As he starts high school next year, his math classes are at the college level.(still can't spell) He still uses the organizational techniques his beloved “Special” teachers taught him.
The education system have learned not to wait until the children fail a grade or two to intervene, but to identify early and get the family involved. There are many excellent teachers who work with these children. IMO they are saints. Dealing with one is a challenge, dealing with an entire classroom that achieve, they deserve double pay.
“Early intervention is the secret. My great nephew was “special” He had 150+ IQ with a true learning disability. Because of the help he got in primary school he is now getting straight A’s in advanced classes. (His father with the same issues barely made it through school)”
Similar with me, too easily distracted to stay focused - barely finished high school, nearly kicked out of college. I knew my boys would be the same, so I rode them and made it painful for them when they had higher priorities. Needless to say, it worked fine.
But had I waited around for the ‘experts’ to step in, the boys would be moping along in their 20s, still trying to figure out what to do in life.
Absolutely. I have boy/girl twin 5-year-olds with Autism. Because it was caught and early intervention started shortly after they turned 2, the girl is going to a regular kindergarten this fall and her brother will be in the special ed. classroom at the same school (instead of the special ed. school he would have been otherwise projected to attend).
And it isn't just that their results were atypical (although we note that the girl is going to become the program's poster child for success) -- the program as a whole is seeing an increasing number of students being placed in higher-functioning environments than a few years ago, which can be directly traced to the increase in emphasis on early intervention.
Yes, of course "special needs" is over-broad and many kids are over-diagnosed. But there are still many kids with true special needs, and early intervention has worked very well for them.
As he starts high school next year, his math classes are at the college level.(still can’t spell) He still uses the organizational techniques his beloved “Special” teachers taught him.