Hi Christine,

I am a former middle school reading tutor.  I found that often the transition to middle school can be really tough,  with a huge increase in homework and higher expectations making it hard for many students to succeed.

That is great that the IEP classes are helpful.  You might want to sit down with his IEP teachers and see which aspects seem to work- is it the one on one time, or maybe the time planning and organizing?

I think if it is possible to get a private tutor, it can be a really valuable experience.  Things like rushing through homework can be addressed through taking time planning out the week, learning how to use tools (such as doing homework on the computer rather than handwriting assignments), organizing schedules and study habits, etc.  Also, forming a personal relationship outside of school and home I found was really effective working with middle school students.  Often there is a lot of pressure and frustration at school and home and the same habits are reinforced, a tutor usually works with students in a "neutral" setting one on one and introduces new skills.

Hang in there, middle school has it's challenges, but working on forming solid study habits and organization skills now will really go a long way for your son.

Best,
Kelly

Before looking into private tutoring you might want to sit down with his IEP teachers.  It sounds like his current IEP might not be appropriate to help him succeed.  The school is probably not going to recommend outside tutoring, only because that is a fine line that schools have to talk about outside help.  Good luck!

If your child has an IEP then he should not be failing. His work can be modified so that it is not so hard for him to complete. It does not have to be the same as everybody elses. That is the whole purpose of an IEP anyway!!! You need to call your childs teachers whose classes he is having problems in and set up a meeting with them. Express to them that you feel that the work is getting to be too difficult for him to complete on his own and that you feel that his work should be modified so that he can at least get a passing grade. If he is not passing and he has an IEP, then that means that childs teacher is not doing their job. If his handwriting is so bad then maybe he needs to be receiving occupational therapy services to help him with his fine motor skills. This too, if pressed hard enough, must be provided by the school district free of charge. Look into it, but I would definitely request or demand that his work be modified.

The reason why your son may be struggling in geography and science may relate to his struggle with reading.  Learning the vocabulary and understanding the concepts for different subjects can be challenging. It may be helpful to go over the chapter and identify the vocabulary words and their meanings. Once he understands the definitions he can gain a greater understanding of the concepts taught in the chapter. You may request that the special education teacher revise some of the IEP goals to include comprehension strategies such as: word recognition, decoding, word comprehension, passage comprehension and graphic organizers. I hope this helps!

A PRIVATE TUTOR MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA, BUT HAVE YOU LOOK AT HIS CLASS SIZE, AND DO HE GET ANY ONE ON ONE WITH THE TEACHER