Answer
Your child needs accommodations that allow him to overcome obstacles caused by his disability.
You and other members of the IEP team need to identify your child's strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses will help the team decide on accommodations that are appropriate for your child.
If accommodations are individualized and appropriate, he should be able to participate and make progress in the general education curriculum.
Your child's IEP team must include at least one regular education teacher. Regular education teachers are knowledgeable about the general education curriculum. They should know appropriate accommodations that will help your child learn and make progress.
Before you consent to modifications and accommodations, think carefully about the purpose of the modification. Ask how the proposed modification will allow your child to learn essential skills. The purpose of modification is not higher grades, but learning.
Because special educators want to help, they often try to make things easier for the child by lowering the bar with modifications and accommodations. Special educators often erroneously believe that if a child has a disability, the child cannot learn these skills. In most cases, they are wrong. |
