School problems

[paulvr65]

I'm am new to this forum. Decided to join a forum because I don't know what to do where to go. So, I hoped by joining that somebody have already experienced this and can give me some direction. My child is 11 and in 4th grade in South Africa. He is very slow in writing tests. When I test by asking him questions, the day before he writes, he knows everything. The teacher at school says say has to stand next to him,while she calls out words fora spelling test, and then he is still 3-4 words behind the rest of his students. There are only 7 in his class. He is in a private school. Is it because his answers to me was verbal, and in school he needs to write them down? I really need some direction here and hope somebody knows what I am going through.

[jerry5]

our lad has just turned 7 so maybe the comparisons will be a bit askew but, whilst he is above average in maths (a subject he quite enjoys) and has a good vocabulary and enjoys stories and reading, when it comes to writing its a different story. Im sure partly this is down to him being a left-hander and partly down to his AS as both his fine and gross motor skills are behind those of his peers. He still runs like a toddler for example and , when colouring in, still finds it difficult to keep within the lines. These 2 factors make writing both difficult and frustrating for him as he finds it hard to control sizes of his letters and probably because it fits into his "writing box" in his head, he finds some elements of grammer (eg use of capital letters/spaces/full stops etc) similarly difficult, though I personally think that he is bright enough to understand such rules/conventions but its just that he associates them with him physically having to write that is the problem. All this naturally means that he is often the last to complete written work or else rushes it to get it over with. Only solution is to have a teaching assisstant (pref one with a knowledge of AS!!) there to coach him . First port of call is to speak to his teachers/head. But do some research around what sort of support is available to you . It maybe that your son hasnt got AS but still needs some educational support. In the Uk youd go via the schools SENCO officer, do they have similar in South Africa? Good luck.

[paulvr65]

Hi Jerry
The funny thing is my son is also left handed, and at 7 was also still going over the lines when doing colouring. The teachers at his school does know about the condition and we provided ample literature for them about AS.
Everywhere on the web I am reading that AS usually co-inside with another disorder and they give a list....and I have been busy. One of them seem to be one I have identified as a maybe for my son, it's called NLD - Nonverbal learning disorder. It's got pretty much the same symptoms as AS, but is describes the verbal part as very good, even from a young age they excel when it's verbal. So I am a bit lost. In my area or rather the whole province we have one person specializing in that field, so it takes quite a while to get an appointment. So, we are looking for alternatives. But they are difficult to come by.

[jerry5]

Wouldnt say things are "ideal" here Paul, but certainly there ARE the bodies set up to deal with educational needs over here even if you do sometimes have to do quite a bit of pushing and come up against a bit of the old "right hand doesnt know what the left one is doing" from the authorities involved. Your problem ,from what you say,is that ,unlike over here, not only are teachers and schools mostly unaware/not trained but you have only one person in the whole province who specializes in that field. Guess you can only use this person to try and get a result but this is obviously going to be difficult because -Im assuming_there is not the infrastructure for her to implement any processes through to your sons school. Nevertheless, with so much info available these days via the internet etc maybe you could push (via evidence from the school as well as your own) this person to do something , you know, advize the school on stratergies etc. Dont know how it works over there, dont know whether this person is in a position of being able to instruct the school to do such and such or whether they have any authority over the school at all. Funding for one to one obviously has to come from somewhere. Are there any support groups run by parents or charities that could help support and advize you? How receptive are the school and teachers themselves as to your views and evidence? Its very hard to comment further mate because although I can emphathise I dont know how it works in South Africa with regards to what educational support bodies there are. My best guess would be to search for any Autism (they generally incorporate AS or links to AS) support groups online and see what they can come up with. Good luck,
jerry

[philipo]

I had severe problems when changing from junior to senior school.Unitl 11 years i was used to being in the same room/class .at senior school there was a main class for registration and loads of seperate numbered class rooms for all tjhe lessons.I did nt un derstand how a rota/calendaer worked so after ten days of being told off for being late for lessons i just truanted .In the end i was placed in local authority care fro truancy,despite being a top of the classs educationally.
Check his practical knowledge of timetables/rotas/routines,particulary the weekly routine.
good luck