I would not want the C on the record at all, although my son was shooting for the big leagues. But, as @movemetoo points out, the GPA will matter.
We switched my son to partial homeschooling (because they weren’t teaching him to write and HS honors math was trivial to him) and entertained the idea of some kind of language immersion. We looked at Concordia but we found one in Mexico that mixed Spanish language immersion and art but ultimately didn’t do it. He’s doing fine in life. If your state universities need it, I would seek ASL. In the old days, some places would also give credit programming languages, which would be very useful (“I speak fluent c++ and python.”)
there are many colleges that don’t require a foreign language and don’t make you take more years of it in college.
What does your state have for requirements?
Do what is best for him…you will find a college that fits him.
When we were looking for ShawSon, I called several schools that had recommended high school curricula including foreign language (but none were state universities). They all said that no taking a language requirement would not block him from being admitted but he would have to demonstrate that he did something challenging instead. He did – he co-authored a novel. Some of these then required a foreign language to graduate – but for these, neuropsych testing would have to determine whether or not he would be subject to the language requirement. Before ShawSon would commit to his first choice (an Ivy), he asked them to confirm that the language requirement would be waived. While they ultimately agreed, the bureaucratic style/wavering caused him to go someplace else.
Interestingly, today he told me he got 70 on his Spanish quiz. He was proud of himself I think. He is now just above the failing mark. Like I said, we will see how this quarter plays out. I am ashamed to say, but I have underestimated him in the past and he has proven me wrong. I don’t want to do it again. Also, there is something to be said for sticking things out, even if you hate them. We all have to do things in life we don’t want to do. I don’t want him to be miserable, but there are definitely some very easy steps he can take to improve, which he simply was ignoring because he finds it hard. Again, will up date this in January. Thanks all.
Kids with Dyslexia almost always have to do things in school that they don’t want to do. Reading, writing, everyday things are a bit of a struggle. Why make things harder for little or no gain? Let him pick his poison- finish second year of Spanish or take 2 semesters of ASL. Just my two cents.
Deciding whether to drop Spanish freshman year was a huge struggle for us. D is highly dyslexic. We were worried about college admissions. One of our flagships requires two years. At that time I called 5-6 colleges on her “potential” list. Most of those colleges officially stated they “required” two years of FL for admission. In phone conversations, they stated they would “waive” this, based on documented disability.
This made me very nervous, but D dropped with the full support of her IEP team. We both agree now it was one of the wisest choices she could have made in her situation, and it worked out to be a much better use of her time and energy,but ohhhh, nerve-rattling. She was accepted to all her schools but one and will be allowed to substitute cultural classes for the college’s FL requirement.
I am finding this thread very interesting because our son is attending a LAC with a foreign language competency requirement for graduation even though he has always struggled terribly with foreign languages and barely made it through two years of HS Spanish (one semester of which had to be taken on line for him to make it through). He has a mild language processing disorder (along with some other issues that required a HS IEP) and I would love to hear any specifics (either here or in a private message) from those of you with college students with language processing disorders who got the foreign language requirement at their university waived and cultural classes substituted instead. We are going to be requesting this of the disabilities services office and would love to have names of other colleges that have accepted this kind of substitution. He was accepted and given funding at two other universities without foreign language requirements, but felt the LAC was a better fit in other ways. But we have been worrying he made the wrong choice solely because of this foreign language issue, so I would love to have it resolved.
Update: he managed to get his grade for the quarter up to 74, and it hasn’t been too painful. He goes in for extra help either with his teacher or the support center Spanish teacher, usually three days a week. He actually now thinks the teacher is okay. Meeting with her made a big difference in his opinion of her, as he relaized she isn’t a monster. I think if he can put a little more effort into it, he could get his grade closer to 80 or better.
We did discuss all of his options: withdrawing, taking ASL online, private tutoring (his least favorite option), and working harder. We discussed the realities of each option. Working harder, as I said, actually hasn’t been that difficult. He realizes that it’s no longer just about a list of words to learn, but being able to put the words together into sentences. I think he is going to be okay, and I think this will be his only C in HS, which isn’t the end of the world. Good luck to anyone else out there with a dyslexic child.
