More...Advocacy Letters

Advocacy letters are so important for many reasons. Letters tell a story and document issue's and progress. Letters you receive from educators and those you will write yourself provide vital information to both parties and usually create a clear picture of the issues. Unless in pre-school thru 3rd grade or severe I recommend the child try to handle the academic issue first, second I would speak to the teacher directly and third I would write a letter with a meeting to follow. I have had to advocate for my child in both directions, meaning when some of her academic scores where below level and above level. If your child's test scores are good don't ever let an educator get in the way of your child's success. Be the best detective you can be. Be aware of executive and social skills. Be aware of educators whom don't feel like it's their job to figure out why a student with on level test scores is failing. I had a teacher whom liked to give only oral directions and my nick name for her teaching style is "speed racer". She told me she could see my frustration with my child. To that teacher I say my frustration is not with my child it is with educators like you whom would just assume fail a child than to find out how they can succeed.

Ms H******,

As per your request upon admission to ******** my child ********. in Ms. ******third grade is undergoing a psychological educational evaluation. As part of the evaluation Ms. C. S. from the psychological services center at N*** University will be calling about 2pm May 14th to set up an observation of G******.

Sincerely,

Melissa B*********

This is a letter I received from an advocate helping me with "G's" IEP

In regards to G*****'* IEP….

Curriculum and Instruction: Many of her goals are part of the 2nd grade curriculum and not really “Priority Education Needs” at this time. This can always change as she progresses, or shows a lack of progress.
The nature of her disability would cause her to have difficulties in inferencing, math word problems (but not at all times) and written language. In the area of reading, I think that focusing on retelling of a story, making predictions and answering (why, how) higher order questions would be appropriate. If some of her existing goals are already mastered, or deemed to not be priority education needs, we can exchange them with some of these skills that will impact her reading in the third grade.

Social Emotional Behavior:
As per the Present Level it seems that the school is working on many areas in this domain, however she only has one goal. She may need one to appropriately initiate and sustain a peer interaction for a targeted amount of time. As I had shared with you, “soft skills” will impact her far more in everyday life, than academics. The goal for all children is to make them productive, accepted members of society… and giving her tools to achieve this are of vital importance.

Inde Functioning
Although these three goals could have potentially been part of 1 or 2 goals… they are fine to leave alone… unless she has mastered them already.

Communication:
We can review goals 11 (use descriptive language) and 13 (pronouns) for mastery. If so, I would suggest adding a goal for idioms and multiple meaning words. This will impact her both in her ability to communicate, as well as reading comprehension.

Supplemental Aids and Services: I would suggest adding: Extra time for assignments (esp with writing), visual schedule (for organization) and Close proximity when given directions.

If you’d like, I can contact the school with my recommendations so that they are aware of what we are looking for before we get to the meeting. That should help things go smoothly on that day.

Let me know

Thanks
S*****

Ms. K****,

I hope G****** can be provided a quite environment and that 20 minutes is sufficient time for her to take a quiz ,that she was in school and able to take the day of. I had no clue my child was being pulled from math, and would never agree with that. G****** was supposed to be pulled from Spanish. Is 8 am the earliest? We will plan to be at school at 8 am tomorrow.

Thank you,

Mel*** B*********

Here I am thanking a teacher for providing a classroom checklist.

They look great! I see how it builds to where by the last one the student is self questioning. Her being given adequate time for this is my only concern so that it does not add stress. One thing I forgot to ask you today was if you ever see behaviors such as nose picking, space invading, using her hands to much, or making noises to initiate a conversation, please do not allow her to commit social suicide everyday, please let me know and address it with her directly. I do not get offended, I appreciate your honesty and would rather know.

I so appreciate all you do,

Mel***  ****

This letter stems from differentiated instruction issues where they will place a child in a speed taught class just because they tested well on the SAT. "G" was placed in a faster than normal paced math class due to her testing above average in math on her SAT and was paying the price for it grade wise until her placement was corrected.

Ms. K****,

Please move my child immediately to Ms. E************ math class, I appreciate immensely you letting me know the difference and that this is an option. I am only aware that G****** has missed one HW assignment and it is due to confusion (just because you copied something from the board doesn't mean it was clearly understood)about what to do, I know my child ,and missing HW, at this point is not a defiant act on her part. I know she corrected the quiz and the test and returned them to you Sept 16th on time, which we believed would bring the grade up but according to you she received an 87 on the chapter two test but still has a grade of 64.98.We are impressed she got the word problem right because that's her weak link in math thus far. According to G****** , her tutor,and her most recent academic evaluation she is fine with the curriculum. According to her she just needs more time than "one lesson being taught in 5 minutes" so I will be in contact with the principal ASAP to insure she is removed from your class. You never have to be hopeful my child has studied, she always studies if things are clear.

