Summer school or not???

Post Reply New Topic

My 7 yr old is having trouble in school and I have been fighting with them about it all year. It is only a few areas, but the really important ones like reading, and writting, the rest of the subject matter she does excellent on. Everytime I bring my concerns they tell me she is doing ok, but then I get a letter a few weeks later telling me she needs special reading help or something like that. Anyway the last meeting they insisted there is nothing wrong now that she has completed her 6 week reading class, even though she still reverses letters, numbers and entire words constantly and has difficulty reading still and cannot spell very well at all even when we work on the words all month. Just to shut me up they passed it on to the special education for another eligibility meeting, but wrote that they see no issues and are only passing it on because I presented outside test results that show there is a problem.

After all this they tell me that they recommend summer school for her. She doesn't want to go to summer school and I would love to not have to get up so early for a little while ( sleep is a luxury here), but I can't make a decision. I can do the pros and cons.

Pros: She tends to forget what she learned when there is a break, so this might help.
The routine is something she could definitely use.
The teachers are different than the ones at her school and maybe they will see
the problems.

Cons: She doesn't want to go.
The session only goes on during the month of July and she will still have another
month out.
The work they did last year in summer school was a joke.
The session is held at a different school than she goes to regularly.

Part of me wants to say to them, well if she is doing so good then why does she need summer school, but I am trying not to be petty. I just can't decide if this will really help her or not and I feel bad that she really doesn't want to go. What do you guys think?

I sent my son to summer school 1 time, I thought it was a waste of my time and his. Really it was only for 6 weeks, bus coming at 7:30am and he was only in class for 2.5 hours. Everytime I had to pick him up for something, they were taking walks, playing on the play ground, etc. I truely didn't feel that he got alot out of it. We too like our sleep here as well. He continues to be eligible for summer school, but over the last 2 years I have declined and just done my form of homeschooling during the summer with him. I feel this helped, as I was able to do it all summer, at our convenience. This year he is enrolled in a Huntington Learning Center Program, so that will certainly make up for things - even though he's only there 3 days a week for 2 hours - it is all work on the areas he needs help in.

Good luck on your decision, it is a personal decision and the above is just my opinion and what my experience was with our summer school program.

My 12 year old WANTS to go to summer school! He came home giddy when he heard about it, demanded paper work for it, and ran it all the way back to school!

When kids ask why he wants to go, as most do not and find him very weird, he says "because I want to learn!"

The thing is, he is 12 now, at 7/8 it was a totally different story, he was depressed and very jaded about his school situation, that was right before I took him out for four years.

Honestly, I don't think you should make her go. If she does not want to, let her have the summer and sleep in! But, there is a catch, and I know you are an increadibly overwhelmed lady with 3 very "special" children, any one on their own is more then enough to handle, but, for her sake, you really gotta do something, and that is set aside a time every day all summer to sit and read with her! There is nothing better she can do then read with mom, no class can substitute for that. It does not have to be for long, even just two 10 or 15 minute sessions a day. The other thing I would do is down load a nifty computer program called WordQ and its sister program SpeakQ. Have her using a computer write some stories or do a journal every other day or so. And then talk it over with her. This won't help spelling, but will increase her familiarity with writting and getting thought to paper, very challenging for a lot of kids! If a child is struggling like her so much at this age, it could mean one of two things, one day it may just magically resolve itself, that does happen with 7 year olds. The other more likely thing is she is going to need computer support early on, and the more familiar she is with a computer, the better.

I think she would be more comfortable at home, reading books she likes with mom, telling stories that interest her, then going to "school" in the summer. She will probably need a routine, but none of this needs to take a long time, say 15 minutes in the morning, and evening. Don't focus on her mistakes, just tons of positive attention and I bet she will show growth over the summer. And I would tell the school, "you can't tell me she is fine all year and then drop this on us, she does not want to go and I have not had sufficient time to warm her up to the idea".

By the way, try not to worry too much about how she spells at 7, and even her reading, it should improve with time. I still can't read words that are not familiar to me, and spelling? Forget it!

All this time I have been reading your nickname as Carlo_go! I just realized it was not!

you're in a difficult situation..........if you don't send her, the school might react as if you're not doing the most you can for your daughter.....if you do send her, you're likely to have an unhappy girl...........not really sure what you should do.

It is not the regular spelling mistakes that bother me, I expect them as she learns. She has some difficulties that don't fit the norm and I have been complaining that there is more to this than just her being a little behind for a while now. I worry that she has some form of dyslexia it is in my family. In my search to help her I found this site on dyslexia and it's like reading about her. Here are some of the things they list that she does and concern me.


