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September Newsletter

Sep 13, 2024

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Back in the Grind

The 2024-25 school year has started for everyone.  We are all working hard to ensure that this year is a success.  It is the goal of The Reading Fairy to provide you child with the tools they need to reach their maximum potential as readers and writers. 

Besides our reading intervention or language therapy services, we are available to work with the school as advocates.  What does this mean?  We will be happy to sit in on parent conferences, attend IEP or other meetings about your child.  We will provide data and observations to help with decision-making processes with the campus. 

Before we can talk with the school, the school and we need a letter that will allow us to share information.  Talk with your child’s school (or homeschool association) to get that permission in written form.  When you sign it, email a copy to us for our records.  We will not talk with the school without your knowledge and will let you know what we discussed.  We do have a form for you to sign that will allow us to communicate with the school.  Just ask your therapist or interventionist for a a copy. Be aware, some schools may have another form you need to sign.

 

Parent Teacher Conferences

You are your child’s most important advocate when it comes to their education.  Parent-teacher conferences are vital because they ensure everyone is on the same page, hopefully before there is a problem.  Some districts require teachers to meet with parents one or more times a year.  (The district I retired from required 2 parent conferences per year, plus one each time a child was failing a subject.)  Most teachers will do their best to accommodate your schedule and meet before school or after school.  You are welcome to ask for a parent conference at any time.  If you would like us to join in, let the teacher and campus know so that we can be given a Zoom link. 

When you get to the parent conference, have an open mind and positive attitude.  You and the teacher are a team.  Listen with the knowledge the teacher has your child’s best interests in mind, but he/she does have 20+ other students at the same time.  For example, they cannot physically stay at your child’s side all day, but they can give them a seat near the area where they spend most of their time.  Talk about your concerns calmly and try to come up with a plan together. 

If there is an issue you and the teacher cannot resolve, you might need to go to the principal or IEP committee to resolve the problem.  Again, staying calm and open-minded is critical.  Very rarely will things need to go beyond the IEP committee or principal.

 

Emails and phone calls

Email is a great way to contact the teacher.  Please allow the teacher time to respond.  As a classroom teacher, I answered emails during my conference period (45 minutes) and after school.  I would stay up to 2 hours after we were free to leave.  Once I left school, I did not look at email as that was my time.  In that 2 ¾ hours, I straightened my room, set up for the next day, copied papers, attended required meetings (at least 3 a week), returned phone calls, and answered emails, which averaged about 50 a day.  I did my best to respond within 24 hours, always within 48 hours. 

The same is true for phone calls, but make sure that the front office knows who you are wanting to reach.  The chief complaint from the receptionist and secretary is that parents would call (or return calls) but not know who the child’s teacher was or who had called. 

 

IEP

If your child has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan), it sets the guidelines for everything that concerns your child educationally.  If they received Special Education services, those services are outlined, including subjects, goals, timelines, and time served.  Accommodations are included.  These are given to every teacher who works with your child.  These are things the teacher must do in order to allow your child the opportunity to be successful.  Common accommodations for dyslexic students are oral administration of tests (test questions and answers are read to the child), extended time OR shortened assignments, typing of compositions, breaking multi-step assignments into smaller parts, and text-to-speech books and passages.  Your child may/ may not have one or more of these accommodations and may have others.  The accommodations are not a crutch or to make things unfair.  They are designed to give your child the tools needed to have the same opportunity to pass as their peers.  The accommodations will be adjusted as your child meets his/her goals and no longer need the assistance. 

Sep 13, 2024

3 min read

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