9 Year Old and Difficulties in School Academically, Really Could Use Some Help!

Have an educational psychologist see her. In fact have her got through a whole battery of tests at a psychologists office.
My son went through one in Illinois and was then dignosed ADHD/ODD/CD the tests were exhaustive, took 4 days but everyone saw him, nephrologists, neurologists, psychologists, educational psychologists, occupational therapists, speech, that is only a few. We even saw a dietician, we had to watch certain foods.
With that info you will see if she is on grade level or not, is she lazy or not, can she really do it or not. THen make your decision. It could be somethig physical even.
Plus if she has a learning deficiency she can get an IEP and stay with her friends.

After raising three kids, I came to the conclusion that too much homework in elementary school was not a good thing. Kids are in school all day, beginning very early in the morning, so I don't know why they are supposed to do a bunch of busy work in the evenings. They should have time for relaxation, friends and family. Why is 6 or 7 hours of learning a day not enough, if the teachers are doing a good job? We, as adults, don't have much energy left after our 8 hour jobs, so I don't know why little kids are supposed to be busting their butts all day long.

I think serious homework shouldn't begin before middle or high school.

Therefore, I suggest you try another school that doesn't believe in tons of homework; any good charter schools in your area?

Also, she may not be a scholar -- not every child is a genius, so it would be good to have her in a school that can focus on her strengths.

Aside from an eval (yay!)... have you tried Charlotte Mason style narrating for reading comp?

((We do a mix of apx 40/40/20 Charlotte Mason, Montessori, and Whatever Works in our schooling. Kiddo is a very kinesthetic / spatial learner with a large visual aspect -he has to translate everything into something he can see in his mind- which can get very challenging in a classroom setting. LOL, like yours, my 8yo is a raging extrovert / super social. If the lesson doesn't have his rapt attention he's FAR more interested in all the people around him -don't know if that's true of yours- than on trying to "translate" what the teacher is saying/presenting into a way he "gets". He *can*, but only if he is in love with the material AND has a visual reference for it or has gotten pretty hands on with it in the past. Any/all of which is a lot to ask of an 7/8/9yo))

Here's a clip from my favorite CM resource & the page it comes from that has a lot more info & narration links: http://simplycharlottemason.com/basics/started/charlotte-...

" Narration

When you ask a child to narrate, you’re asking him to tell back in his own words what he just saw, heard, or read. The narration can be oral or written or drawn — whatever. Because the child must think through the information and determine how to present it, mixed with his own opinion and impressions, this method of evaluation requires a much higher thinking level than mere fill-in-the-blank or answer-the-posed-question-with-a-fact methods. When requesting a child to narrate, word the question in an open, essay-type form, such as “Tell all you know about _____” or “Describe _____.” (See more ideas for narration.)
If a book you’re using gives a list of Discussion Questions, first ask the child to tell you all he knows about what was just read, then use only selected questions to cover any information he omitted. "

This is what I did with my son starting about a year ago ... specifically, because he wasn't getting the visual imagery from reading which really affected his comp.((Uber frustrating, took 2 years to figure it out))

We started out one sentence at a time, and gradually moved up to a paragraph, and then scenes. It took about 9mo-1year before he could do whole chapters. As soon as the mental imagery clicked for him, his comp went to about 99%. ((The 1% being names of incidental things, he has difficulty with remembering proper nouns)).

My son despises writing (the mechanics of it, no dysgraphia, just disgust), but loves acting... so he'd act out each sentence/ paragraph/ scene/ chapter. As a matter of fact, his writing slowed down his education so much that we're "bypassing" it to a greater or lesser degree. We film a LOT of his work that he presents orally. That way he can still learn at his own pace, while his writing ability sloooooowly catches up to his mental ability. But Oy! If we had to write down all of his work, what takes 30 minutes for him to grasp takes WEEKS. He gets so wrapped up in how much he hates the writing that what he's *supposed* to be learning just doesn't "store" properly.

But back to narration... there are tons of options. My son is into the whole drama thing, many children prefer to draw notes picture style ((LOVE these note pages, btw for drawing kids http://www.noeoscience.com/reproducible_narration_pages.html ... they're free reproduceable pages)). Others like putting it in their own words orally, others by handwriting or typing. There are tons of ways to narrate that can be used to gel with a child's particular learning style or inclination.

This sounds very similar to one of the original reasons we began homeschooling in 3rd grade. My son is great with comprehension, but has a visual processing issue (and since most of school is visually oriented you end up with an exasperating situation).

I began holding my son home from school one day a week just to do that week's homework. I noticed that we finished the work in about half the time it would take after school when I would get him home exhausted, hungry and at the end of his rope.

Now that we've been homeschooling for 4 years he reads at a high school level (since 5th or 6th grade actually) and he has really had a chance to shine in his natural area of giftedness - math & science. I shudder to think what would have happened had we left him in the old situation where he literally could not sleep he was so stressed out.

IMHO it is very unfair to require that much after school time out of a child that age. There has to be a better way (whether or not it is homeschooling which may not be possible for you guys). Right now she still cares, but at some point she may just give up completely on school. You don't want that to happen.

Good luck - I know how hard this is . . .

PS: KUMON school did NOT work for us at all.