This is on the reading side of things:

can read a word on one page, but won't recognize it on the next page

slow, labored, inaccurate reading of single words in isolation (when there is no story line or pictures to provide clues)

When they misread, they often say a word that has the same first and last letters, and the same shape, such as form-from or trial-trail.

they may insert or leave out letters, such as could-cold or star-stair.

they may say a word that has the same letters, but in a different sequence, such as who-how, lots-lost, saw-was, or girl-grill.


when reading aloud, reads in a slow, choppy cadence (not in smooth phrases), and often ignores punctuation

becomes visibly tired after reading for only a short time

reading comprehension may be low due to spending so much energy trying to figure out the words. Listening comprehension is usually significantly higher than reading comprehension.

Substitutes similar-looking words, even if it changes the meaning of the sentence, such as sunrise for surprise, house for horse, while for white, wanting for walking

When reading a story or a sentence, substitutes a word that means the same thing but doesn't look at all similar, such as trip for journey, fast for speed, or cry for weep

Misreads, omits, or even adds small function words, such as an, a, from, the, to, were, are, of

Omits or changes suffixes, saying need for needed, talks for talking, or late for lately.

This is on the writting side of things:

Their spelling is far worse than their reading. They sometimes flunk inventive spelling. They have extreme difficulty with vowel sounds, and often leave them out.

With enormous effort, they may be able to "memorize" Monday's spelling list long enough to pass Friday's spelling test, but they can't spell those very same words two hours later when writing those words in sentences.

Continually misspells high frequency sight words (nonphonetic but very common words) such as they, what, where, does and because—despite extensive practice.

Misspells even when copying something from the board or from a book.

Written work shows signs of spelling uncertainty--numerous erasures, cross outs, etc.

This is my other fear. That the school will use this against her and say that I am not following their recommendations so why should they help. I am waiting on the latest test scores from school and then I guess I will make my decision.

Summer school is a whole ball of wax. I don't know how they operate it where you are but my son tried two times in Indiana and California and it was awful. It was unstructured, the teachers came and went, crowded and kids came and went too. We always had to Unlearn bad things afterwards. There was more "aides" than experts and so I felt that it wasn't really "special ed" but babysitting.
Last year we moved here and so 3x a week we went to a city pool for swimming. This involved a scheduled time for eating, taking the bus and coming home. We had special rules and privileges. I think this kind of "summer school" works fine.
This summer I'm going to intensify it a bit at home.
No matter how different our kids are, they are still conditioned to believe in "summer vacation". For many, it's important to "escape school" and do all those summer activities. You can always do self-paced study on your own and "prep" your daughter for the next grade.

It sounds exactly like I was (DX'ed with Dyslexia) and my son (They say they don'g DX for Dyslexia anymore... just a general reading / writting disability?).

I will tell you my story of my sons learning to read:

When he was a young child, he loved being read to, but would not actually look at the pages, he would not interact with the book in anyway, he almost seemed "repelled" from the books. He would lay down and stim instead.

In Kindergarden, he REFUSED to learn his letters and pre reading words. He had a 1000 reasons not to learn, everything from he had better things to do with his time to "I could read for him all his life". It was impossible to motivate him.

In Grade 1, he was behind, as the year progressed, he continued to lag something horrible. I remember in April being given a 100 word list, and he could not read a single one! His peers where all sitting around afterschool rattling them off to their parents! I was very depressed.

Finally, he was placed into a "reading recovery" intervention program. The teacher would take these little books, (called PM readers) and slowly, they increased in difficulty, 17 different levels for grade 1! He did 6 weeks of the program, usually they get 15, but he was evaluated as being more severe then his peers, and they decided to help the "masses" as opposed to help him. Strangely enough, I was told much like you "not to worry... no alarms going off yet" by the school, who I was talking to someone at least twice a week about his "progress". I thought I was being a vigilant and caring mother, I did not know the right things to ask and follow up at the time, and I think I was "played" perhaps well intentioned enough, but still. *sigh* ok, I degress.

So, he does 6 weeks of "reading recovery" and he improves dramatically! YAY! They decide he is nearing an end grade 1 level, and he can go on to grade 2 next year! Best of all, a wonderful thing happens, and his reading recovery teacher is out of a job! They cancel the program and she needs to find a regular school to teach out of! (She traveled to different schools with the program pulling kids out of class). She decides on my sons school, and decides to teach a grade 1 /2 split! He is now going to be in his class next year! I am thrilled beyond belief!

