I’ve posted a letter from this kid’s parents before. Luckily this is not one of my students…I’d hate to have to deal with this. But it was forwarded to me by another math teacher in our department who wrote “The fifth paragraph is the funniest/saddest.”, and that is very true. From a real quick search, he’s missed 43 days so far this year, and parts of other ones for doctor’s visits and such. We’re about a hundred days into the year.

Also, the last paragraph scares me – I’m sure that there was some “deal” where Johnny could get some form of credit from his science teacher when he probably didn’t deserve one.

I’m not sure why we don’t have the guts to tell the parent to either “forget it” with regard to the fifth paragraph, or “why not forget the entire year and try again in 2007-2008?”

Hi all. Ms. [social worker] told me she is sending you an e-mail informing you of Johnny’s recent diagnosis of ADHD from ***** ******. As most of you know, he has had a horrid year with numerous medical issues (meningitis, mono, 2 concussions, migraines/ER visits, sinusitis, asthma); in addition though, high school has not been as successful for him as his elementary/middle school was, and we felt it was time to explore what else might be going on.

His former school was small (his class from K-8 was the same 39 kids), and he was ‘known’…his strengths/his weaknesses. The teachers supported him with help in organizing, tracking work, not falling behind, using oral/visual learning when possible, accepting late work, taking tests over if he didn’t do as well as they thought he could, etc.,..an example: they told me in 5th grade: try recording Johnny’s texts on tape, and let him listen to it as he reads it. We were often told he wasn’t attentive, he couldn’t stay on task, he was chatty, etc., but no one suggested he be tested for anything, and it didn’t occur to us either. Their goal was that, in the end, Johnny learned what he needed to learn, and it was not presented to us as a ‘problem’. The modifications they made were informal, and we didn’t realize how important all of these modifications were to Johnny’s success.

We feel Johnny needs similar modifications to be successful in his current setting. With all of his absences this year, it often feels like he is ‘teaching himself’ all of his subjects, or learning from us/kind of independent study for a kid who really doesn’t do well with that style of learning anyway. Having better attendance/feeling better will help, but he still suffers from headaches/is still struggling with how to manage all of his work/all the above types of issues. It is helpful to have a ‘name’ for some of these concerns.

We are requesting that [the school] do an assessment to help us determine if Johnny needs an IEP. Until that process is complete, Ms. [social worker] commented that some informal modifications can be put in place for Johnny – thank you all very much. We feel he is trying (he is not perfect/has some ‘typical’ teenager moments/behaviors), but is overwhelmed.

While it may seem like bad timing, he will be missing 3 days of school: 2/14, 2/15, and 2/20; we are taking a (much needed) family vacation. Any assistance you can give to Johnny in addressing missed work/planning ahead/etc., is so appreciated. If you have suggestions for us, based on what you have experienced to be helpful, please feel free to share your thoughts with us.

We would like to be kept informed of assignments due; a ‘weekly update’ from you to us via e-mail or phone would be very helpful.

Ms. [science teacher]: Could we discuss Johnny’s 1st quarter grade with you, based on a discussion we had in December with Ms. [psychologist]? Thank you, everyone,

[dad], [mom], and Johnny