<p>Daughter has gone all the way through school with a girl I’ll call Wendy, who is in a wheelchair. Wendy is not the slightest bit mentally challenged - she just can’t walk. Daughter and Wendy take the same foreign language and this year there is a new teacher. Daughter sits next to Wendy and has noticed that the day before every test, the teacher goes over to Wendy and tells her exactly what is going to be on the test and what to study.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t hurt my daughter that Wendy is acing the tests, but I feel like someone needs to tell the idiot teacher that people in wheelchairs don’t necessarily need academic help. I know Wendy’s mother, but not really well enough to tell her this without her getting the wrong impression. Wendy is not the type of girl who would tell a teacher to stop being condescending (and she is probably enjoying the high grades she’s getting.)</p>
<p>Is your daughter able to hear these conversations? If so, then she could express her concerns about overhearing the content to the teacher. Otherwise, I’d let it go.</p>
<p>I would say something to the teacher or the principal- out of the girls hearing.
It is actually hurting Wendy to be given special privileges when she doesn’t need them, and it isn’t doing anything for the other students in the class who might benefit from having a study outline available.</p>
<p>Believe me, Daugher is all ears…she tries to overhear as much as she can so she can know what is going to be on the test, too. Hey, maybe that’s a way to handle it…I wonder if it would embarrass Wendy if kids would start being real obvious in asking her what is going to be on the test? Probably…maybe Daughter could just lean over and ask her and then pass it down the row!</p>
<p>Wendy is a very shy child…a child with another personality type might respond to the teacher by saying very loudly, “Why are telling ME what is going to be on the test?”</p>
<p>missiepie, Perhaps Wendy has an IEP, or at a 504 plan. It is possible that one of these specifically says that the teacher will make these accommodations, or modifications for Wendy. Perhaps she requires it. For example, if she has to leave the classroom early because the hallway is crowded, she might not be able to jot down hw assignments, and test info.</p>
<p>That might be the answer if the teacher told the rest of the class what was going to be on the test later on in the class period. But he doesn’t. And in the 11 years that they’ve been in school together, Daughter has not been aware of any other academic help that Wendy has received. I really think that the teacher just thinks that because Wendy is in a wheelchair, she’s not “all there.”</p>
<p>missiepie, you might be right, but there might also be information about Wendy that you do not know about. Frankly, other than telling Wendy’s mother, if she would welcome this info from you, I would stay out of it. There is nothing that your D is going to gain by getting involved, IMO.</p>
<p>You’re probably right, northeastmom. I’d be more willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt if he hadn’t proven himself to be a poor teacher in every other way…</p>
<p>For example, if she has to leave the classroom early because the hallway is crowded, she might not be able to jot down hw assignments, and test info</p>
<p>Good point.