We are somewhat in the same situation: our 10 year old in 5th grade (we now know) has dyslexia and ADD. In 3rd grade reading/spelling declined, in 4th grade she was anxious (only in school, and due to undiagnosed learning disability). After a full core of testing in 4th grade she was denied an IEP since her grades are still above average in 4th grade. We disagreed with their diagnosis and went to a private neuropsych who diagnosed the dyslexia and ADD. Now in 5th grade everything is worse, she HATES school, and while the teachers and counselors are all very helpful there has been no concrete change from my daughter's point of view. We just hired an Special Ed Advocate (ask your pediatrician for recommendation) who is associated with a law firm and we will use her to either re-open the denied IEP case and arbitrate or start a new IEP process since our daughter is now in middle school and IEP was denied in elementary. DON'T WAIT THE LONG YEARS WE DID: HIRE AN ADVOCATE (expensive, about $125 per hour and she thought average cases cost about $3,500 when completed, although no guarantees are given that you will end up with an IEP or special school placement, but you will know so much more about the law and your child's learning style). It sounds to me like your daughter's life has turned into nothing but school and studying, which is misery for her and just like the situation we were in. Our daughter was getting depressed. We even tried ADD meds but she could not sleep and one made depression worse. I would write a letter to the principal stating her history and requesting a full assessment of her academic history. Good luck mama, keep fighting to get your baby the help she needs and is entitled to per the law assuming she has a recognized LD, which will require some testing. Unfortunately compliance with the law is on the backs of parents even though the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) states that its purpose is to"ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them free and appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living: and, to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and parents of such children are protected". Do not give up hope, there is help for your child, but the school will fight back to not have to pay for anything extra. BUT the law is separate from funding, do not concern yourself with funding only with what the law requires the schools to provide. Good luck.

So what do the teachers say about her class work? Is she able to complete it at the same time as the rest of the class? Can she take a test in class and complete that?

If not then the homework is not the problem, the problem is that your child is just not on level. They need to figure out why.

I just do not understand why you have not mentioned what her teachers suggest.

At our daughters elementary, they told us that the homework each night should take a certain amount of time per subject and then it was up to the parents to decide if the child should complete it or to turn it in at that point, so the teacher could see if the child got the concepts.

If the tutoring is not working, find another! Demand that your child get tested and help from the school,. If the Principal will not approve it, go to their Supervisor and ask them, You must fight for your child. This is a mystery and you need to find the solution. You are your childs best advocate.

if the school wont do it, go to an agency that can do a complete battery of testing on her. a good one will do it the right way so that its fun for her. your doc should be able to refer you. and dont forget the optomotrist, a specialist... i had a student in special ed that had so much trouble for years, turned out she had horrible visual tracking problems, and therapy helped her so much.

My oldest son is exactly this way. He struggles with reading comprehension which carries over into everything else. His brother is in the same class and gets the same work done in less than half the time. I've also noticed that my oldest doesn't catch on quickly during movies and has to constantly ask questions to figure out what's going on.
I think people are just different. Holding her back won't really help. She won't improve on reading comprehension just from repeating a grade and at her age it will probably hurt her deeply watching her friends go to the next grade while she is left behind. She made be made fun of as well.

You got so many good answers, no need to add much more. Somehow, your child's reason for not being able to read is not being correctly diagnosed. And I agree -- way too much time spent on schoolwork! Kumon is probably just a rote response, and not helpful. She obviously is not retaining what she reads, so you need to focus on why that is. You might check out Lindamood-Bell, but there's bound to be an answer somewhere in the way she is processing information.

S. Toji

My son is 8 with similar issues. When you have your daughter assessed, make certain you have them check for Irlen issues, visual processing disorder and word retrieval disability. All of these seriously impact reading and reading comprehension. I would highly recommend reading The Mislabeled Child by Drs. Eide. The book goes through all learning disabilities, what disabilities they mimic, how to assess and how to remediate. Reading that book could shed some light.

By the way, my son has Central Auditory Processing Disorder (this tells more about what that is: http://www.capdsupport.org). It affects memory, reading, a whole host of things. Not saying your daughter has that (doesn't sound like it), but in case you wondered why he is struggling with reading.

HTH,
B.

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Have you had her tested and asked for an IEP. Maybe resource will help in her situation. They can give her the help and strategies she needs in a small group environment. I am an instructional aid in Resource and our kids are great kids and have come so far, especially when they are grouped with kids their grade level that need that extra help too. I would really push getting her tested and see if this is a possibility.
Good luck!

My son has neuro psych testing done every 2 yrs. (he had a brain tumor) and the testing pinpoints exactly where his deficits are. for example. he has ZERO facial recognition. And that made a whole lot of sense. Testing is expensive. I do it through the psych dept at our local children's hospital.

Take this child to a neuropsycholgist and find out why she is struggling, instead of stabbing in the dark by reteaching her the same way that is not working for more and more hours. You need to know what the data says. Log on to www.wrightslaw.com and start reading about advocacy, because what you think you know as an educator has not served her very well. Holding a child back is not a good educational practice, and the data is clear about that. Kumon may have assessed her, but they use assesments that will not help you take any of the presure off, meaning that she is not going to get any specialized help using these assessments and the school will not help you. Additonally, if you prop her up with make shift help, her issues may continue to be masked, never quite be obvious enough for her to get help, just as it will for a child who is younger than her classmates. Do some reading on wrightslaw, and find out what process are actually weak so that you can help her appropriately. What you are doing is not working, and it needs to change, not just in how much you help her do what is clearly not the right thing for her, but in changing the way this child is taught because of her particular needs. Kumon makes up its own assessments, you need standardized data, a private evaluation that you own to keep the school honest, and then a school based assessment so that she can get her school and home on the same page.

M.