You notice a student seems to have a learning disability, you have to inform the parents, what do u say 2 them

Question

thanks in advance...

Answer 1

Most parents know already and need guidance in resolving the issues.

Answer 2

Hopefully with a little diplomacy, in how to you approach the parents with your concerns (I am sure will).

I was told by a teacher in front of a friend and another students parent that "your daughter needs a bomb lit under her" and that "she is failing the year " as you can imagine I was peeved. Especially as I had raised concerns about my daughter a number of times and was basically told I was being over anxious, when finally assessed she was diagnosed as having ADHD, ODD and Dyslexia.

NoAngel has given you some sound info, but I would like to add a few things,

Have you raised your concerns with schools headmaster or principal, and ask them for some guidance, as to how to approach this very tricky situation.

Please have another teacher or the headmaster/principal present when you talk to the parents, this is support you and protect you from the parents misinterpreting or misunderstanding what your telling them.

Ensure the school is willing to have the child assessed by a school psychologist, and if they have the resources to support the student, before approaching the parents. Having this information will help ease the parents anxiety a little.

I wish you luck with this tricky situation

Answer 3

Your school ought to have a system for identification of learning disabilities. (We have a "child study team" which offer advice and informal test to see if a referal is needed.)

A formal referal is made for a student to be tested. Parental permission is needed and this is not done at the teacher level in my district. Talk to the psychologist or special ed teacher in your school.

LD is usually determined when performance test results deviate from IQ test by more than 15 points. Only a psychologist gives an IQ test.

Answer 4

the truth...

be objective...

Answer 5

this is really a tricky one. my experience was awful. my son is in first grade now and in november he was diagnosed with pdd-nos. but in kindergarden my husband and i noticed somethning was not quite right so we approched the teacher, she assured us he was fine. towards the end of the year i decided to go to the social worker and she ws tight lipped, UNTIL I SAID  "DO YOU THINK HE MUGHT BE AUTISTIC".then the flood gates opened, she replied i wanted to tell you but THE SCHOOL WOULD BE MAKING A MEDICAL DIAGNOSES AND WE ARE NOT CERTIFIED DOCTORS SO WE ARE ADVISED NOT TO SAY ANYTHING UNLESS THE PARENT SAYS THOSE MAGIC WORDS. i was blown away, i would has been over joyed if someone would have just suggested to me to ask my pediatrician if my child was hitting all his milestones, that is the first red flag.but by law the staff members can not suggest that there may be an issue with one of there students. can you believe that?????  maybe you can just ask the parents how his last yearly check up went get there mind going. and when they say why do you as that , just tell them you love your job and take a great interest in your students health and education. you never know it might just get them to read between the lines. good luck i hope all goes well for the childs sake.  kit-kat.

Answer 6

If you are a person in authority then you MAY have the right to inform the parents of the child, As in being a teacher or Dr.. if you are NOT, ( maybe you are just a teachers aide) then you could mention the problem to the teacher and THEY would take action. if they deemed it necessary, otherwise it's not your position to inform anyone. You could be doing more harm than good.

Answer 7

Inform the parent of their rights to get help for their child thru the schools special ed program.

It doesn't matter what you tell the parents about the child, unless the child is in special ed, the school is not legally obligated to provide ANY help for learning problems.

Parents NEED to know this.

Now you can sit down with the parents and come up with ideas on what parent and teacher can do to help the child,

but with a learning disabiltiy, the child needs specialized help that can ONLY be provided thru special ed services.

Parents NEED to know this also.

Lots of teachers are told NOT to inform parents if their child has problems because they dont' want to help children thru special ed. So, be aware that you might get in trouble by the administrators  if you inform the parent their child has learning problems.

Answer 8

Are you the teacher ?  Because if your just a parent then its not your job.

If you are a teacher and nursery teacher... Haven't you been trained for this??? If not.. get some.

What type of learning difficulties?  Does he just need more help or does he need education phychologist ???

Need more info

Answer 9

I agree with the questions posed by answerer #1.  Are you a teacher, and do you have training?  In what capacity do you work with the child?

Assuming that you are a teacher/pre-school teacher, etc. and, perhaps, have simply not had to address this issue previously, I have a few suggestions.

1.  Make sure that you have plenty of documentation, first.  This cannot be just a "hunch" you have.  You need to have been saving samples of the child's work for a good period of time.  You will need to be able to show these things to the parents and explain what the student was supposed to have done and what they actually did.

2.  Share the work samples with your administrator and department head and get a second and third opinion before you discuss it with the parents.  If they agree that there seems to be a problem, go over with them the things that you see and ask for their input.

3.  Set up a parent conference.  Do NOT say "I think so-and-so has a learning disability, could we meet to talk about it?"  Let them know that you have a few things you'd like to share and discuss with them. Let them know that you do have a few concerns and that you'd like to talk it over with them and get their input.  The parents need to know that you are their and their child's ally and that you are working WITH them to help the child.  

4. Always begin the conference by welcoming the parents and thanking them for coming.  The first few things you should say about the child should be positive.  Make sure that you tell them things that are positive both academically and personally.

5. NOW, tell them that you do have a few concerns and that you wanted to share those with them and get their input as to the best way to address those thing.

6.  Share your documentation, carefully explaining each thing.  This is where many parents will say, "What do you think is wrong?" or "What do we do?"  This is something you should have anticipated and discussed with your department head and administrator.  Make sure that you have discussed with the dept. head and administrator what you plan to say.  (They may veto some of it or prefer different wording.)

7.  Last, but not least, be kind.  This is their child.  Do not get frustrated.  Sympathize if they express frustration.