My D has problems with small motor skills and even though it supposedly was written into her IEP that she have a written syllabus as well as written assignments, they weren’t , and sometimes they were even called out instead of written on the board.</p>
<p>On top of needing every bit of the 5 minute passing period to get from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor- and she is able bodied.</p>
<p>You won’t gain anywhere, IMO, for your D. The school will support their teacher, and they can additionally hide behind the fact that they cannot share information about other students with you. I have yet to hear of an administrator not backing their staff over a parent, unless they having a 1:1 converstation, and even then, its rare. IMO, you won’t get anywhere with this.</p>
<p>EK, not only that, but perhaps Wendy also has an invisible disability like ADD. Also, she might have upper body limitations that effect writing. I would bet that Wendy may leave class a few minutes early to get to her next class. None of this will be discussed with missiepie. Also, even if Wendy did not have a disability, in my opinion, teachers will not discuss what they are doing to teach another another pupil. It is confidential, administrators will support their teachers, and that is just how it is, unless a teacher is doing something completely off the wall.</p>
<p>My son has Asperger’s so we used to know a couple of the special ed support personnel, but both of them left the building last year. If they were still around, I’d ask them to chat with the teacher, just to see if he believes that wheelchair = mental disability. That’s really my concern - not the grade.</p>
<p>missie, you aren’t going to change this teacher’s beliefs, if he truly believes this. I think that your responsibility is to your D. Wendy has parents to worry about her. I think that you are opening up a can of worms that are not going to help your D.</p>
<p>I disagree that his beliefs can’t be changed…they certainly can’t and shouldn’t be changed by me, but if the teacher has never had a student in a wheelchair, he may be totally ignorant about physical disabilities. A friendly relationship with the special ed staff might give him a new perspective. I bet that folks who work with people with Down Syndrome change their beliefs all the time…I bet that a lot of them start out thinking that they can’t do anything, then change their minds when they see them successfully working the cash register or whatever.</p>
<p>But yeah, I’ve got enough to worry about with my own three kids.</p>
<p>Just let it go. The girl probably has an IEP and it’s not the teacher’s right or the administration’s right to inform others of every child’s IEP. This is something that isn’t anyone else’s business except the girl in the wheelchair and the teacher.</p>
<p>Well, I do mean that they won’t be open to being taught by you. Frankly, he should have been trained by the special ed staff in district. Frankly, if he does not know a physical disability does not mean a mental one, that is shocking, basic, don’t know why he is teaching Wendy, but I would suspect that his opinions won’t change over night, regardless of what training a district would send him to. At this point, after years of schooling, if this teacher has these beliefs, it would be really hard to change them. How many experiences would it take for him to change those beliefs?</p>
<p>I was a special ed teacher and I have a child who has received special ed services. I really don’t think any child’s IEP has ever said, “tell student in advance everything that is going to be on the test while not sharing that information with the rest of the class.” That would not be an accomodation, but an advantage.</p>
<p>Would you still feel the same way if Wendy was getting B’s or C’s in this class?</p>
<p>I know that you wrote you were more concerned about the teacher treating the student in the wheelchair as if she had a mental disability, but since you brought up the student getting A’s I just have to wonder if there is another reason this was even brought to a public forum.</p>
<p>It’s November of senior year. For all parents who are struggling with letting go of their amazing high school seniors, it time to let them go and let them deal with the real world. And we parents need continue to fill our own lives with things that are not directly related to the minutiae of our nearly adult children’s lives.</p>
<p>Not to be argumentative, but I bet that foreign language instructors have less experience with kids with disabilities than teachers of the general ed courses. </p>
<p>Funny story. Son with Asperger’s receives no accomodations at school, but at the beginning of each school year, I send his teachers an email, explaining that Son has Asperger’s and attaching a couple of relevant articles. The first year Son took Computer Science, the Comp Sci teacher replied that he had never heard of Asperger’s. As the Comp Sci teacher, the man’s probably taught more students with Asperger’s than anyone else in the school, and there’s a pretty good chance that he has it himself! Teachers aren’t always up on disablities.</p>
<p>It’s November of senior year. For all parents who are struggling with letting go of their amazing high school seniors, it time to let them go and let them deal with the real world. And we parents need continue to fill our own lives with things that are not directly related to the minutiae of our nearly adult children’s lives.</p>
<p>The girls are sophomores. I really think that if Wendy’s mom knew what the teacher was doing, she’d have a thing or two to say to him. (She’s as outspoken as her daughter is quiet.) Like I said, it doesn’t hurt my daughter at all if Wendy is acing the tests.</p>
<p>You don’t know her IEP. You haven’t seen for yourself what was on the paper that the teacher hands her before the test. Your forming an opinion based on information relayed to you from kids. This is one of those opportunities where a parent gets to remind their kid to be thankful for what they have rather than what they don’t have. One girl gets a sheet with a study outline, the other gets to stand up and walk out of the class. </p>
<p>Let it go. You don’t know all the facts and you shouldn’t. This is between the school, the girl, and her parents.</p>