I just got a call from my son's special ed resource teacher

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My son just turned 10 and has really been struggling with this unit in math. His teacher called and said he threw a calculator 3 times and has been talking back a lot. Good thing is his teacher realizes this behavior is coming out of frustration...

My question is, does anybody have any advice on channeling frustration in a positive way? He also said my son sometimes uses one of those squeeze balls, but it can become a distraction. I really like this teacher and it's great because my son gets one on one help with him, but we are scared he may just give up and not want to try. He said he was just shutting down. Help!!

If you talk with your son to identify and solve the root problem, it will not only improve the current situation but will also help him handle future hurdles with more patience and optimism.



So, why is he struggling?

Does he have a learning disability like dyslexia or dyscalculia?

Does he have trouble with his vision, hearing, or handwriting?

Auditory processing disorders can cause hearing problems in noisy situations, or after listening for a while, without any obvious problems in short quiet hearing assessments. Does your son have trouble sorting the teacher's voice out from other sounds, like other kids talking, clocks, fans, HVAC, vehicles on the road nearby? Listening to someone for a while is very tiring for me, and I eventually "shut down" from exhaustion. If this might fit, try using more visual information (like diagrams and written notes) instead of verbal input, and fewer "big words" instead of many simple ones.

Dyspraxia can include difficulty with handwriting, and compensating causes painful cramps. Is homework physically painful for your son? (one of my math teachers let me write just the number for my answers instead of a full sentence, much appreciated)

I spoke with my son and he said he had difficulty understanding concepts. I encouraged him to let teacher know and he agreed to do so. There was also some miscommunication...teacher thought my son wasn't paying attention because he was pressing buttons on calculator..my son told me he was doing it because it helped him calm down and felt good on his fingers. I let the teacher know what my son said/how he was felling/coping and hopefully they will have a better understanding of one another. tnx

Obviously your son is not College material. I would reccomend that in the future he can get some kind of practical work placement instead of math. I think that his teachers should just give up as well as it doesn't seem to work anyway. He should just get some kind of practical work.

NVLD could explain the math difficulties...

Not college material? College isn't only science and engineering, there's also the arts and social sciences.

Not that there's anything wrong with practical work, but there's plenty of options that don't require a lot of math.

Yes, but art and social sciences are not jobs there are much need for with the current economical recession.
"There's plenty of options that don't require a lot of math" is nothing but a pathetic cliche.
Accept that your son is going to mow lawns for his entire adult life.

WOW..thanks for the positive input, "lonermutant" lmao. My son is in FOURTH grade..if YOU do the math, that's another 8 years until he even gets to college age.

His reading teacher had recommended my son for the gifted and talented program since he has such an advanced vocabulary. So where one area may be a difficulty, he exceeds in another..(An area you obviously have difficulty with, hence your OWN spelling error of "reccomend."

I'm not sure what you went through as a child, in school, but you seem very negative. The goal of his teachers and myself is to make my son as comfortable as possible and not turn into a bitter A-hole like you...

PS - What kind of idiot thinks college is all about math, anyways?? lol Thanks but no thanks..

Golly gee, ok! lol *troll* AGAIN..my son is 10! Why the hell are you even mentioning the current economical recession now?? He's only in 4th grade, douche.

Last edited by kattoo13 on 12 Mar 2009, 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thank you for input, I appreciate it. I realize that some people just troll on here *cough- lonermutant*, because they have nothing better to do. Cyber bullies crack me up.

This explains it:

Joined: Dec 18, 2005
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Find all posts by Lonermutant
Location: Namsos, Norway
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Gender: Male
Diagnosis: Have Aspergers - Diagnosed
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Interests: Depressed ranting

You're not even working! Why don't you focus on getting a job, instead of your "depressed ranting" It all makes sense now..pitiful..

Yes, it's all about math! His other good skills doesn't matter at all.
I'm norwegian, so my english spelling is bad.

The last thing you want to do to a child (or anyone) with AS is pigeon hole them because of their problems. Sadly our little troll seems to be trying to do just that.

Obviously he's suffering from the same thing he's suggesting.

I don't know how helpful I can be, but when I was ten or so I was about the same. Math never came easy for me and always pissed me off (especially when I was given homework)... it's a struggle for many people with AS and school. For me, those stress balls don't really help and mainly made me want to take out my anger more. My advice is to ask for your son to be put in an easier program. I was ALWAYS given a lot of help at math and I always fell short for whatever reason. It can be very annoying and for me personally, back in the day I def would have thrown things around if math was that hard to deal with... it was all so brutal for me. Those days are past, but from someone who experinced that first hand... even today I look back at that and wish that they made it easier for me.

Now now, there's no need to fight. Based on his previous posts I'd say Lonermutant is neither a troll nor a cyber-bully, just bitter and trying to spare your son the troubles he went through.

What college calls "the arts" includes such things as economics, history, law, languages, writing, psychology, social work... all important in this economy. In fact, one could argue that this economic situation was partly caused by too much math and not enough social sciences in the administration.

I saw this crash coming years ago, it couldn't go on forever. With most of the population borrowing in over their heads, housing prices rising like mad, how could anyone think this wouldn't end badly? I expect to see credit cards crash too before this is over. I don't think it's just a recession, but a shift to a new social model which will end some old institutions but will create new ones. Like the shift to industrial society abolished slavery in favor of pollution.

No, an education system out of control where there are too many special ed students getting meaningless and worthless art, language and history degrees are the real problems.