September .19, 2011

Mr. and Mrs. ****** *******

10*** S.W. **th St.

Da**, Fl *****24

(945) **6-**15

J***** L******, Ed. S.

1**0 S****t Way

West**, Fl 3**26

Written Request

I am writing in reference to McKay scholarship fifth grade student ******* B********* in Ms. K*****'s math class. In our meeting on September 12th 2011 we discussed some simple accommodations for Timing, organization, word problems and oral comprehension so G******* has clarity of what is expected of her daily. After speaking with her teacher I am requesting G******* be changed as soon as possible to Ms. E*******'s math class where the same curriculum is being taught at a slower rate. This is an example from last weeks class page,

Ms. E******s Class: This week in Math, we began Chapter 2.

Mrs. K*******s Class: We have completed the Chapter 2 math lessons and tests.

According to our independent academic evaluation and the schools own assessments( to date) G****** is on level academically. My most recent independent evaluations that I have provided to the school indicate only mild/moderate differences in oral comprehension, timing, and organization, with a critical difference only for math word problems. We request that in the future the school take these facts into consideration whenever deciding any placement or academic decision for our child. We respect your hard work and dedication to children.

Sincerely,

Mr. and Mrs. **********

This is the letter the teacher sent me to tell me my child with a round the year tutor and above average SAT testing in math, and outside math academic testing was failing. Within two weeks  of my child being moved to a normal paced class she had an "A"  in math. Do not allow a child that you can prove  be taught fail due to educators whom are either to busy or just feel it's not their job to figure out why a child is not doing well. In most cases when  a kid is not doing well there are some very simple fixes that I feel should be obvious to a trained teachers eye. This teacher was teaching a math lesson in 5 to 10 minutes.

Good Morning Mrs. *********,

I am writing to you regarding my concern for ******** math grade. To date, I have assigned 6 assignments including quizzes and tests. I did not average in the one quiz grade since she was out of the class, however, the other grades have been averaged and accounted for. On her first classwork assignment, she received a 13/18, her first quiz 18/22 and her first test reflects a score of 12/16. The next classwork assignment was 11/18 and her most recent assignment she received a 0 on for simply not doing. This particular assignment was written in the agenda last Friday, as I gave the students their week in advance. While correcting the study guide I found that ***** had not completed any of this assignment and was writing the answers down as we reviewed them. Her current grade before the test today has dropped to a 63.2. I write the current grade on every math paper she takes home so I know that you are already aware of this but wanted to discuss this with you to find out if you feel she is working at a level of frustration or if she is simply rushing through or not completing her assignments. I want to help her succeed but if she comes to class without her home learning completed it is difficult. This assignment was worth 39 points and counted as 20 % of her grade. If you feel she is working at a level of frustration, or that she might work with more success in a class that doesn’t move through the chapter at such a quick pace we can also discuss her moving to Ms. E**’s class.

Her test is worth 40% of her grade so I am hopeful that she studied the study guide I gave her last night.

Thank you,

J***** K****** MS ED

5^th grade teacher, The ******** School

I saved the best for last. Below is the #1 reason you need to advocate for your special needs child. After she had changed math classes and I got her social studies grade intact due to the same teacher not giving both oral and written directions, I receive a report card that states my child has an A in math but is "Not meeting the standards". WOW, turns out teacher and the principle state its a "Computer glitche" and that the report is garbage and they will print me a new one.

Hi Ms.*****,

I was under the impression after our parent/teacher conference that my child was in a regular math class and doing well. According to her report card I see this is far from the case. ******'s last SAT done by the school at 10 years 4 months old (she is still 10) puts her total mathematics in the above average range. According to Ms. ***y G***** was capable of meeting the academic standards, it was the pace that was an issue. This tells me accommodations not modifications would be in order. The only option I was presented with was to change her class to what I believed to be the average class which turns out to be a remedial class. I am confused as to why it would even be suggested that a child that can meet the standard academically be put in a remedial class and then told they are not meeting the standard and need modification a whole change in what she is learning. According to every test I have (S********) and our own independent there is no reason she should not be in an average 5th grade math class. Please, we need to figure out why with great academic testing my child is not meeting the standards of fifth grade math. When is the earliest we can meet? I will have no choice but to have her transferred from the school by the first of the year, if she can't meet the standards of an average fifth grade math class.

Help! :-)

Mel**  ******

Ihave made the correction and reprinted the report card. It will be sent home today. Sorry about that!

J******* *****

Principal, School

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