don't care about high school (except for the snooty ones), and employers don't care about college grades. (I've never had any of them even care if i actually graduated from high-school or not, they all give lip-service to it, but no one ever called or checked.)

So this is kind of a pointless battle esp. in light of your son's real challenges.
Plus this will stigmatize him with the other students and esp. with teachers in the coming years.

Thirdly this seems to me to be not so much 'reasonable accommodation' but a belated request to change the method with which he is evaluated. It is like asking that they use a shorter ruler when measuring his height so he can tell everyone he's really 6'6" tall. Yes, it is, stop arguing with me. You are asking that your son be measured with a sissy stick.

A "reasonable accommodation" to homework issues would be along the lines of flexibility it submitting them, allowing a larger window of time to submit them, discovering the inhibitions to completing and submitting homework and working with and around those issues.

You want him to get A's instead of B's and C's. I get that.
But now that the school year is over, it is too late, it is no longer reasonable, now, to say: "he didn't do well so give him a better score cuz he's disabled."
There was nine months of school year to have discovered and addressed this issue, and this isn't addressing the issue- it's changing the yardstick.

My ex used to tell a naughty joke about why women were lousy carpenters, because they were told this |---------------------------------| is 12 inches.
If he didn't earn his A's like everyone else then they're meaningless, just marks on paper and embarrassing marks at that.


My teachers use to tell me that if I would just turn in any homework at all I'd be getting A's, so I've been there.
This is just my logic.
This is just my opinion.
If you feel you are right, then go for it!

    This, is incredibly profound!