Our children spend many hours away from us as they get older. Much of this time is spent at school. These days, school curriculum has become more challenging. Even by the end of kindergarten, children are expected to read books with two or more lines of print with predictable or repetitive text. As kindergarten is ending, they should be able to write two sentences with phonetic spelling when a prompt is given, count to 100, and understand math concepts including adding and subtracting within 10.
The curriculum challenges may add stress for both your child and you, and especially so, if your child is struggling academically. So what happens then?
When your child has difficulty with reading or math, there should be support offered at your child’s school. These can include Response-to-Intervention (RTI) services. RTI can be given in small groups led by your child’s teacher or by a reading or math specialist, if needed. This should be considered a short-term service. “Short-term” may be as long as a full school quarter. If progress is seen, RTI is no longer necessary. If very limited to no progress is seen, there may be a disability interfering with academic progress. Throughout this process, your child’s teacher should keep you informed.
For children making limited to no progress with RTI services, a Case Study Evaluation may be necessary to determine if there is a need for special education services.
Special Education is for children who have an identified disability that interferes with academic progress and the case study evaluation is the process school systems use to identify disabilities. Not every child who is evaluated is found to have a disability.
It can be difficult to see your child struggle with school work and sometimes it is hard to ask for help or to ask for an explanation about the struggles, however most teachers are very willing to give their perspective about your child’s learning.
If your child continues to have difficulties after support is given, please feel free to contact us for guidance.
