Obama needs to call Arne Duncan out for his new tactics for special education students.

[Smarmie Doofus]

178. OK. But I was originally referencing specifically kids w. Down Syndrome:

>>>>The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental age of an 8 or 9 year old child, but this varies widely.[3]>>>> wiki

(And actually, I disagree w. wiki: I don't think it "varies widely"; not in my experience, anyway.)


That's clearly not your child. I think OP is talking about this ( i.e. the ABOVE) type of situation, as well:

>>Or do you want the teacher working on ways to getting your child to adapt his early elementary school-level math skills to real-life everyday situations that he will (very soon) encounter in the adult world?>>>>

...and the interference in that delicate calculation that is coming from the Obama-era DOE.... awash in "compliance culture" and fueled by an utter lack of familiarity w. the phenomenon that they're trying to "reform".

All that said: I agree that for kids, whom... in the "old days" .... we used to call "LD", or "borderline", (there was even a category back in the eighties called "Minimal Brain Dysfunction". No one knew what it meant but the terminology sure sounded impressive.) or .... whatever......(in other words, "more-or-less average intelligence but unable to to do schoolwork well enough to keep up w. their age-mates.&quot a self-contained classroom could well be a trap.

One of the things I was hassling my own son's ( *private*; it's a long story) special ed high school was to HAVE him standardized-tested once a year SO THAT I COULD DETERMINE IF HE WAS MAKING PROGRESS relative to his peers. (really the only justification for these tests; but a particularly GOOD one.)

Part of the problem... in addition to the fact that the whole field is now dominated by ( and made incoherent by) lawyers and/or politicians..... is that there is no common language. "Special Ed" doesn't mean what it used to mean. It means ALL sorts of things. In the 1980s... when I started... I doubt very strongly that your son ... based on what you've described ... would even be considered "Special Ed". (Probably not "autistic" either...for that matter.... although you haven't told me enough about him for me to say, and that's a whole " 'nother " story.)

"Some cozy night in front of the fire."