As I have written about before, I have a student in my class with behavioral problems. Upon reading the topic for todays blog however, his name was not the one that immediately popped into my head. I have a young girl who is the lowest in our class based on CBM and F&P scores. However, she receives no set services from the school because her kindergarten teacher only completed one intervention on her- and it was for emotional needs, not academic. Because of this, we share our resources for our behavioral needs student with this little girl, sending them both into the hall to work with the EA during math time.
This little girl often misses school or a large portion of the day. There are a wide array of reasons: she was sick, she was tired, her mom didn't wake up, her mom had to go downtown to get health insurance, the police were at our place late last night, mom had friends over, I couldn't find my glasses, or my all time favorite- "She just wouldn't put clothes on" her mother told me at 1:30 in the afternoon as the child was being dropped off. When you ask her why she was so late the little girl always responds with a cheerful disposition and a smile, telling you the story as if it was a funny joke that we should be laughing with her about.
This week she finished reading her first book of the year for reading time. She can't match the sound a letter makes to what the letter looks like on the page, even if your are quizzing her on the same two letters repeatedly using flash cards. She doesn't understand the concept of blending sounds to form a word. She is a top concern for me and my cooperating teacher. All of this is overwhelming as a student teacher from the beginning, however it becomes increasingly more worrisome when Lilly laughs at herself for not knowing the sounds.
We are currently engaged in a documented intervention. It's just hard to watch a child struggle so much and have her mom and the child herself not making the full commitment to giving her the academic experiences she needs.
This is an interesting case, Julie. When I visit on Friday, I'd like to watch her during your math lesson--if she's in school! From your description, I have to wonder if something else is going on (beyond the 20 excuse for late arrivals), something they're not comfortable sharing, that's preventing the family from getting the little girl to school. In my experience, I've never met a parent who didn't want his/her kid to get a good education and who wasn't trying his/her best to make that happen. I suspect you don't know the whole story, but in truth, it doesn't really matter right now because your job is to "tend your acre"--in other words, take care of the territory that you have control of, and that's in school. Sounds like you and Kellie have a plan in place. I'll be curious to talk to you about how the intervention process works. I can tell by the length of your post that this situation is one that's important to you. Thanks for all the detail.
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