Developmentally Challenged...

Asked by the homeroom teacher, I worked as a tutor for one 2nd-grade girl today. During the math lesson, I was asked to teach her multiplication. It turned out that she had no idea how to multiply given numbers and even to add/subtract them, though she must have been learning it. Sure, she seemed to be enjoying my tutoring, but she didn't seem to understand what I was saying. Actually, it's not just math that she can't do. She is extremely poort at ohter subjects, including Japanese.

So, after the lesson, I asked the homeroom teacher whether she was developmentally challenged. She nodded and told me that she was going to discuss with the child's parents and recommend that she be moved to a homeroom for the developmentally challenged next year.

I wondered why this arrangement hadn't been made sooner. I mean, one look is enough to figure out there is something wrong with the girl. She needs more attention from a teacher all the time and the slower speed of instruction, that is, she is better off at the special homeroom.

Maybe her parents didn't like the "stigma" of the girl's being in the special homeroom...? But, there is nothing wrong with being in that homeroom. I am good friends with a few of the developmentally challenged students there and they are perfectly functional in daily social interactions. They just need a different learning environment.

Anyway, it is important to try to do what is in the child's best interest, though it is hard to figure it out.