Special Education

I've been working with E, a fifth grader with severe learning disabilities who's working at a first grade level.  One of the reasons why he is doing so poorly in school is because he doesn't know how to read properly, which is fundamental for comprehension and application.  I've timed him--it takes him about a minute to read 4 sentences aloud because he has difficulty pronouncing the words (the average rate is between 200 - 250 words per minute) .  If he can't pronounce the words, he doesn't know what he's reading, and if he can't identify what he's reading, he doesn't understand what the text is saying.  It's kind of like trying to add when you don't know even how to count--I've actually worked with first grader with this problem.

Sitting here today, I wondered why and how he's been able to come so far with such fundamental problems.  He's in fifth grade, but he's obviously not working at the same level. E is working at a much slower pace, but it's not because he's stupid.

I think he's just never got the extra help he needed.  I feel like many of the other tutors corrected his mistakes, but never attempted to explain to him why or how he got those problems wrong, which is why he's stuck working at a beginner's level.  Whenever we walk in, no one wants to work with E.  The ones that do, don't have the patience to help him at his pace and you can see their frustration, their dislike.  I understand it's not easy, but it still makes me angry because the bottom line is, they don't care about him getting better.  They're just here to do their job, which is to make sure the kids get their homework done correctly. 

Today, he forgot his homework, so I decided to teach him how to read for half an hour.  He complied to my curriculum without too much cajoling, surprisingly.  When he started applying the rules of pronunciation to the book I asked him to read aloud, I felt really excited and proud of him because it was the first sign of progress he'd made since the beginning of the year. 

So sorry dad, I can't leave my job, and I don't care whether you understand or not.  But I think that you will after I tell you the reason why. 

You may not agree with my decision, but after having met E, it's made me realize that if I do pursue a career in education, I think I want it to be something that helps children with extra needs and intellectual disabilities.