Low Grades on a Report Card - Handling Low Grades on Your Child's Report Card

When you have a child with a specific learning disability or other type of disability who is served in an IDEA special education program or by a Section 504 plan, you will almost certainly receive a poor report card at some point in your child's educational career. Knowing this, you can prepare now to effectively manage it when it happens.

Strategies to Prevent Low Grades in Your SLD Child's Special Education Program

• If possible, well before report card time, establish effective communication with your child's school. As a parent, you can use individualized education program team meetings, parent-teacher conferences, volunteer activities, email or mail communication with teachers, and pre-arranged telephone calls during teacher planning time to build communication with teachers.
• Talking with your child's teacher, you can establish a regular means of communication that will work for both of you to share information on assignments, projects, and to alert you to potential problems before they appear as poor grades on a report card. Assignment books, or planners, are a readily-available, low-tech way to communicate.
• Communicate positively with your child.
• Use your child's IEP to plan for success in school. Discuss with your child's teachers how school assignments can be modified or reduced to forms your child can manage. Reducing the number of activities, extending time, and changing the assignment format are common ways school work can be reduced to a level that challenges but does not overwhelm your child.
• Regularly review your child's homework, tests, and feedback from teachers. If you find that your child is struggling with a skill or a project, talk with her about it. Sometimes, your child will be able to find the problem and fix it herself. In some cases, however, she'll need more direct assistance. If there is something you can do to help her understand, do not hesitate to provide that help. Contact your child's teacher for assistance. The teacher may intervene or help you know what to do help your child at home.
• Learn effective ways to help your child with homework, and provide an [link url=http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/instructionalmaterials/a/rgnzyrhmwrkspac.htm]adequate workspace for work completion.

What to Do When Schools are Resistant to Accommodating Your SLD Child's Special Needs

• If your child's teachers are not responsive to your requests to information or do not seem willing to accommodate your child's disability, review your rights.
• Be prepared to handle conflicts with the school in a proactive way. If you are unable to work with your child's school, you may wish to consider mediation, filing a complaint, or requesting a due process hearing.

Talking with Your Learning Disabled Child About a Poor Report Card

• Especially when grades the grades are not expected, it is normal to feel disappointed or angry when your child brings home a poor report card. Before you discuss it with your child, however, take time for yourself to calm down. Remember that your child is also likely to be hurt and disappointed in his performance.
• Talk with your child to determine what factors contributed to the low grades. Keeping your tone supportive and "business-like" will keep your emotions in check and will help your child focus on the specific tasks and behaviors he needs to address to improve.
• Avoid emotional confrontation and heavy-handed punishments. If you feel some sort of punishment is in order, as in the child has a long-standing history of defiance or the child does not take school work seriously, try to ensure that the consequences are natural and logical. Withholding video games and television, for example, should be to encourage more time on homework and developing good study habits.
• Meet with your child's teacher to find out exactly what contributed to the low grade. Ask about ways your child could to additional work to make up the grade. If the teacher refuses to allow makeup work, consider requesting an IEP team meeting to address it.
• Identify any skill deficits that contributed to failure. Have the IEP team address these deficits through specially designed instruction and adaptations and modifications.
• Learn common reasons SLD children underachieve.
• Use this failure as a way to build trust with your child. Ensure that your words and actions communicate that you will be a supportive listener who helps him learn and grow from this experience. Never belittle or scold. Instead, convey concern and a firm conviction that as a team, you both will overcome this temporary problem.
• Remember that blaming, anger, attacking, and severe punishment can cause your child to become frustrated, stop listening to you, develop a negative attitude toward you and toward school, and may lead to behavior problems.