IEP Not Working for Child

Question: My son is in fifth grade and struggling with reading, including comprehension. He absolutely hates to read. He has been tested, and the discrepancy wasn't enough to say: "OK, he has a learning disability." However, he does have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) using speech as his disability. Right now, his reading is on a mid-third-grade to maybe an early-fourth-grade level. Because of this, he is having trouble in all of his classes.

I understand that every student is not an honor roll student, but I am having some trouble with his not improving after almost three to four years of this struggle. -- Need Help

Answer: Since you are seeing no improvement in the past few years and your son continues to read below grade level, you should ask for him to be retested. By law, school districts are required to test every three years. Thus it is now time for a re-evaluation.

As children advance in grade levels, it is not uncommon for their reading difficulties to increase if they have not received the appropriate help. When your son is retested, it may show that his reading level is so far below where he would be expected to read that he may now qualify to receive services.

If your son does not qualify for help with his reading, discuss with his teachers how they and you can help him improve. Find out if there is any way that he can have access to recordings of his textbooks. An experienced tutor could be the answer.

At the same time, there are things that you can do. To increase his interest in reading, read materials to him every evening that he finds appealing. There are also reading techniques such as the Neurological Impress Method and Repeated Reading that you can do with him. On dearteacher.com, you can learn how to use these techniques under Skill Builders - Reading - Improving Children's Reading Skills with Techniques that Work at Home.