Each child needs to speak up for themselves as to what works best for them. I feel that when they understand that, it opens the door to wanting to learn.

I have worked with Bug many times and understand her frustration. She doesn’t think she can do well because she hasn’t in the past. She needs the confidence in herself. This is also part of being a preteen. I think Baggage working with her has helped so much. She has improved in every subject but has a way to go. Taking her meds on a regular base would also help.

As a teacher, it takes time and most importantly, showing you care and honestly believing that the student can succeed. We know she can.

Nana of Bug

If you don’t mind yet more assvice, would some kind of computer program that reads out loud help? I had one last semester after being diagnosed learning-disabled… though I was too impatient with it to use the thing nearly as much as I claimed. ^^ Mine was Kurzweil 2000/3000/something like that; you scan in text (or copy text off a website), open the file with Kurzweil, and it reads out loud while highlighting each word as it goes along. It has its limitations, though; I was taking college-level biology (…supposedly… worst community college I’ve ever attended) and it mispronounced stuff even I knew how to say. For English, history, etc. it’s just fine, but some science words really give it trouble. At this grade level, hopefully not so much. (And you can tell it how to say stuff. I did out of sheer frustration a few times.)

i agree that getting bug tested for dyslexia might be a good thing. i read your description and thought, hey, perhaps she’s dyslexic. if not, no harm done. if so, you can help her even more.

i also agree about the ‘thinking’ aspects of school vs. the rote memorization ones. i do horribly at games like trivial pursuit, but i am great at research and can think logically and in a critical manner. to me, that’s more important, and has served me well.