"Experts" Offer Inappropriate Class
Here's what happened after the musical that we went to. It was a three hour musical and he spent most of the time with his ears covered. That's why I went.
His teacher sent this:
I just wanted to let you know that the para has really been trying to work with Jake this hour on his critique over the play. There are specific guidelines that he needs to include. He is being very uncooperative and just keeps eating paper. He keeps repeating that the play was boring, and his mom even thought so. I told the kids that they did not have to write positive things. They can certainly write negative things as long they back it up with specific support. It is frustrating because he is basically refusing to do the work. We are going to work a little more on this on Monday, and then it will be due on Tuesday. I don't think that he made much progress on it. Just wanted to let you know.
I sent this:
I will work with him this weekend. I was trying to explain to Jake that musicals aren't everyone's cup of tea. I told him that I don't really like them either, but his Aunt Lois would have loved it. When Jake is chewing there are more important things going on than refusal to work. That is what he does when he has become overwhelmed. I will have to address this with his doctor on Thursday.
I worked with Jake and he got it done at home. He did bring home his paper and he had written a sentence for each point (there were six). We did six paragraphs, but I let him type them. That's what his IEP calls for. It also has, as a goal that Jake should go to the recovery room when he becomes overwhelmed. He thought that he wasn't allowed to do that anymore. This is a child that scored in the 3 and 4 year old level on parts of his Vineland. He is 13 years old.
On Monday his teacher wrote:
I was not expecting Jake to write 6 well developed paragraphs. We were just hoping to get a few sentences from him. The para worked one on one with them the entire time and was just trying to help him write the sentence that included the name of the play and who wrote it. I would have been thrilled with one sentence from each of the categories which would have been about 6 sentences total. Since we were working on it 3 different times in class that would come out to be about 2 sentences a class period. I'll talk with ___ today to find out if I'm supposed to modify the assignment even further than that.
Her original email said, "There are specific guidelines that he needs to include." That doesn't tell me that six sentences would have been enough. Jake insists that they said he had to write six paragraphs.
I wrote this:
Jake had actually written six sentences before he came home. He became overwhelmed because he thought that he had to write six paragraphs. That is what he perceived. He gets overwhelmed when he has to write that much. He is supposed to be able to type.
I'm sorry if there was some confusion.
She wrote:
I didn't realize he was supposed to type or I would have had him go with the para to the library. I don't know when he wrote the 6 sentences, but that is great because while in class the para was just trying get him to fill in the blanks of one sentence and he was not cooperating.
I wrote this:
I'm sorry that you didn't know about the typing. Jake has Dysgraphia. It makes writing very difficult and when he has to write a lot he becomes overwhelmed and can't even begin. That is why he started chewing the paper. He believed that he had to write six full paragraphs. That is when he shut down. I simply turned on the computer and set up the WordPerfect for him. He then did the work in about 1/2 hour.
One more thing, and it may seem insignificant, but Jake takes everything very literally. When he is asked if he wants to work with a group or work alone, he is assuming that alone means just him. No one else. No teacher or para. So, he might get frustrated when he is offered that option and then he has to work with an adult. I'm not saying that he shouldn't have to work with anyone. I'm just saying that he needs to understand the options. Such as, do you want to work with a group or your para? That seems like a small issue, but it has been causing him great frustration.
Thanks again.
She wrote:
Actually he had been chewing the wad of paper before we ever started the assignment when people were just sharing their reactions to the play. He seemed at ease and even participated positively two different times. I did know about the dysgraphia because I was in on that meeting and read the follow-up e-mails afterward. It was totally my fault that I didn't have him go type and will definitely do that in the future.
As far as the semantics used when talking about groups, I will try to be more careful. You are welcome to let him know that the para will almost always be working with him on everything because that seems to be our best way to keep him on task. However, when they are working with their partners on scenes, she and I will just roam around the room helping all the groups.
I sent her a lot of information on Aspgerger's Syndrome, Inattentive ADHD, and Dysgraphia. I had already done that twice before
Jake’s Critique of the Musical
Jacob Tucker
4th Hour
Wonderful Town
musical with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
music by Leonard Bernstein
It is based on the play My Sister Eileen, which is itself based on the collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney of the same name.
1. Storyline was very weak, most of the audience was unfocused (including me). The conga scenes were the only part anyone was focused on. It didn’t make me care at all. Very weak dialogue.
2. Not very believable or focused. Most of them really didn’t fit the part. Body was okay, but not the voices. Not very emotional and sad control. Hard to tell with relationships.
3. Good stage scenes, sometimes not appropriate for the actual scene though. Lights where good, costumes and makeup where really bad, mechanics where awful, the sound was to high for my sensitive ears.
4. There was a director?
5. My attention wasn’t held. Bad conclusion. Made no sense to me (but then again I watch movies like star wars and Larry the cable guy: health inspector).Liked all the the conga sailers. Why else but........CONGA!!!!!!!!??? conga scene. Funny, only part that didn’t have misery which I still laughed at, (I mean I laughed at the parts with sadness and I’d say “I laugh at others misery” which I’m just kidding about). Make me think what? I’d turn it into a star wars action flick with long jedi battles that involved Larry the cable guy and Jim Carry, with Adam Sandler as Yoda and Eddie Murphy as Chewbacca and Mr. T as Han Solo.
6.I don’t pay attention to the audience, mostly covered my ears do to bad sound effects and loud clapping and screaming. >:-(
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