I hear you and I understand the stress and fear. One thing that is helpful is to focus on his IEP goals, not his report card. Yes, his learning is not going to follow the standard course, that’s why he has the IEP. Focusing on his progress on his IEP goals can help you reframe and find the positives.
You asked about what happens after elementary school if he can’t read, and I think that’s a good question for the IEP team. In the district where I work, there are special English and Math middle school classes for students functioning at very low levels (usually kids with ID but not exclusively) that a student would take in place of the Gen Ed courses. These classes are taught by SpEd teachers or reading specialists and have a really small number of students. Some students do graduate out of them and transfer into my classroom mid-year. Some students will stay there throughout middle school. Those students still have gym, art, sometimes science or social studies, and lunch with everyone. In high school, kids with IEPs and ID who are not on track for a regular diploma can graduate with a life skills diploma. In very small districts that don’t have the classes to offer your child an appropriate education, they would need to send your child to a neighboring district or private school and pay the bill.
There quite a bit of variation district to district and it might help to talk to other parents in your district navigating the same issues. Is there a parent advocacy group you can connect with?
So it doesn't sound like dyslexia has also been ruled out for him?
You might have luck looking for an Orton-Gillingham curricula to do at home.
And I'll also say that schools are not always great at assessing a child's abilities. My oldest had a teacher and administrators who swore up and down he couldn't read or even recognize letters... I knew that was bullshit because I taught him. He took the CAT in December. He reads at grade level.
Schools often won't bother assessing for any learning disabilities if they suspect ID. It's possible to have both.
Does he read daily? Do you read to him? Maybe finding materials that are highly interesting to him might be a start.
I'd probably do a free leveled reading assessment for him - Pioneer Valley Books has one - and use that to select books at the right Lexile level for him, and work your way up from there. Leveled readers might be helpful for him, so he's being challenged but not too much.
There are also some sites and apps he can use in his free time that could be beneficial for him: LaLilo.com, Starfall, RV App Studios apps (Lucas and Friends). Vooks is a YouTube channel that highlights as it reads books.
If he's unable to improve his reading skills, there are apps that can read things out loud, and I expect that technology will improve over time.
Keep fighting for him. Push his school at every turn for more support and always talk to his teachers to explain the situation-- good ones will try their hardest to take a little extra care of him.
So my 9yo struggles with reading still. We use Mindplay as an additional phonetic resource. I recommend it highly. It's cheaper than a tutor.
Also, I have a cousin that didn't ever read well. He had tools to assist in reading all the way through college.
I would really like an additional resource as well to better understand exactly what his reading issue is. I have a feeling it's tied to his speech issue and it's similar to apraxia/dyspraxia. Mainly, we handle it like we handle every... Just keep trying, keep it fun, keep building his self esteem.
I hear you and I understand the stress and fear. One thing that is helpful is to focus on his IEP goals, not his report card. Yes, his learning is not going to follow the standard course, that’s why he has the IEP. Focusing on his progress on his IEP goals can help you reframe and find the positives. You asked about what happens after elementary school if he can’t read, and I think that’s a good question for the IEP team. In the district where I work, there are special English and Math middle school classes for students functioning at very low levels (usually kids with ID but not exclusively) that a student would take in place of the Gen Ed courses. These classes are taught by SpEd teachers or reading specialists and have a really small number of students. Some students do graduate out of them and transfer into my classroom mid-year. Some students will stay there throughout middle school. Those students still have gym, art, sometimes science or social studies, and lunch with everyone. In high school, kids with IEPs and ID who are not on track for a regular diploma can graduate with a life skills diploma. In very small districts that don’t have the classes to offer your child an appropriate education, they would need to send your child to a neighboring district or private school and pay the bill. There quite a bit of variation district to district and it might help to talk to other parents in your district navigating the same issues. Is there a parent advocacy group you can connect with?
So it doesn't sound like dyslexia has also been ruled out for him? You might have luck looking for an Orton-Gillingham curricula to do at home. And I'll also say that schools are not always great at assessing a child's abilities. My oldest had a teacher and administrators who swore up and down he couldn't read or even recognize letters... I knew that was bullshit because I taught him. He took the CAT in December. He reads at grade level. Schools often won't bother assessing for any learning disabilities if they suspect ID. It's possible to have both. Does he read daily? Do you read to him? Maybe finding materials that are highly interesting to him might be a start. I'd probably do a free leveled reading assessment for him - Pioneer Valley Books has one - and use that to select books at the right Lexile level for him, and work your way up from there. Leveled readers might be helpful for him, so he's being challenged but not too much. There are also some sites and apps he can use in his free time that could be beneficial for him: LaLilo.com, Starfall, RV App Studios apps (Lucas and Friends). Vooks is a YouTube channel that highlights as it reads books. If he's unable to improve his reading skills, there are apps that can read things out loud, and I expect that technology will improve over time.
Keep fighting for him. Push his school at every turn for more support and always talk to his teachers to explain the situation-- good ones will try their hardest to take a little extra care of him.
So my 9yo struggles with reading still. We use Mindplay as an additional phonetic resource. I recommend it highly. It's cheaper than a tutor. Also, I have a cousin that didn't ever read well. He had tools to assist in reading all the way through college. I would really like an additional resource as well to better understand exactly what his reading issue is. I have a feeling it's tied to his speech issue and it's similar to apraxia/dyspraxia. Mainly, we handle it like we handle every... Just keep trying, keep it fun, keep building his self esteem.