Thanks so much for letting us know. What a great lesson in courage and resilience on his part, and great parenting on yours: you encouraged him to take the harder path and rise to it. He’ll remember this when there are challenges in the future
Thanks for the update. It sounds like you did a great job finding and laying out the options for your S and then once a decision was made he stuck by the plan and is succeeding. As parents of kids with learning issues know, succeeding is not always getting an A, but it can also be working through a difficult area, doing one’s best and making it through. And perhaps most importantly, it sounds like your S is learning many valuable life lessons through this process – hard work, talking to teachers, perseverance etc. – this will serve him very well as he moves forward in life. Congratulations to all.
We had a similar situation and getting through that level 2 is really important for most colleges. I’m glad he is doing better now. Some schools don’t count freshman grades against them so this is really the best time to get the requirement completed. You really have no idea in 9th grade what will happen in the future in terms of wanting to go to some of the more competitive schools. It’s best to have those minimum requirements just in case. My son has an IEP and did talk about why in his apps but not in a why I got bad grades way but in a positive look what I did even when it was really hard to do. So far he has gotten into some amazing schools and even a scholarship at 2 very top schools. He did get some B’s where I’m sure others who got in did not but his story makes sense and shows amazing progression over his 4 years. He is considering attending a school with a 1 year foreign lang requirement but will probably suffer through Latin. I think sign language will be tough for our very dysgraphic kid.
Overdue update: my son ended up passing Spanish all four quarters. I think his average was about 73 for the year. He was very proud of passing the final with a stellar grade of 68. Not joking:-D. Anyway, if it helps anyone, he went in for extra help a couple of times every week. We all met with the teacher to go over his tests and issues. He studied for his tests. He did all of his homework. Really, it was simply putting in a little necessary effort. He didn’t like it, he hated it, but he is now done forever, as far as he is concerned. I am not going to worry about college. If a college doesn’t want him because he only has two years of FL, it’s their loss. His sophomore schedule has one AP and three honors. The year after, he plans on taking IB courses in our school’s first year of offering the IB program. I think he is going to be fine.
Thanks @californiaaa . This has been discussed at length elsewhere in the thread. I wanted to update in case it proves helpful to anyone else. If people want to read the thread, there are some very good ideas in it.
@Lindagaf Thanks for the update and congrats to your S for getting through a subject that was so difficult for him. It says a lot about his work ethic and persistence which bodes well for his future. I have a son who worked through some significant learning issues and I think those attributes were key to his success.
OP has made a decision; she is providing an update (which I for one wish more people would do). I’m keeping the thread open in case people want to reply to the update, but it does not appear that the OP is looking for advise on the original issue, so please refrain from providing.
I just want to thank the OP @Lindagaf for coming back with an update. I have a rising 10th grader who is struggling with the foreign language requirement. She has many issues including ADHD, anxiety, depression, and some dyslexia. So far she has one semester of French and one semester of on-line Latin. She is trying to do the second semester of on-line Latin this summer but the curriculum is super compressed into a 2-1/2 week time period and she can’t keep up. We have considered ASL but it has to be taken at community college, which involves both extra time, transportation and expense issues, and the HS won’t count those credits toward her HS graduation requirement. She’s behind in her other credits toward graduation so it would’ve been a great help if she could’ve finished this 2nd semester of online Latin, but I see it going down the drain. If things don’t get better she may end up going to community college before transferring to a 4 year college. Assuming she manages to complete her other HS graduation requirements.
See if she can take online latin online during the year - would the high school countbit toward graduation requirements?
@lindagaf : thank you so much for the update. Congratulations to your son. He did something very hard and pulled through. This is impressive alright. Hopefully his gc will remember his persistence, determination, and strong work ethics when s/he writes his letter of recommendation.
