Vent: that IEP meeting where a teacher told my kid to just try harder

Last February I went to my son's IEP meeting at his middle school in Portland. The math teacher actually said in front of everyone that he just needs to apply himself more and stop using his disability as a crutch. I sat there for a second and then asked her if she'd say that to a kid in a wheelchair about getting up the stairs. She got all red and quiet but nobody else backed me up. Has anyone else dealt with school staff who don't get how learning disabilities actually work?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindaw1210d ago

That teacher calling it a "crutch" makes my blood boil, my kid had a reading specialist say basically the same thing and I wanted to walk out right then.

sandra69310d ago

Look, I get being frustrated but sometimes I wonder if we're reading too much into what a teacher says. I've been around a lot of different classrooms for work and teachers are just regular people who sometimes say dumb stuff without meaning it that way. My own kid had a teacher last year who told him he wasn't trying hard enough and you know what, he actually wasn't trying. He was distracted by his phone and not paying attention. After we took the phone away his grades went up. Not saying that's your situation, but maybe the teacher was trying to push him in a weird way instead of coddling him. Sometimes a little tough love works better than everyone walking on eggshells.