Things to Think About When Considering In-School Accommodations
If your child is struggling in school, it is highly likely that their teachers or administration are going to suggest some form of in-school accommodations to give them a leg-up. Or if you homeschool, you tailor all curriculum and all instruction to the needs of your child…
But is this really the best option you have?
Yes, individualized learning is important. Tailoring things to individuals’ unique learning styles can help them be more successful. But you need to ask if these offers of accommodations really have your child’s best interests at heart.
What Is the Goal of In-School Accommodations?
Many parents really don’t understand what the goal of in-school accommodations is.
These accommodations are not designed to help “fix” your child’s learning struggle. They are just trying to get your child through the school year.
In the language of the US Department of Education, an IEP is designed “to improve educational results for children with disabilities.” This may not mean they actually become more successful, but score-wise or goal-wise, they appear to make progress.
Virtually every student who gets an IEP or starts on a special-ed track never leaves it.
Think about that for a second…
These in-school resources aren’t helping your child get BETTER at focusing, reading comprehension, test-taking, or other areas of struggle. They’re just allowing them to continue to struggle—and pass.
Accommodations are absolutely helpful for some students. Kids with some form of learning disability, intellectual disability, or other concern absolutely benefit from the approach of making learning unique to their needs.
But what about those students who fly under the radar?
They don’t have a diagnosis… but they still struggle.
They continue to fall further behind… but schools push them forward anyway, perpetuating a cycle of frustration and feeling less-than.
As you consider what is the best option for your family, know this: you have options.
WHY Is Your Child Struggling in the First Place?
Whether it’s with reading, focus, comprehension, memory, organization, or some other skill, it is critical to ask yourself WHY. What is causing your child to fall behind in a particular area that makes accommodations necessary anyway?
In the absence of other factors (like a disability, health concern, or lifestyle reason), for a majority of learners, it is weak cognitive skills that are at the root of all learning struggles.
Cognitive skills govern the path that information takes from the time you hear it, through processing it, using it, or storing it. If your child has one or more weak cognitive skills, all learning will continue to be harder than necessary.
Click here to learn some of the signs of weak cognitive skills causing learning struggles.
What Are Your Options?
Ultimately as a parent, you have 2 choices:
- You can let the school offer accommodations that will get your child through. This is a completely valid decision. Just be aware that it is likely going to stick with them for the rest of their education journey. They won’t actually “catch up” with this decision, but they may feel more confident and capable in the short-term.
- You can get to the root cause and build their learning skills.
At LearningRx, what we do is different from what the schools can offer. Schools rely on test scores, performance, and labels to move your child through, but at LearningRx, we focus on progress and true individual ability.
While schools may label your child as “behind,” “distracted,” or “below grade level,” we see your child as a learner who needs to fill their toolbox with skills that will help them be more successful in ANY learning context.
Brain training takes a different approach than in-school accommodations because our goal is to help your child become a confident, self-sufficient learner who is sharp, focused, and capable of growing and tackling new things.
These things are not in opposition: both approaches may be helpful in some cases to help struggling students build confidence AND skills at the same time.
But if you are frustrated by the lack of resources available at your child’s school to really help them catch up and succeed at grade level, LearningRx is here to support you.
Our brain training programs have helped THOUSANDS of kids grow their ability to read, think, focus, remember, and learn—with an average gain of +3.7 years on average.
If you want to explore your options to help your struggling student, or if you wonder if there is something more you could be doing to help them become successful, give us a call today to learn more.
