When do know/decide to modify curriculum.

[JennaTN]

My son is 8 in 2nd grade. He gets 2 hours of remedial intervention daily. He is showing no progress and progress monitoring have declined since January. On benchmark testing he is in the 2nd percentile. I'm fed up with the school that it is now March and this has gone on this long. How do you know or decide to modify curriculum? I have lost all of my faith in our school, for just letting this continue for so long. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

[Carolyn Rowlett]

Yes, it is absolutely time to change the curriculum they are using.  What is the disability and what program are they using currently?  If dyslexia, it must be evidence-based, multi-sensory, structured literacy.  But not all programs, even if they meet these requirement, work for all kids.  Sounds like it's time to try something new.

[JennaTN]

For curriculum in 2nd grade they use CKLA and Envision/Savvas for math. For intervention, I have no idea what they do. His diagnosis is autism and a mild intellectual disability. His biggest struggle is with retention and working memory/recall. He can learn something today or this week and it's gone by next week. Repition is what he thrives on. During his psychological evaluation he met all the criteria for dyslexia but since the psychologist had determined he has an intellectual disability prior, she could not say that is what the problem is. He has probably 10 solid words he has memorized, he cannot decode words, he will try to sound them out, but when he tries to blend, he says a complete different word. We are working on basic addition and subtraction fluency but that is still not something he can memorize, so it's still a struggle. I'm just at such a loss with what to do. I always thought the school at his best interests at heart, but boy was I so wrong. 

In a previous IEP meeting, I was told we could not modify curriculum unless he went into the self contained sped class.  But that 100% in not an option. My son has no behavior problems, he gets along with classmates, follows rules and directions. We just need help getting him accommodations and modifications. I was also told that having modifications would change having a high school diploma to a certificate. My answer to that was we'll figure out high school in about 7 years, but for right now I'm worried about him learning to read and if thats what it takes, then so be it.