Hi Leslie,

I'm concerned as well, Leslie.

I think that it must be very difficult for your son to be so much older in second grade, and to see himself still struggling with school work.

Do you have educational psychologists in your school district?  I think that your son should have an intellectual assessment to find out how he learns best, and to ascertain if he has a learning disability.  Also, I recommend that you have an academic assessment by a reading specialist, to identify his academic strengths and needs, and to detail an academic program that will address his needs specifically, rather than just having him repeat the same school tasks again and again.

Where I work, we have special education classrooms for students who struggle with academic tasks.  These classrooms have fewer students in them than a regular classroom.  They also have an educational assistant who works with the teacher and the students.  Both of these adults are trained to work specifically with special needs children.  These children require tailor-made learning approaches.  They can learn to read words and to comprehend what they read, but they learn differently.  As well, the teachers work with each child at his/her instructional level.  The lock-step grade level pressure is off the children, so that they can focus on learning at their own pace.

Your child is likely quite discouraged.  As are you.  It would be so much more helpful if he could be given access to all of the above services.

Sincerely,
Sylvia HS,
Reading Specialist,
Author