part-time school - is it a thing for Yr 9 students? - concerned tutor
TLDR: My struggling student is missing one maths class per week presumably on the grounds of a dubious cognitive impairment diagnosis. What to do?
I'm a private tutor in WA and have just learnt that a student is "doing school part-time": they attend school four days per week and do dance one day per week. They are missing a maths class, and are quite behind in the subject - a problem that I speculate is being compounded by this non-attendance. I've been informed that they have a focal cognitive deficit, but it is not apparent from my interactions with them (I'm a little skeptical). They do certainly have a low estimation of their ability (perhaps cultivated by the diagnosis) and struggle with times tables (covid lockdown casualty I suppose). The parent also has a low estimation of the student and doesn't believe that the student is able to tolerate a one hour lesson (maybe their wallet speaking), but again I see no signs of this - in fact they seem to take a bit of time to get into the groove and are at their peak at the 45 minute mark. I'm not sure how to approach this - only the parent has mentioned the deficit to me, and the student seems mature enough to advocate for themselves. I feel like this is child neglect.