Grade two progresses, I talk with the teacher all the time, he brings home her books to read, he seems to be doing "well" with the reading, but never progresses past "end grade 1". However, his fulency and speed and accuracy do improve, just very slowly. At the end of grade 2, after thinking everything has been going really well, I start doing some digging, and become horrified when I figure out a few things. One is that indeed, he is not reading grade 2 material, however the teacher swears he has improved, he is now a "solid end grade 1 instead of a hit or miss end grade 1" in reading. I also see that he has been doing mostly grade 1 math work without my knowledge, and he can't count by 2's, or 10's, or even by 1's half the time! He still makes mistakes all the time! He does know how to do things like borrow and carry overs in math, so it is very confusing, he can LEARN, but not sequence numbers! I bring this to his teachers attention, and she argues with me that he can! she says that every day all year he could do it with the class! I ask if she has ever asked him to count on his own, and she admits "no". So, all year while everyone is counting "10, 20, 30" he is saying 1,2,4, and she did not notice over the drone over everyone else!

So, we decide to hold him back, and he goes off to another school for grade 2.

It is a disaster, they have severe questions about his reading ability, now following the same program. They start him in Grade 2, on an IEP with mid Grade 1 reading and he struggles! The whole thing blows up in a month, and I pull him out to homeschool, nearly histarical wondering what he did for the last 2 years, not even counting kindergarden!

I actually spend $200.00 buying the PM readers because he seemd to "do so well with them". We get the first 1/2 of grade 2 mailed to us from the company. He does really well with them, he can read them! I am thrilled! We spend a few weeks with them, and move on to... Cat in the Hat! Then the bomb drops, (or at least another one!) he cannot read it. He can't read "cat" or "hat" or any word in the book. I am devistated and go looking for answers. At my library, I stumble upon a book called "Reading Reflex". http://www.readamerica.net/
I take it home, with some others, and I read it, and it really makes sense, and I give it a try, not only do I love the program, but my son does too! We end up using it intensly for four months, and low and behold, he is READING!! !!

Not just the PM books, but ANYTHING! that is grade approprete. We cover years in just a year! By the end of a year, he has gone from not reading, to a mid grade 4! he actually reads "tales of a fourth grade nothing" for me before the year is over!

Now, his spelling was a total other issue, which he have only made marginal progress with, although to be fair I never did concentrate on it. But, at least he can read! It is not a cure for a reading disability, he is still a little behind his peers, but the point is, the school had him for 4 years, 2 years including Grade 1 and 2, and they could not get him reading basic words! In 4 months, we accomplished more at home then they could ever hope for!


I highly suggest this book, you can use it at home, it is fun for the children, and it works. You can also buy it off Amazon for between $5.00 and $10.00 depending on if you are looking at used or new. (It has been out several years, they must be clearing stock)

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Reflex-Fo ... 933&sr=8-1

The way I see it, I don't think she is going to learn under duress in a summer school program 1/2 of what you can do with her at home, if you can set aside the time for it. We did not spend more then 1/2 hour a day on it, and it made a world of difference!

Reading over what you posted about Dyslexia, you could have been talking about my son or me. In time, it well improve, but I don't see a session of summer school really doing much. She needs one on one help, not another class she has no interest in taking!

I still think that it would be a good idea to get a word prediction program like WordQ / SpeakQ though to help her move past her spelling and reading disabilities, and learn how to "record ideas" in a "writing format". I have a feeling she is going to need some kind of computer help in the future, the earlier you get her started, the better!

My son with a computer or scribing can write now at a Grade 7 level, with out it, his disabilities (undiagnosed as they are until September) leave him writting around a grade 3 level!

I think you need to sit down, and talk about your concerns with them. Get them to explain to you exactly how this program is going to help her. Express your concerns about how she really does not want to go and could use the break, and ask about what options you have for working with her over the summer one on one instead.

Show that you don't want to just "blow off the summer" but do what is in her best interests! Both acedemically and emotionally!

honestly, I am not trying to be a neusense... (sp?)

But have you thought that maybe she may be far sighted? I am looking into that with my son right now, apparently children with poor vision up close can have a lot of reading / recognition problems. If they concentrate hard enough though, they CAN SEE but it takes so much concentration... It is kind of like someone with really bad cronic pain, if it is all they know, they may think it is "normal" and not report a problem...

Or my monocular vision with no depth perception, I can't think of a different way of seeing...

This sounds like the same ESY program we are offered every year. We feel the same way you and your daughter do about it. In his early elementary years, we sent him but once he got older, the break was more important to his mental health so we declined. I didn't see any significant benefits either academically or socially and the anxiety over having to go made life stressful for everyone.

I think making them lay out what exactly she will be doing at summer school is a good idea, and making them aware that she does not want to go is my first step. If they cannot tell me that she will be working on what she is actually having problems with in school then I will decline and teach her at home. After the day I have had, I know her emotional well being is my number one concern.