This isn't an easy subject for me to talk about. It's one that I didn't anticipate having to deal with personally at all.
My daughter learns differently than others. She has since she was a toddler. She was in First Steps (an early intervention service in Indiana) until she aged out of the program, focusing on speech because she did not talk. She was in Speech through the school system from 3- present day. She, through lots of hard work, did well in Kindergarten through the first half of First Grade. Then it started going downhill.
I thought the change in schools caused the dip, but it turned out that reading comprehension is something that she struggles with. At first it only affected her reading grade. She could memorize spelling words, math was not difficult, so her grades were still okay through second grade (though dropping each grade period). At the end of second grade she was tested by the school psychologist and had high non-verbal intelligence, but verbal intelligence was well below where it should be.
Enter Third grade. Reading comprehension is not just for the weekly story. Math includes story problems (and algebra) that is difficult to understand if you can't process what you read. Science, History, and other subjects test on the material read. Spelling words stop following the phonetic rules (or common rule breakers). She is assessed constantly through standardized testing.
Right now it looks like she will repeat the Third grade, only I don't have a game plan. Every effort we are making (the school, and us at home) is only causing more stress without any change in grades. She had referrals to be tested from her doctor and we're in the waiting game portion.
What are your opinions about retention? If you have any resources I can turn to about processing disorders, I would appreciate them. I feel like I don't even know where to start with this, and I feel like her school feels the same.
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