Falling through the Cracks: One Student's Success Story

By Donna Smart Isaacs

Scott, an Upper Valley sixth grader, is bright, eager to learn and cares very much about his grades.  Scott is also an excellent reader. But when it comes time for math homework, he often doesn’t “get it.”  “Sometimes I struggle with things that are supposed to be simple.” Scott says.  “Like, you’re supposed to be able to add fractions in 6th grade.  When I get a fractions problem I feel frustrated, sometimes angry.”

Approximately 35-40% of school age students may have some form of learning difference which affects their ability to do well in academic and social arenas—and shapes the way they feel about themselves.  If the discrepancy between their ability and performance in school is great enough, students may receive Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) that entitle them to special education support. Or, they may qualify for Section 504 Plans which specify classroom accommodations such as extra time on tests or use of special equipment in the classroom (e.g., a laptop).

However, like Scott, many students with learning problems are ineligible for remedial services offered in schools.  Students may have to fail courses before they can get the help they need; even then, they may score too high on standardized tests to qualify.  According to Phyllis McKenna, Director of Special Education Services for the Lebanon School District, between 15 and 20% of the Lebanon school-aged population receives some kind of special services through Special Ed, or 504. This is a typical range for many Upper Valley school districts. But what about those students who don’t qualify?

They are the kids who are most at risk for “falling through the cracks”— noservices, no formal support, often unnoticed or dismissed as “dumb” or “lazy”.  They hear it all the time; see it on their progress reports.  “Sally’s grade would improve if she applied herself more.”  “Jimmy could get an A if he paid better attention in class.” What the adults might not realize is that Sally and Jimmy may already be working twice as hard as any other kid in the class—just to keep up.

Scott’s inconsistent behavior had perplexed his parents and teachers since first grade.  By third grade, he was rushing to finish his math work, making many careless errors, oravoided doing math altogether.  As the homework battles raged at home, Scott’s parents saw him slipping into a cycle of poor performance and negative feelings about himself. This past fall, Scott’s math teacher noticed him daydreaming in class. He wondered about Scott’s concentration. At the same time, he recognized that “while Scott does not have strong arithmetic skills, abstract thinking and problem solving are his fortes”. On a hunch, Scott’s teacher made an unusual decision to move him up to an advanced level rather than work with him remedially. The advanced math program focuses more on math concepts with less emphasis on calculation skills. Scott’s math grades began to improve and so did his self- esteem.

After years of frustration, Scott’s parents brought him to the Center for School Success in West Lebanon where he received a detailed diagnostic profile of his learning strengths and weaknesses and how they affect him in school.  Scott is beginning to understand how his brain learns and how effective strategies can help overcome some of “breakdown points” in certain kinds of math and writing.

“There are lots of kinds of testing available for kids who struggle,” says Leslie Williamson, Executive Director of the Center for School Success.  “It depends on what you want to know.  Some assessments focus more on what a student can’t do than what they can do.  Our philosophy is to look at both, but to focus on the student’s strengths and interests as the key to the solution. The really hard work for Scott now will be implementing his understanding of his learning profile and eventually learning to advocate for himself in school.”

The CSS extensive neurodevelopmental assessment revealed that Scott indeed has weak active working memory; i.e., the part of memory that enables him to juggle lots of details mentally while working on a task or problem. It also revealed that Scott had superior long-term memory (i.e., a great filing cabinet), strong higher-order, sophisticated thinking and conceptualizing skills and strong spatial abilities. Scott's parents say they knew all along he wasn’t lazy, but they had been doubtful about “how much to push.”  Scott himself says, “I wondered if something was wrong.”  Advancing a student ahead in an area where s/he is struggling may be an unconventional approach and could easily backfire. However in Scott’s case, it was an effective way to tap into his strong spatial and critical thinking ability. When he started getting A’s in math, Scott was relieved to find out he wasn’t stupid.

Often struggling students appear inattentive, apathetic, angry, hyperactive, disruptive or sullen. It is easier for a student to accept failing a test because s/hedidn’t study, rather than admit s/he couldn’t remember the important details, sequence ideas or understand concepts. By middle school, a common response is “I don’t care.” By high school, many struggling students escape their daily humiliation through risk-taking behavior and/or quit school altogether. Parents and teachers experience anguish over these students, often not knowing what the problem is or how to help. Teachers with large classes and many more challenging students may not notice a student who is behaving quietly but performing poorly.

At no other time in life are people expected to expose their weaknesses more publicly than during the school years.  Students are barraged daily with tasks that require huge demands on memory, attention, language, organization, critical thinking skills, motor ability and social skills.  Like most adults, even when they are complimented for their strengths, children generally judge themselves by their weaknesses.  Adults elect careers and hobbies that don’t demand much in areas where they struggled in school.  Kids, however, don’t have the luxury of choosing their subjects or assignments.  Even if they have strengths in areas that will serve them well in adulthood, such as social or organizational skills, students are inevitably judged all day every day by their ability to perform on countless memory and language-based tasks related to a rigid curriculum.

There are many places where things can break down for a student.  For instance, behavior that may appear to be weak “attention” could actually be caused by deficits in components of memory or language processing. Resistance to writing may have nothing to do with laziness, but rather be a sign of poor organization or a painful pencil grip. The key is to figure out where the breakdown is occurring and its impact on a specific area or subject.

Parents need to be good observers of children’s strengths and weaknesses. So, if your child has difficulty with writing, for example, where is the breakdown point?  Is it planning, sequencing, developing an idea, sentence structure, vocabulary or spelling and punctuation? Look for signs of fatigue, inattentiveness and resistance—they can be clues to an underlying learning problem.  They can also reveal patterns of strengths.  What does your child do well? What is s/he able to focus on easily, do without resistance or complaint? Does his or her performance improve when the topic or activity is of high interest? Chances are these are the avenues through which your child can learn best.

Parents and teachers also need to compare notes about what they see at home and at school. Don’t be afraid to let your child’s teacher know if your child is taking inordinate amounts of time on what the teacher may have thought was a simple, short assignment. This is valuable feedback that the teacher needs to know. Most importantly, it is crucial to recognize that your children’s strengths and affinities are ultimately their best weapons against failure and self deprecation.  

“My arsenal of ways to help was not very big,” says Scott’s mother.  “But we did a few things right. We supported Scott’s interests and we also tried to surround him with a ton of different kinds of reading and music. Scott’s math teacher took a risk by advancing him, a good risk. I find it exciting and scary, because that one decision could either motivate you or zap your motivation.”

Scott concurs, “Yeah.  Now at least once a week someone will come in and ask me for help in math.  It makes me feel great!”

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Donna Smart Isaacs is a Senior Learning Specialist at the Center for School Success in West Lebanon, which provides clinical and outreach services, to help students be successful in school and in life (www.centerforschoolsuccess.org). She is also a national facilitator for Schools Attuned®,a professional development program which helps teachers recognize and understand differences in the way students learn. Over 150 teachers in the Upper Valley have participated in Schools Attuned over the past six years (www.schoolsattuned.org). An ealier version of this article appeared in the Upper Valley Parents' Paper, February 2005 and CSS has been given permission to reprint  it on the CSS website.

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At the Center for School Success (CSS) we believe that students need to know how they learn best; teachers need to know how to address the unique strengths and needs of all their students; and parents need to know how to support their children’s learning strengths and challenges.

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