Retention With Intervention Works! Hailey's Story

As the school year draws to an end, many of you parents are toiling with the difficult decision regarding retention.  Maybe your son isn’t reading books as smoothly or writing his thoughts as fluently as his peers?  Or maybe your daughter’s “reading” is adequate, but she isn’t able to remember what she has read and summarize it in her own words?  And since she is less mature than her peers, maybe she is often ignored by her classmates and, thus, chooses to play with younger children?

While all this may be true, there are probably other factors that you parents are considering as you ponder this serious decision regarding retention.  Your son’s math skills may be strong and his physical growth and development may be above average.  Or you worry that your daughter will enter puberty ahead of her classmates and stick out like a sore thumb.

There are many theories about the benefits and pitfalls of retention.  School districts keep flip flopping on this issue, depending upon the prevalent theories at the time.  Currently, many districts seem to be in the retention mode.  Many kids are referred to us, because their teachers have recommended retention, and their parents are hoping to circumvent that predicament by enrolling with us over the summer.

What a dilemma!  What a difficult decision for a parent to make!

That brings us to Hailey’s family.   Last spring, she was one of those kids.  Here is her story…

At the end of her 3rd grade year, her teachers were strongly encouraging her parents to retain Hailey.  She could “read” ok.  But the information went in one ear and out the other.  Hailey could “read” a paragraph and not retain a single word.

Hailey could ace her spelling tests, but when it came to using those words in book summaries and creative stories, her spelling went out the window.

Hailey was struggling to calculate most math problems including basic addition and subtraction, but her class had already moved on to multiplication.  In the classroom, Hailey frequently stared off into space, and socially, she wanted to talk about her stuffed animals when all her classmates were talking about their iPods.

Her parents are successful, well-read executives at biotech companies.  They knew about the risks of retention.  They had heard the horror stories about kids who were retained, only to have the same academic problems the following year, with the additional problem of reaching physical maturation ahead of their peers. Their pediatrician, Dr. Anne Marie Engfelt, referred them to us to help them make that heart-wrenching decision.

When we tested Hailey, we confirmed that she could “read” almost anything.  We also confirmed that she struggled to understand the BIG IDEAS of the text.  By big ideas, we mean making inferences about text. This requires taking characters’ perspectives and figuring out their motives and goals; then understanding how the character tries and fails to reach his goals until finally his goals are achieved.

Even more difficult for Hailey was comprehending factual information like textbooks and articles. Since Hailey had never before had any curiosity (or memory) for factual information, her knowledge bank was extremely limited.  While other kids her age knew about Anne Frank’s Diary, Hailey read this information as though she had never heard it before.  She was already at a disadvantage.  And if we didn’t get this problem fixed, Hailey would start middle school with a serious knowledge deficit and, by high school, be totally behind the 8 ball.

Reading comprehension was not the only concern! Hailey needed her fingers to calculate the simplest math problems.  Her fingers were pretty quick for the addition and subtraction facts up to 10.  But once she ran out of fingers, she struggled to solve 8 + 7 and 15 – 8, and her fingers were hopeless for calculating 6 x 9.

Despite all these problems, we are not quick to recommend retention.  We encouraged her parents to put Hailey in our summer program and make the retention decision in August, right before the next school year was scheduled to begin.

We hammered Hailey with academics last summer.  She learned to make movies in her head, to increase her understanding and enjoyment of books. Her literacy instructor encouraged Hailey to focus on the big ideas of the text like the characters’ feelings and motives rather than just the facts.  Hailey learned to make predictions about the text, read on to see if her guesses were correct and then adjust her predictions as the story evolved.

We also focused heavily on Hailey’s math.  Hailey learned to make a mental number line from 1 to 100.  She counted up and down her number line until she could prove to us that the digits were all there in numerical order.  On that number line, Hailey learned to calculate her addition and subtraction facts.  The doubles were easy…5 + 5 = 10, 6 + 6 = 12, etc…and if 5 + 5 = 10, then 6 + 5 is also easy…six is just one more than 5, so 6 + 5 must be 11.  It only made sense to teach Hailey the inverse operation of subtraction as well; if 5 + 6 = 11, then 11 – 6 must be 5 and 11 - 5 must be 6.

As August arrived and the first day of school grew closer, we scheduled another meeting with Hailey’s mom and dad.  Yes, she had made huge progress over the summer.  Hailey was reading 3rd grade level literature with excellent comprehension. She was easily  calculating basic addition and subtraction facts.

But was she really ready for 4th grade?  Think about it!  Fourth graders are expected to be independent readers and writers….not only of fictional literature but of social studies and science textbooks as well.  Typical 4th graders are writing theme papers.  And typical 4th graders have mastered their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts and are now expected to be ready for long division.

Yikes!  Maybe 4th grade wasn’t such a good idea for Hailey.  Did we always want to play this catch up game?  Would Hailey always be in the lower half of her class?

Fortunately, her parents carefully considered their daughter’s future and made the right decision.  They decided to move her to another school and keep Hailey back in 3rd grade.

Now fast forward to the end of Hailey’s second year in third grade.  She has received all A’s and B’s this year compared to C’s and D’s the previous year. She is comprehending both fictional and factual books and writing great book reports and multiple paragraph essays.  She has learned her multiplication and division facts and can even solve story problems with accuracy and ease.

We would like to conclude this newsletter by sharing Hailey’s story in her own words. She described the benefits of repeating 3rd grade:

“I think it was a great idea for me to be held back, because I made new friends, my grades improved, and I am more confident.  First, I got to make new friends.  For example, when I went to my new school, I sat in front of a girl named Reina, and she was new there too.  We became best friends and today I am going to her birthday party at the Corvette Diner.  Another reason I think it was a great idea to stay in 3rd grade is because my grades improved so much.  For example, at my old school my grades were so low that they were at the bottom of the chart. Now, at my new school, my grades are at the top of the chart.  Also, retaining me was a good idea because I am now more confident.  For example, at my old school, I did not understand much stuff, and I did not complete my work.   Now, at my new school, I understand perfectly,  and I am encouraged to work hard.  I even tried out and got the part in a play which I have never done before.  That’s why I think I it was a good idea for me to stay back in 3rd grade.”

If you know a family who is debating the retention issue, encourage them to call us at 858.509.1131 or visit our website at www.speak4success.com.

Hailey is living proof that retention with intervention works!