Haven't had much time to blog since school started, but went to a school conference with the IEP coordinator and the guidance counselor and all his teachers on the first day of school.
Yeah! He is finally listed as a 504...which essentially means that the school accepts that he is different and has to make some exceptions to the rules because of it. First of all, even though he is in 11th grade all of his teachers have to verify at the end of class that he actually wrote down his assignment and initial it. At the end of the day, his last teacher has to verify that all the other teachers did what they were supposed to....when he comes home from school he does his homework and then I, or SD look at his agenda and verify that each item is completed and sign off on it. When he get back to school the next day, if an assignment isn't turned in or late or missing...we all know it was done and we can then try and figure out where he lost it. Second, his visits to the psychologist for his disorder will not count against his absences. Third, he gets to leave his text books at home....so he never "forgets" them. All he carries in his backpack are his notebooks. He has a textbook in each class for his use in class. Thankfully, by college all his books will be on a lightweight kindle probably anyway so that won't matter. Fourth, all of his teachers will break down big projects into smaller step by step assignments.
Fifth, Every Monday morning, I will email his teachers and remind them to email back with a weekly progress report on how things went for the past week.
At this time there are no plans for a reduced work load....every subject but psychology seems like a reasonable amount to me...and that is an AP class so he just needs to accept the work load (especially since that is his planned college major...and if he can cut it in HS he isn't going to make it in college).
They did discuss with the Spanish 2 teacher from last semester, and have given him a list of about 6 missing assignments to do over this weekend, and a test to take next Thursday...if he accomplishes that....he will bring his grade up to a C for the semester, rather than a D....and we will talk to college about perhaps waiving the foreign language requirement or substituting another class for it since it is hard enough for him to learn to speak English and Expression without have to learn it all in a different language.
I like all his teachers...a lot. His Psychology teacher has seen through his bullshit, and says he is very gifted in that area and there is no reason he can't have an A and get a 4 or 5 on the AP exam...he just has to do his study guides. His English teacher this year is focused on Literature and is more than willing to think outside the box. He suggested that Alex use audio CD's if he doesn't like "reading" the books (so we went and bought a $20 portable cd player and went to two different libraries to find The Great Gatsby...and it is working!) (I found it interesting that two different librarians both spelled Gatsby wrong...I guess classics just aren't what they used to be!). His Chemistry teacher is a young cute lady who loves her subject...and the fact that Alex is excited to be learning all about how to balance equations. His US history teacher is good at making history exciting and understandable and interesting....so hopefully that will be a good thing. Alex's final class is Child Growth and Development...which is broken down into two parts...one half text book and the other half as a preschool teacher/observer of child development and psychology (again...his special interest).
So far, I am optimistic about the upcoming semester.....we will see how it goes!
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