Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

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My son's writing teacher gives him very vague assignments, to test the children's comprehension and ability to read into situations, of course.

But my problem is, this teacher sends a note home just about every day Zack has her, because she states "I reminded him a few times what he is supposed to be doing, but he just sits there". So I asked Zack about it, and the whole time she's nagging at him to do his work, he's sitting there thinking about what the heck the story could mean and getting frustrated by it.

So... I have a feeling she *should* be at least helping him by talking about the situations in the story and helping him work through them. I know it's time consuming, but before you fail a kid due to the inability to read into things, rather than looking at his ability to write and use really big words in the right way in a WRITING class, I think she should really be looking into why rather than just assuming he's not doing anything at all.

For all I know, he could be thinking and hearing this over and over on the verge of a meltdown because someone is nagging him to complete it rather than asking him what he is having trouble with.

I do a lot... his homework that comes home is junk like "Jack hit Jill", and it will ask him to explain why. Now, I realize this is left open for kids to come up with their own reasons, since there is nothing else to the story... but he gets really frustrated because it says absolutely nothing about why Jack hit Jill. I have to toss ideas out there, or ask him why he has hit someone in the past, etc., and it can take hours of this sometimes before he will have an "a-ha" moment and start writing.

Of course the teacher doesn't have time to do that, but I do... so I don't understand why she just fails him on the assignment rather than sending it home so that he can complete it.

Now, keep in mind, this is the same lady that did not give him a grade last semester because she had no clue what happened to his writing assignment. It says he didn't turn it in, or didn't complete it, but when they presented it to me, it was basically "we have no clue what happened to it-I might have been the one who lost it"... so why was he penalized, and why does it say he didn't complete it if she's acknowledging that someone had it at some point and she lost track of it? He insists he turned it in, so I think she lost it and doesn't want to really take the responsibility of it... but she sure isn't offering a make-up assignment either.

How old is your son, out of curiosity?

Have you told the teacher about this problem?

I think you are being perfectly rational. I would struggle with 'Jack hit Jill. Why?', even now. If the teacher knows he has difficutlities he should be given the appropriate help!

Sadly, there are a lot of rubbish teachers out there. I reckon even if I'd been diagnosed as a kid it would have made no difference as my teachers would be too thick to understand the diagnosis.

Does he have an IEP? Clearly this is something they should be making adjustments for, and if they are not you need to request a meeting with the staff... the whole staff not just his teacher. The counselor, the teachers, the speech therapist, the special education team and the principle. A full on IEP meeting.

I've tried this before, but the principal hates me, so it hasn't been looked at again for 2 years.

But, today I went over the principal's head-didn't address this issue particularly, but mentioned a few things about the school and my son. I called the Superintendent. She is contacting all of the appropriate people to get together for an actual IEP meeting-not the silly meeting the school told me was just fine, and told me it was an IEP meeting. That one was everyone except the special education team. He isn't in special ed, so I suppose they just ignored them? I'm not sure, but anyway, this lady is getting it all straightened out for us.

I also mentioned the fact that the principal has asked me to medicate him... they about freaked, lol. So hopefully there will be a discussion with her too.

He is 8... and quite frankly, I'm tired of trying to talk to his teachers. It's been going on all year. His main teacher finally decided over halfway through the school year to try to help him. Better late than never, I suppose. But until then, she had this attitude that he was a problem child, and ignored the list of things that help him stay focused.

I talked to her several times, took one incident where he was being excluded from a class activity to the principal. The principal ignored that with me, and asked me if he's on medication or if I thought he should be... then she brought him out of class and tried to trick him into saying he wanted to be excluded pretty much. He asked her why they even have a program called PALS if they weren't going to allow everyone to participate. She now hates both of us and gives us dirty looks all the time.

Make a fuss. The school and the teacher are being unfair.

I would recommend sending her a copy of this.

http://www.southflorida.com/sfparenting ... 6233.story

It outlines the way autistic children see the world very well. Good luck with everything. Schools suck and it's cheaper for them to fail people than to modify things to help them.

haha-I find that part rather funny, because while some of us might need some real modifications... the things I'm asking that will help him will cost them like, a whole dollar. Tape and index cards-reminders on his desk, and if that fails-call his name or tap on his desk. Really they are just getting lazier and lazier.

Oh, my. "Jack hit Jill" takes me back to when I was maybe 8 and I was put through what I have since had to conclude was some sort of assessment for autism like features - look at thde picture and tell me the story.

Hey - they are pictures. What story? Did the strange lady even ask me to MAKE UP a story? No - just - what is the story.

Anyway - the teacher I fear is consistent with a lot [though NOT all] of today's teachers, and I would be surprised if she even tried to get it. Is there an alternative class? a different school? Is home schooling any kind of option?