There is little harder to hear than the person you love most saying that they hate themselves. It breaks my heart to even think that my beautiful, smart, and sensitive son feels this way sometimes. I know we all have our down days, but a 5 year old should never feel that way.
This is our new struggle.
T has been saying this the past couple of weeks, mainly at school. When I ask him about it, he says that it’s true. He “hates” himself, and that he’s not as good as the other kids in his class. He is really struggling with writing, and he sees his friends (both in school and out) able to write better than he can.
The thing is, it’s not true. T goes to a developmental preschool where the other kids are of varying abilities. He is by far not the worst writer in his class. heck, there are children in there that can’t hold a pencil. But he doesn’t see this. He only sees the other students who can write their names on just one line, that they can form numbers on their paper, that they can draw the shapes they are asked to draw. …continue reading
When I say homework battles I’m not talking about the typical fight with the kids to do their homework, that’s not a problem. The problem is the actual homework. It’s like these teachers have no clue how to change the curriculum for a child with autism.
My Facebook post from the other night:
This is a question from Roger’s homework: How does the protagonist view himself/herself in your story? Identify a page number and example from the text.
His response? I don’t know, I am not them. WHY can these teachers not get it through their heads that he seriously cannot put himself in someone elses shoes and tell you what they think of themselves. UGGGG! Oh and I was informed he is to write an essay on this as well, this should be fun.
It took us three hours and finally he came to: he feels good. The reason? Because another chapter in the book said so. Okay, works for me. I know I am going to get some note home that it is incomplete and not acceptable and again I will have to point out the IEP. A friend of mine said I should send a note in with the homework saying ” How does the student who is incapable of taking another perspective feel when his teacher assigns him homework requiring him to do exactly that?” Honestly how can she expect him to do something she obviously is incapable of doing herself.
I was looking at his next section of questions and they are give a specific example of how the protagonist has changed? And what have you learned from the characters?
Those should be fun. The teacher also said she will have him reread the book to make sure he understands it before he writes the essay. Wait…what? Back up a minute. The problem is not his comprehension. He understands perfectly what he is reading. You actually have him reading about 5 grades below what he can do. It’s the questions you are asking. You know he has problems putting himself in a fictional character’s shoe and telling you how they feel. Heck the kid can’t tell you how he feels a lot of the time. If you do not really understand your own feelings how can you understand and explain someone else’s?
I have sent a email to his case manager to let her know that he solution of “oh we will just punish him and make him reread the book” is not going to solve the issue. The questions need to be reworded. So we will see what happens and if they take time to listen and work with him and his needs rather than what some curriculum states.
